Chapter 12 - The Blackmailer's LedgerAlejandro picked up a thick leather-bound binder resting on a metal desk in the center of the vault. As he flipped through the pages, his breath caught in his throat.
Every major real estate deal he had closed over the past decade, every competitive bidding war he had won—Teresa had manipulated them from the shadows. She had fed insider information to rival conglomerates, sabotaged his corporate reputation whenever he resisted her influence, and slowly orchestrated the financial isolation of the Ríos family.
"She wasn't just after Lucía's inheritance," Valeria said softly, stepping down into the vault beside him. She had walked in quietly, leaving Mateo under the supervision of a trusted new nanny. "She was positioning herself to take over everything. If Mr. Ríos fell, the company fell with him. And she would have been the power behind the throne."
Alejandro closed the binder with a heavy thud, his hands shaking slightly. "I was blind. I thought I was the one running this empire. All this time, I was just a puppet in a house built on sand."
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"You were grieving, and she was a predator," Valeria replied, her voice firm and compassionate. "Rich houses hide a lot of things, Mr. Ríos, but they can't stay dark forever when someone finally turns on the light."
"The federal authorities need to see this," Alejandro said, his eyes hardening with resolve. "Every single person she manipulated, every crime she committed—it ends today."
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