1/The Maid’s Little Girl Painted the Sleeping Millionaire’s Face… Then Uncovered the Secret Hidden Inside His Mansion

The next morning, the sun broke through the mountain mist, casting brilliant golden beams across the Ajusco forest.

While Lucía played happily on the wooden deck outside, chasing colorful mountain butterflies with Panquecito, Alejandro and Mariana sat at the cabin’s dining table surrounded by secure satellite laptops and encrypted communication devices.

On the main screen was a video call with Victoria Vance, the formidable international corporate attorney who served as the chief legal counsel for the Santillán Group’s charitable foundation.

"Alejandro, the situation in the city is chaotic," Victoria reported through the encrypted speaker. "Ernesto held an emergency press conference two hours ago. He claimed that you have suffered a nervous breakdown, that you've absconded with a domestic worker and her child, and he is petitioning the board to execute Emergency Clause 4B to seize full voting control of the conglomerate."

Alejandro took a slow sip of black coffee, his expression entirely calm. "Let him dig his own grave, Victoria. Did you retrieve the hard drives from my basement archive?"

"Rodrigo secured them thirty minutes before Ernesto’s team obtained a search warrant for the estate," Victoria confirmed, holding up a sleek black metallic drive. "The complete financial logs of the Santa Maria Clinic, the altered clinical trial records, and Mateo's signed affidavit are all safe in my possession."

"Good," Alejandro said, his eyes gleaming with lethal precision. "We don't just defend ourselves, Victoria. We launch a total counter-strike. Call an extraordinary general meeting of the Santillán Group board of directors for tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. at the corporate headquarters in Santa Fe."

Mariana looked at Alejandro with concern. "Alejandro... if you go into that boardroom, Ernesto will have his security team and corrupt police officers waiting for you. It's a trap."

"Of course it's a trap," Alejandro replied with a cool, sharp smile. "Ernesto thinks he holds all the cards because he controls the public narrative. He thinks I am hiding in fear."

He turned to look at Mariana, reaching across the table to take her hand in his.

"Tomorrow morning, Mariana, you and Lucía are walking into that boardroom with me," Alejandro said. "Because Lucía is not just Mateo’s daughter. Under my father's original will, Mateo’s direct blood heirs hold fifty-one percent of the voting shares of the entire Santillán Group trust upon reaching adulthood—shares that Ernesto has been illegally managing since Mateo’s death."

Mariana’s eyes widened in shock. "What?!"

"Ernesto didn't just want to eliminate Lucía because she proved his crimes at Santa Maria," Alejandro revealed. "He wanted to eliminate her because the moment her legal identity as Mateo’s daughter is validated by a DNA court order, Ernesto loses every dollar, every company, and every ounce of power he has stolen over the last decade."

Mariana looked out the window at her daughter, who was giggling as she tried to catch a yellow butterfly on the wooden railing.