He asked to see his daughter before he died… what she told him changed his destiny forever.

Clara spent all night studying the Vargas file.

Hundreds of pages, photos of the crime scene that she had forced herself to look at, forensic reports, testimonies – everything pointed to Mateo.

However, the cracks were there, subtle but very real.

The main eyewitness, a neighbor named Luis Morales, initially told police he saw “a man” leaving the house around 11 p.m. Three days later, in a follow-up statement, he suddenly identified Mateo by name. Why this sudden certainty?

The results of the forensic analyses, normally delayed by several weeks, arrived in just 72 hours, which came at the perfect time for the arrest.

The prosecutor who handled the case? Victor Salazar.

The same last name as the neighbor who changed his version of events.

Clara dug deeper.

Victor Salazar was no longer a prosecutor. Three years after securing Mateo’s conviction, he had been appointed judge – a meteoric rise.

And in the five years following the murder, Judge Victor Salazar and Javier Vargas had quietly become partners in several real estate transactions – properties that had belonged to Mateo and Laura’s family.

Clara picked up her phone.

“Carlos, I need everything concerning Javier Vargas’s affairs. Every property transfer, every loan, every associate. And I need to know exactly what Laura discovered in the weeks leading up to his death.”

The following morning, Javier Vargas arrived at the Santa Rosa residence in a gleaming black SUV that stood out completely.

He was wearing a tailored suit and — Clara noticed this when later reviewing the CCTV footage — a navy blue tie.

Rosa greeted him at the door, arms crossed.

“I came to get my niece,” Javier said sweetly. “The situation has changed. With everything that’s happening to my brother, Elena needs a real family.”

“You voluntarily relinquished your guardianship six months ago by leaving her here,” Rosa replied. “She is now under the protection of the state.”

Javier’s smile did not reach his eyes.

“I have new papers. I have connections. I can make things difficult here if I want to.”