Chapter 6 - THE STRIKE BACK
By Wednesday afternoon, the corporate office of Robles Marketing & Media was thrown into absolute chaos.
Julián was sitting in his executive corner office, holding a crystal glass of whiskey, discussing their upcoming trip to Miami with Vanessa, when his assistant rushed into the room without knocking. Her face was chalk-white.
“Mr. Robles! You need to look at the news, and corporate finance is on line one!” she stammered, holding out an iPad.
Julián took the tablet, his brow furrowed in irritation. “What are you talking about? Interrupting my meeting for—”
He stopped talking. On the screen was a breaking financial news headline from the local business journal:
“ROBLES MEDIA FACES MASSIVE ASSET FREEZE: CEO ACCUSED OF MULTI-MILLION-DOLLAR FRAUD AND MARITAL ASSET DISSIPATION.”
Below the headline was a public court notice listing every corporate account tied to the agency, as well as several personal accounts registered under the name of Vanessa Peña, as locked under a federal injunction.
“What is this?!” Vanessa shrieked, snatching the tablet from his hands. She scrolled down rapidly, her manicured fingers trembling violently. “My personal account in Miami is frozen! My credit cards were declined at the boutique thirty minutes ago! Julián, what did you do?!”
Before Julián could answer, the office phone rang incessantly. His lead corporate lawyer barged into the office, looking entirely disheveled, holding a stack of legal notices.
“Julián, we’re completely cooked!” the lawyer shouted, shutting the door behind him. “Licenciada Beatriz Vargas just served us with a comprehensive civil lawsuit and a referral to the State Prosecutor’s Office for grand fraud, forgery, and corporate embezzlement!”
“Beatriz Vargas?” Julián stammered, dropping his whiskey glass onto the carpet, where it shattered into dozens of sharp pieces. “She’s the most expensive divorce attorney in the state! Where did Mariana get the money to hire her? She doesn't have a penny!”
“She didn't hire her,” the lawyer said, looking at Julián with a mixture of pity and utter disgust. “Your mother hired her. Your mother turned over three years of internal server logs, erased backup files, and sworn affidavits detailing your entire offshore operation. She handed them everything on a silver platter!”
Vanessa let out a sharp, hysterical scream. “Your mother?! That old witch put a freeze on my accounts?! I have nothing to do with your marriage!”
“The court documents state that you actively conspired with Julián to defraud his family,” the lawyer corrected her coldly. “They have email records of you explicitly planning to evict his children from their home. The judge viewed those emails as evidence of criminal conspiracy. Vanessa, your name is on the land transfer deeds for the property in Puebla—which means you are named as a primary co-defendant.”
Vanessa turned on Julián like a wounded animal, her eyes wide with blind fury. “You told me this was clean! You told me your wife was an ignorant housewife who wouldn't know how to read a bank statement! You promised me we were going to Miami with three million dollars!”
“Vanessa, calm down!” Julián pleaded, reaching out to touch her arm, but she slapped his hand away with a loud snap.
“Don't touch me!” she screamed. “You ruined my life! My accounts are frozen! My reputation in the industry is destroyed! The firm’s top three corporate clients just canceled their retainers ten minutes ago because of the news coverage!”
“We can fix this!” Julián shouted, his voice cracking with desperation as his entire world crumbled around his ears. “We just need to talk to my mother! She’s doing this to scare me! She’ll soften up if I go see her!”
“She won't soften up, Julián,” his lawyer said quietly, placing a cool hand on his desk. “I spoke with Beatriz Vargas twenty minutes ago. I asked if your mother or wife were open to an out-of-court settlement. Do you know what Mrs. Teresa Robles told her attorney to say?”
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Julián swallowed hard, his heart hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird. “What did she say?”
“She said: ‘Tell my son he can keep his pride, because by the time this trial is over, it will be the only thing he owns.’”
