Chapter 3 - The Mid-Night Audit
At 1:30 a.m., Roberto was awakened by the frantic ringing of his phone. Irritated, he reached for it, expecting his father again. Instead, the screen displayed the name of his company’s chief financial officer.
"Roberto! Wake up!" the CFO screamed into the receiver, panic laced in his voice. "We’re being liquidated! Every single one of our primary investors just pulled their funding simultaneously. The bank is freezing our corporate accounts!"
Roberto bolted upright in bed, cold sweat breaking out across his forehead. "What? That’s impossible! Who bought them out?"
"We don't know!" the CFO cried. "It's a blind trust registered under the name 'Rosario's Legacy'. Roberto, if we don't find twenty million dollars by tomorrow morning, we are bankrupt. We lose everything!"
Simultaneously, across town at a high-end nightclub, Carmen’s phone vibrated. She ignored it, laughing with her friends, until her husband frantically called her. "Carmen, get home right now! The landlord just served us an eviction notice for our luxury penthouse! He says the property was sold an hour ago to an anonymous buyer, and we have forty-eight hours to vacate!"
Terrified and confused, Carmen and Roberto furiously texted each other, realizing a coordinated strike was destroying their lives. Suddenly, both of their phones chimed with a synchronized text message from an unknown number.
It was a video file.
With trembling fingers, Roberto opened it. The video showed a roaring party at El Rincón de los Milagros. In the center of the frame sat their father, Don Ignacio, looking sharper and more commanding than they had seen him in a decade. Flanking him was El Chivo and a dozen formidable-looking men.
Ignacio looked directly into the camera, holding up a glass of tequila. His voice was no longer that of a fragile, abandoned old man. It was steady, iron-clad, and chilling.
May you like
"Happy birthday to me, my children," Ignacio said calmly. "Since you were too busy for dinner, I decided to finally manage my assets. I gave you forty years to prove you loved me for who I am, not what you thought I lacked. You failed. Come to my house tomorrow at noon. Let’s see how much your soccer games and your friends matter now."
The video cut to black.
