Chapter 9 - ROOTS AND CIRCUITSThe legal proceedings officially concluded on a crisp autumn afternoon in Mexico City.
Julián Márquez stood before a federal district judge in a gray holding jumpsuit, listening impassionately as his sentence was read aloud: twelve years in a maximum-security federal penitentiary for financial fraud, corporate extortion, and attempted poisoning. His high-priced defense attorneys didn't even bother filing an appeal; the digital evidence Mariana had extracted was so ironclad that every shell company, forged signature, and corrupt notary linked to his syndicate was exposed beyond any legal defense.
Back in Querétaro, the old family home had never felt more peaceful.
Mariana had taken a temporary leave of absence from her corporate firm in the capital to spend the autumn months helping her father remodel the house. Together, they replaced the old electrical wiring behind the kitchen walls—a project Ernesto insisted on overseeing down to the last copper strand.
—You know, Dad—Mariana said, wiping a smudge of dust from her cheek as she handed her father a spool of electrical tape in the hallway—you never told me how you actually found out about Julián’s plan in the first place. I knew he was shady, but you caught onto the poisoning plot before anyone else could have guessed.
Ernesto paused, cutting a length of wire with his pliers, a knowing glint in his eyes.
—Hija, when you’ve spent forty years working in heavy industrial plants, you learn to spot human short circuits long before they spark. Julián was always too smooth, too eager to sign things away that didn't belong to him. When I saw him talking on that burner phone behind the local hardware store three weeks ago, I knew he was planning a power surge. I just made sure our safety switches were in place before he tried to flip the main breaker.
Mariana smiled, leaning her head against her father’s shoulder.
May you like
—Well, your wiring held up just fine.
—Always does—Ernesto grinned, wrapping an arm around her.—Now, hand me that screwdriver. Let's finish this panel before sunset. We’ve got a family dinner to celebrate tonight.
