Chapter 3 - THE MIDNIGHT SUMMONS AT THE PENTHOUSEAt 3:15 a.m., across town in the exclusive neighborhood of Polanco, the lights inside the penthouse of Ofelia Alcázar—Mauricio's mother—were blazing.
Ofelia sat in her velvet armchair, draped in designer silk, sipping chamomile tea while her daughter, Paulina, scrolled through Instagram on her tablet, occasionally scoffing at pictures of high-society influencers.
“I still can't believe Esteban Salgado had the audacity to die in the middle of social season,” Ofelia complained, waving a diamond-ringed hand dismissively. “Now Mauricio has to waste half his morning attending a dreary wake instead of finalizing the Santa Fe development deal with the municipal delegates. Honestly, that family has always lacked proper breeding.”
“Well, at least Adriana will finally be useful for something,” Paulina added without looking up from her screen. “She can inherit whatever scraps her old man left behind, and we can finally force Mauricio to divorce her and marry Victoria Sada. Victoria's father owns half the agricultural export rights in Jalisco; that's the kind of family we should be connected to, not some old-school merchant dynasty.”
Before Ofelia could reply, the heavy mahogany double doors of the penthouse burst open.
It wasn't the butler.
It was Mauricio.
He looked disheveled. His silk robe was soaked from the rain he had briefly stepped into before grabbing his car keys, his hair was plastered to his forehead, and his eyes were wild and bloodshot.
Ofelia gasped, setting her teacup down with a sharp clatter that stained the antique lace tablecloth.
“Mauricio! What on earth is the meaning of this? Why are you dressed like a homeless man, and where is your wife? Did you leave her at that dreadful hospital?”
Mauricio slammed the door shut, locking it with a heavy click. He leaned against it, chest heaving, looking like a man who had just survived a shipwreck only to realize he was stranded in a sea of sharks.
“Mom... Paulina...” Mauricio choked out, his voice cracking. “We're ruined.”
Paulina finally looked up, rolling her eyes. “Oh, please. Don't be dramatic. Did a client cancel a contract? Write them a check and move on.”
“We can't write checks!” Mauricio shouted, his voice echoing off the high ceilings of the penthouse. “Our accounts are frozen! Every single one of them! Banco Mercantil, BBVA, Santander—all locked! The corporate line has been recalled, the heavy machinery in Toluca is being seized by creditors, and the board of directors has called an emergency quorum for 7:00 a.m. to vote on stripping me of my CEO title!”
Silence descended upon the room. The only sound was the hum of the luxury refrigerator in the open-kitchen concept across the hall.
Ofelia stood up slowly, her face contorted in disbelief and outrage.
“That is absurd! You are Mauricio Alcázar! You graduated top of your class from IPADE! You were featured on the cover of Expansión magazine! Who has the power to freeze your accounts without a court order?”
“Adriana,” Mauricio whispered.
Paulina burst into a shrill, mocking laugh. “Adriana? Our Adriana? The quiet little mouse who spends all her time cooking organic meals, cleaning up after Bruno, and thanking us when we let her sit at the end of the dining table? Mauricio, have you lost your mind? She doesn't even know how to balance a checkbook without asking you for pocket money!”
“She called Cárdenas!” Mauricio yelled, slamming his fist against the doorframe. “She told him to execute Clause One of the trust agreement! Mom... you didn't know. None of us knew. Constructora Alcázar was never ours. It was funded, backed, and sustained every single day by Don Esteban Salgado's private capital network. Adriana wasn't living off our charity... we were living off her inheritance!”
Ofelia staggered back, clutching her chest. Her face turned an alarming shade of pale.
“Esteban Salgado... funded us?” she whispered, the reality crashing down on her like a physical blow. “That old man... he allowed us to treat his daughter like a servant while he was secretly bankrolling our entire lifestyle?”
“And now she's cut the cord,” Mauricio said, sliding down the doorframe until he sat on the floor, burying his face in his hands. “She walked out tonight. She told me I lost the only person who was holding my life together.”
Paulina's phone buzzed aggressively on the table. A news alert banner flashed across the screen from a prominent financial journal:
May you like
BREAKING: Constructora Alcázar Shares Halted Amid Sudden Liquidity Freeze and Executive Audit.
Paulina dropped the tablet. It shattered against the marble floor, mirroring the exact fate of the Alcázar empire.
