Chapter 2 - The Family Business
Alejandro stood up, his tall frame trembling with unbridled rage. He positioned himself squarely between his wife and his mother.
"What did you do to her, Mother?" Alejandro’s voice was a low, lethal growl. "Look at her! What did you do?!"
Esther didn't even blink. She walked over to the mahogany vanity and picked up a crystal perfume bottle, examining it carelessly.
"She stumbled into things that didn't concern her," Esther said softly. "Valeria is an art conservator, Alejandro. She's too curious for her own good. She was hired to inspect your grandfather’s old estate paintings, but instead, she dug into the underlying deeds stored in the basement vault."
Marcela stepped forward, holding up a stack of medical reports. "We gave her a heavy neurological sedative to keep her quiet, brother. The burns? That was an unfortunate side effect of a localized chemical disinfectant when she tried to break out of the basement three days ago."
"You poisoned my pregnant wife?!" Alejandro screamed, lunging toward Marcela.
The two guards immediately stepped forward, drawing stun weapons, but Alejandro knocked the first guard back with a heavy right hook, forcing the second guard to hesitate.
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"Listen to me, son!" Esther snapped, her calm composure finally cracking into cold arrogance. "Your grandfather didn't build this empire through real estate! He built it by liquidating stolen cultural antiquities during the war! And Valeria found the original ledger—the ledger that proves every stock you own in Aranda Enterprises belongs to the original historical trusts, not us!"
Esther looked at Valeria with pure hatred. "If that ledger goes public, our family loses every cent. You go to prison, Alejandro. Aranda Enterprises vanishes overnight. We did what was necessary to protect the legacy."
