Chapter 5 - The Frozen Inheritance
The signing took less than two minutes, but to Rodrigo, every stroke of the pen felt like signing his own execution order. As soon as the final line was drawn, Laura Méndez pulled the papers back, verified the signatures, and stamped them with an official legal seal.
"Congratulations, Mr. Beltrán," Laura said without a hint of warmth. "You are officially no longer affiliated with Grupo Beltrán Automotriz. You have three hours to vacate your corporate office. Any personal belongings left behind after 2:00 PM will be liquidated to satisfy outstanding administrative fees."
Rodrigo slowly stood up, looking like a ghost of the man who had shoved his wife into a cake less than fourteen hours earlier. "And... and the house? Where is my mother supposed to go?"
Mariana stood up, smoothing her suit jacket. "The eviction order for the Las Lomas residence stands. You have until tomorrow evening at 6:00 PM to pack your personal clothing. The furniture, the artwork, and the silver stay. They were cataloged as asset security under the 2020 refinancing agreement."
Doña Graciela let out a ragged, choked cry, clutching her chest. "You are a monster, Mariana! A heartless, vindictive monster! God will punish you for doing this to an old woman!"
Mariana turned to face Doña Graciela, her expression unreadable. "God didn't put your face in a cake, Graciela. You did that to yourself the moment you decided that kindness was something to be trampled on. You have a small apartment in Guadalajara registered under your maiden name. I haven't seized that. You can live there comfortably on your basic state pension—the same state pension you once sneered at when my grandmother mentioned it."
Without waiting for a response, Mariana turned her back on them and walked toward her private inner office.
"Mariana!" Rodrigo shouted after her, taking a desperate step forward before the guards blocked him again. "Mariana, please! What about us?! Eight years! We were married for eight years!"
Mariana stopped at the door, turning her head just enough to look at him over her shoulder.
"We weren't married for eight years, Rodrigo," she said softly. "You were married to my money. And I was married to an illusion. Today, we both got a divorce from reality."
The heavy mahogany doors closed between them, leaving Rodrigo and Doña Graciela standing in the vast, echoing marble hallway, completely broke and stripped of everything they had built on a foundation of lies.
By 1:00 PM, Celeste Rivera was standing outside her high-end fashion boutique in the trendy Polanco district. Two burly men in locksmith uniforms were changing the heavy brass padlocks on the glass doors while a private security guard stood nearby holding a red legal notice.
"You can't do this!" Celeste screamed, pounding her manicured hands against the glass. "This is my shop! My name is on the sign!"
"Miss Rivera," the security officer said calmly, pulling a document from his folder. "The commercial lease for Celeste Rivera Design Atelier was signed by Grupo Beltrán Automotriz as guarantor. The lease guarantee was revoked this morning due to corporate insolvency. Furthermore, a court-ordered lien has been placed on all inventory inside the store to satisfy unpaid vendor invoices totaling three hundred and forty thousand dollars."
"Call Rodrigo!" Celeste shrieked to her assistant, who was standing on the sidewalk holding two designer handbags. "Call him right now! Where is he?!"
"I’ve been calling him for two hours, Celeste!" the assistant cried, holding up her phone. "His phone is disconnected! And... and have you looked online?"
"Looked at what?!" Celeste snatched the phone from her assistant's hand.
On the screen was a live breaking news feed from El Financiero:
BREAKING NEWS: GRUPO BELTRÁN FILED FOR CHAPTER 11 BANKRUPTCY; EX-CEO RODRIGO BELTRÁN STEPPING DOWN AMID MASSIVE EMBEZZLEMENT INVESTIGATION; ALCÁZAR CAPITAL ASSUMES FULL CONTROL.
Underneath the headline was a photo of Rodrigo leaving the Méndez & Associates building, his head hung low, dodging reporters, looking entirely defeated.
Celeste’s heart dropped into her stomach. The color drained from her face. The wealth, the status, the luxury trips to Miami, the promise of becoming the main lady of a multi-million-dollar empire—it was all evaporating like mist in the afternoon sun.
Just then, a rusted, battered taxi pulled up to the curb. Rodrigo stepped out, looking disheveled and frantic. He didn't even have enough cash to pay the driver; he had to dig through his pockets to hand the man a handful of loose coins and his silver watch.
"Rodrigo!" Celeste ran up to him, grabbing his jacket. "What is going on?! The news says the company is gone! My shop is locked! My credit card didn't work at the salon!"
Rodrigo looked at her, his eyes hollow and dead. The glamorous mistress who had looked so alluring in the dim lighting of the birthday party now seemed loud, demanding, and utterly insufferable.
"It’s gone, Celeste," Rodrigo said, his voice flat and lifeless. "Everything is gone."
"What do you mean, gone?!" she shrieked, slapping his chest. "Fix it! You’re Rodrigo Beltrán! Call your lawyers! Call your mother’s friends!"
"My mother is currently packing her bags into cardboard boxes!" Rodrigo snapped, his voice rising into a cracked yell. "There are no lawyers! There are no friends! It was all Mariana! It was ALWAYS Mariana! The house, the cars, your shop, your diamond bracelet—she owned ALL OF IT!"
Celeste froze, staring at him as if he had suddenly spoken in a foreign language. "She... she owned my shop?"
"She owned the dirt you’re standing on!" Rodrigo yelled, tears of humiliation finally bursting from his eyes. "And now she’s taken it back! Every single bit of it!"
Celeste stepped back from him, her eyes wide with horror. She looked at his wrinkled suit, his messy hair, his complete lack of power, and realized instantly that the illusion was over.
"You idiot," Celeste whispered, her tone turning venomous. "You stupid, arrogant idiot. You had the richest heiress in the city as your wife, and you traded her for... for nothing!"
"I traded her for YOU!" Rodrigo roared.
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"Well, you can take me back off your balance sheet!" Celeste spat, taking off the diamond ring he had given her two months ago and throwing it directly at his face. The ring bounced off his cheek and rolled into a dirty storm drain on the street. "Don't ever call me again!"
She spun around on her high heels and walked away down the street, leaving Rodrigo standing alone on the sidewalk in front of her locked boutique, while passersby pulled out their phones to record the fallen executive weeping on the curb.
