Chapter 7 - The Trial Begins
The autumn air in Mexico City was crisp as the black armored vans of the Federal Penitentiary system navigated the heavy traffic toward the Palacio de Justicia.
Inside one of the vans sat Adrián Salgado. His hair was unwashed, dark circles bruised the skin beneath his hollow eyes, and the tailored Brioni suits that had once defined his public persona had been replaced by the rough, coarse fabric of a federal prisoner’s uniform.
When the van doors swung open, a wall of camera shutters blinded him instantly.
The trial of the decade was about to begin.
Journalists from every major network in Latin America crowded the courthouse steps, shouting questions that cut through the morning chill like broken glass.
“Señor Salgado! Is it true your entire company was a front funded by your ex-wife’s family?”
“Do you have any comment on the embezzlement charges filed by the Mendoza trust?”
“Where is Mariana? Have you spoken to your son?”
Adrián didn't answer. He couldn't. His lips were parched, his mind broken by ninety days of isolation and the crushing realization that his entire identity had been an illusion borrowed from a woman he had underestimated.
As federal marshals dragged him through the bronze doors of the courtroom, he caught a glimpse of a giant television screen mounted across the plaza. A financial news broadcast was running a retrospective on the rise and fall of Grupo Salgado.
And there, standing on the screen in a sharp charcoal blazer, her dark hair catching the sunlight, was Valeria.
She wasn’t hiding behind dark sunglasses. She wasn’t shrinking away from the cameras. She was flanked by her brothers and a team of senior corporate executives, announcing the launch of the Mendoza Women’s Initiative—a billion-dollar fund designed to back independent female founders.
The reporter’s voiceover echoed across the plaza: “...Valeria Mendoza Garza, true heir to one of the most powerful financial dynasties in Mexico, steps forward as the sole architect of the new economic era, proving that true power doesn’t need to shout to be heard.”
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Adrián stumbled, nearly falling against the metal detector as the guards shoved him forward into the holding cells below the courtroom.
He had wanted a trophy wife who wouldn't overshadow his ambition. Instead, he had awakened a sleeping giant.
