And every morning I had the same thought.
Where will she be?
The council meeting went exactly as expected.
Congratulations.
Handshake.
Applause for another successful real estate deal.
Alexander smiled, said what he had to say, and played his part perfectly.
But inside I felt nothing.
Afterwards, his partner Carlos Rivera took him aside and asked:
“Are you okay?”
Alejandro said yes.
Carlos sighed.
He told her that Alejandro had been saying the same thing for five years, since he started buying properties in the south of Guadalajara.
For years there were no profits.
Why that place?
Alexander replied that he had his reasons.
Carlos looked at him for a long moment and said:
“It’s because of the girl you’re always looking for, right?”
The girl he never stopped talking about.
Alejandro’s jaw tightened.
Carlos said that perhaps she did not want to be found.
Alexander replied coldly:
“Don’t mention that again.
But it was too late.
That had obsessed him for years.
That afternoon, Alejandro sat alone in his office and opened a file on his computer.
Five years.
Three private detectives.
Millions of pesos spent.
Nothing.
The final report was very clear:
They had exhausted all the clues.
The name Mariana López was all too common.
His family disappeared after 2008, leaving no relocation address.
Alejandro slowly closed the file on the screen.
For a few seconds he stood motionless, staring at the reflection of his own face in the dark glass of the monitor.
A successful man.
A rich man.
A powerful man.
And yet, completely empty.
He took the small frame with the red ribbon and held it between his fingers.
“Where are you… Mariana? he murmured.
For the first time in years, he felt something like true tiredness.
Not the fatigue of working too much.
But the fatigue of looking for something that perhaps I would never find.
Two weeks later, Alejandro made a decision that surprised everyone in his company.
He canceled three important meetings.
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