Chapter 2 - THE DEVIL’S CONTRACT
Headline: "I Sent $240,000 to Save My Dying Parents—But My Own Uncle Used It to Buy Their Grave!"Emiliano stared at the thick stack of unopened envelopes lying in the red dirt. The gold-embossed letters of his own company logo mocked him from the paper. Inside those envelopes was $240,000—money he had sweated, bled, and sacrificed for in Monterrey, thinking it was keeping his parents safe, fed, and warm.
Instead, they were eating dirt and carrying wood under a lethal sun while his uncle drank 18-year-old scotch on the porch that belonged to his ancestors.
"You monster," Emiliano spat, his voice dropping to a dangerous, low register. "You stole their life. You stole their health. You let my mother rot in a cardboard shack while you sat on my father’s sweat!"
Rogelio didn't even flinch. He slowly stood up, smoothing the front of his silk shirt. He walked down the porch steps, his expensive leather boots crunching on the gravel. He stopped just inches from Emiliano, smelling of high-end alcohol and cheap malice.
"Business is business, nephew," Rogelio whispered, his eyes gleaming with sadistic pleasure. "Your father was weak. He signed the papers. In the eyes of the law, this land is mine. The cattle are mine. Even the air you’re breathing right now on this property is mine."
He tapped the thick stack of envelopes with the toe of his boot.
"And as for your little monthly charity? I intercepted every single letter. To Jacinto and Carmen, you were the selfish son who struck it rich in the big city and forgot the people who gave him life. They think you abandoned them. Do you know how many nights your mother cried herself to sleep, wondering why her precious Emiliano never answered her prayers?"
A red haze descended over Emiliano’s vision. He took a step forward, his fist clenching so hard his knuckles turned white. He wanted to rip the smirk off Rogelio's face.
But suddenly, a firm hand gripped his shoulder.
It was Valeria.
She had stepped out of the SUV, her elegant presence contrasting sharply with the dusty, hostile environment. Her eyes weren't filled with fear anymore; they were filled with a cold, calculating fury.
"Don't, Emiliano," Valeria said, her voice steady and commanding. "That is exactly what he wants. He wants you to assault him so he can call the police and lock you away before you can do anything to help your parents."
Rogelio chuckled, eyeing Valeria up and down with vulgar curiosity. "Ah, the millionaire fiancée. Beautiful. Smart. But let me tell you something, gorgeous—your fancy city lawyers can’t help you here. In this town, I am the law. The mayor is my cousin. The police chief dines at my table. And if your fiancé tries to take this to court..."
Rogelio pulled a folded, yellowed document from his breast pocket. He held it up, just out of Emiliano's reach.
"This is a confession of tax evasion and illegal land sales, signed by Jacinto Salgado himself. If a single lawsuit is filed against me, this document goes straight to the federal prosecutor in Mexico City. Your seventy-year-old father won't survive a single week in a maximum-security prison. So, what’s it going to be, big shot? Are you going to run back to Monterrey with your tail between your legs, or are you going to watch your father die behind bars?"
Emiliano felt the air leave his lungs. The trap was perfect. It was airtight.
"You have twenty-four hours to get out of my town," Rogelio sneered, turning his back on them. "And take those two old bags of bones with you. They’re an eyesore to my estate."
As they walked back to the SUV, Emiliano felt a sense of helplessness he hadn't felt since he was a starving teenager. But as he looked at Valeria, he saw her dialing a number on her phone.
"Who are you calling?" Emiliano asked, his voice hollow.
Valeria looked at him, her eyes burning with a dark, vengeful light.
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"My father’s head of security," she said coldly. "Your uncle thinks he's a king in this little village. He has no idea what happens when you anger the people who actually run this country."
The Chapter 2 Hook: But Valeria’s phone call would unleash a hidden secret about the Salgado family—one that Don Jacinto had kept buried for forty years, and one that would change the entire war.
