Chapter 5 - Shadows and Threats
I felt a cold sweat break out across my neck as I stared at the photograph on my phone. I immediately pulled the curtains shut, called the floor security guards, and had my mother moved to an unlisted room on a higher floor under an assumed name.
Jorge Mendoza wasn't just fighting with lawyers; he was fighting with terror.
The next morning, I met Valeria at a quiet café near the Supreme Court. Her face was pale, and she had dark circles under her eyes.
"They threw a brick through my office window last night, Alejandro," she said, sipping her black coffee. "Attached was a warning from the State Prosecutor's office suggesting that my law license might be suspended due to 'procedural irregularities.'"
"He's buying off the authorities," I said, clenching my fists.
"Of course he is," Valeria replied, her voice steadying. "But Mendoza made a critical mistake. He thinks he can intimidate us because we're playing by the rules of civil law. He forgets that Karina is still sitting in a remand cell facing criminal charges."
"Has she said anything?"
"She was keeping quiet until yesterday," Valeria explained, pulling a thin file from her briefcase. "When Mendoza’s lawyers realized the public fallout was damaging his company, they cut Karina loose. They filed a statement claiming she acted entirely on her own, without the company’s knowledge or approval."
I stared at her in disbelief. "They threw her under the bus?"
"Mendoza cares about one thing: himself and his empire. Karina was just a tool. And now that she realizes her uncle has abandoned her to face ten years in prison for elder abuse and forgery, she is furious."
"Will she testify against him?"
"She will—if we offer her a plea bargain," Valeria said. "I spoke with the lead prosecutor. If Karina provides hard evidence that Jorge Mendoza ordered her to marry you, search for the deed, and withhold your mother’s medication to induce dementia, the state will reduce her sentence."
"I want her in prison, Valeria," I said, my voice heavy with emotion. "She tortured my mother."
"She will still go to prison, Alejandro," Valeria promised, reaching across the table to place her hand over mine. "She won't walk free. But her testimony is the key that opens the prison cell for Jorge Mendoza himself. Without her, Mendoza stays behind his army of lawyers. With her, he goes down for conspiracy, attempted murder, and corporate fraud."
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I thought of my mother’s bruised wrists, her trembling lips, her tears as she begged for mercy over a bowl of soup.
"Let's talk to Karina," I said.
