Chapter 1 - THE BAIT ON THE SILK SHEETS
Ricardo Garza lay frozen on his custom king-size bed, submerged in a sea of five million dollars in cold, crisp cash, waiting for his humble housekeeper, Carmen, to succumb to temptation. For 58 years, Ricardo had built an empire on suspicion, convinced that everyone had a price and loyalty was a myth whispered by fools. Urged on by his glamorous, calculating 28-year-old fiancée, Valeria, who constantly accused Carmen of thievery out of pure malice, Ricardo decided to run a sick psychological test. He scattered the stacks of bills across his silk sheets, closed his eyes, and set up two hidden HD cameras to capture the exact moment Carmen broke. When the bedroom door finally opened, he heard soft footsteps followed by a sharp gasp of shock, confirming that Carmen had seen the fortune. But before the sound of stealing could begin, the sharp, hurried click of expensive high-end heels echoed across the marble floor—a sound belonging not to a struggling single mother, but to someone else entirely. Suddenly, frantic hands began snatching the bundles of cash inches from Ricardo's face, accompanied by the heavy, suffocating cloud of an expensive French perfume he knew all too well. Without opening his eyes, a spike of pure, freezing dread shot through his chest as he realized the hidden cameras were recording everything, and the person failing his malicious trap was not the poor housekeeper he had intended to frame, but Valeria herself.
