Chapter 7 - The Collapse of the Socialite"Security!" Beatriz screamed, jumping out of her chair so violently she knocked her glass of water over, soaking her expensive designer jacket. "SECURITY! GET THIS CRAZY WOMAN OUT OF HERE!"
The heavy oak doors of the boardroom swung open.
Four uniformed officers from the Federal Ministerial Police stepped into the room, accompanied by two internal security guards.
"Señora Beatriz Salgado? Señor Oscar Mendoza?" the lead officer asked, pulling out a set of steel handcuffs.
"This is an outrage!" Beatriz shrieked, backing away toward the glass windows. "I am a high-society woman! My son is an executive! You can't touch me! Mauricio! MAURICIO!"
The side door behind Valeria opened.
Mauricio walked into the room. He didn't look at his mother. He didn't look at Oscar. He walked straight over to Valeria’s side, stood behind her chair, and placed a supportive hand on her shoulder.
"Mauricio!" Beatriz sobbed, extending her hands frantically toward him. "Tell them! Tell them to stop this! Your wife has gone mad! She’s trying to put your own mother in prison!"
Mauricio looked down at his mother. His eyes were completely dead. No anger. No sadness. Just absolute, total indifference.
"I called the police, Mom," Mauricio said softly.
Beatriz froze as if hit by a physical blow. "What... what did you say?"
"I was the one who provided the bank logs and the recorded phone calls between you and Oscar," Mauricio revealed, his voice steady and sharp. "I handed the evidence to the prosecutor this morning."
"You... you traitor!" Ximena’s voice suddenly shrieked from the hallway.
Ximena came bursting through the door, pursued by a building guard. She had tried to sneak into the executive suite to find her mother.
"Mauricio, how could you do this to us?!" Ximena wept, her makeup running down her face in black streaks. "We are your blood! We are your real family!"
"Family doesn't insult the people who give them a home," Mauricio snapped, his voice echoing across the room like a thunderclap. "Family doesn't try to steal everything my wife worked for! You two spent years living like parasites, looking down on honest, hardworking people while sucking the blood out of Valeria’s sacrifice!"
The police officers stepped forward.
CLICK-CLACK.
The steel handcuffs snapped shut around Beatriz’s wrists.
"Get your hands off me!" Beatriz screamed, writhing wildly as the officers pulled her arms behind her back. "Ximena! Call the newspapers! Call the television networks! Tell them Valeria Ortega is a monster!"
"Actually, Señora," the lead officer said dryly, "the media is already downstairs. Someone leaked the story about your attempted corporate embezzlement half an hour ago."
Ximena pulled out her phone, her hands shaking violently.
Her screen was exploding with thousands of notifications.
A prominent Mexican news portal had just published a front-page article:
[EXCLUSIVE: FAKE HIGH-SOCIETY MATRIARCH ARRESTED FOR $850K FRAUD AFTER ATTEMPTING TO EVICT BENEFACATOR’S HUMBLE FAMILY]
Attached to the article was the viral video—recorded by a neighbor in Valle de Bravo—showing Beatriz shoving Don Ernesto’s old suitcase with her high heel and yelling at them to leave.
Underneath, Ximena’s social media accounts were being swarmed by hundreds of thousands of comments:
"Look at the fake millionaire!"
"She kicked out old people who sold their cows to build a business!"
"Disgusting parasites!"
"Cancel Ximena Salgado!"
Every single sponsor, every luxury brand deal, every high-fashion contract Ximena had spent years building vanished in a matter of seconds as brands publicly severed ties with her on Twitter.
"My followers..." Ximena gasped, collapsing to the floor in tears. "Everything is gone..."
"Take them away," Valeria said quietly, turning her back on them.
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As Beatriz was dragged down the hallway, screaming, swearing, and kicking, her designer shoes slipping off her feet on the polished floor, Valeria didn't feel triumph.
She just felt peace.
