Chapter 3 - THE BLOODLINE DINNER"Touch her and I swear to God I'll burn this whole company to the ground!" Mauricio roared, stepping directly between his father's gun and his bride.
Guillermo chuckledâa dry, rattling sound that chilled the air. "Burn it down? My naive boy, you haven't owned Salgado International for three years. Who do you think was approving your board decisions from the shadows? Who do you think orchestrated your 'lung infection' two months ago at MĂ©dica Sur?"
Mauricioâs eyes widened in horror. "What did you say?"
"You were getting too curious about the offshore shell accounts in Panama," Guillermo said nonchalantly, pacing around the room like a predator enjoying his cornered prey. "I needed you incapacitated so my lawyers could transfer your voting shares. I poisoned your tea with ricin-laced toxins, Mauricio. Slowly. Methodically. I intended to kill you and take back full control."
Elena gasped, her grip tightening on Mauricioâs arm. The piece of the puzzle finally clicked.
"Thatâs why he was sick..." Elena whispered, her shock turning into blind fury. "It wasn't a lung infection. You were murdering your own son!"
"And you saved him, didn't you, little maid?" Guillermo sneered. "You flushed his system with herbal remedies and stayed up all night monitoring his oxygen, accidentally ruining my timeline. You were a pest in Zacatecas, and you are a pest now."
Guillermo gestured to his mercenaries. "Tie them up. Bring them down to the dining hall. Itâs time for a proper Salgado family reunion."
Ten minutes later, Mauricio and Elena were bound to heavy wooden chairs at the head of the mansion's long dining table. Sitting opposite them, pouring himself a glass of 1945 Macallan scotch, was Guillermo.
Standing in the corner of the dark room, half-hidden in the shadows, was another figure. When the person stepped into the dim light, Mauricioâs heart shattered into a thousand pieces.
"Mother?" Mauricio choked out.
Beatriz Salgado, dressed in an elegant black velvet evening gown, wouldn't look her son in the eye. She held a crystal glass of wine, her hands shaking slightly, but her face was cold as marble.
"Forgive me, Mauricio," Beatriz said softly. "Your father was right. You are too soft for this world. You fell in love with the servant. You allowed your heart to rule your brain."
"You knew?!" Mauricio screamed, straining against the zip-ties cutting into his wrists. "You knew Dad was alive?! You watched me mourn him for six years! You watched me weep at his empty grave!"
"It was necessary for our protection!" Beatriz snapped, her composure cracking. "The cartel wanted two hundred million dollars! Faking his death was the only way! And now, this... this girl... is going to destroy everything we worked for!"
"She isn't destroying anything! Dad destroyed lives! He murdered her parents!" Mauricio yelled.
Guillermo slammed his glass onto the marble table, shattering the base. "They were peasants standing on top of forty million tons of high-grade copper!" he roared. "Now, Elena... give me the flash drive, or I will order my men in Zacatecas to execute Juan, Pablo, and Lili on a live video call right now."
Guillermo pulled out a tablet and tapped the screen.
A live video feed popped up.
It showed three terrified teenagers tied to wooden chairs inside an abandoned warehouse, surrounded by armed men in ski masks.
Elena began to sob uncontrollably. "No! Please! Not them! They are innocent! They were just children when you burned our house!"
"Then give me the password to the encrypted drive," Guillermo demanded, placing the drive on the table and pointing his gun at her head. "Three seconds. One... Two..."
"Wait!" Elena screamed. "The password is... the date your father burned my family alive: 04-12-2019!"
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Guillermo smiled wickedly. He typed the numbers into his laptop. A green checkmark flashed on the screen: ACCESS GRANTED. DECRYPTION INITIALIZED.
"Good girl," Guillermo whispered. He looked at his captain of security. "Kill the kids in Zacatecas. And eliminate these two."
