Chapter 2: The Birthday That Became a Trial
The silence inside the Grand Hotel Reforma felt heavier than the music that had just stopped.
More than two hundred guests watched as Leonardo held his trembling daughter in his arms.
His elegant suit was stained with dust from the alley behind the kitchen.
He didn't care.
Nothing mattered except the frightened little girl clinging to his neck.
His mother slowly placed her champagne glass on the table.
"Leonardo," Aurora said with forced composure. "You're embarrassing this family."
"My family?" Leonardo asked quietly.
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
He turned toward the orchestra.
"Leave."
Within seconds every musician packed their instruments.
The celebration was over.
The investigation had begun.
Don Chuy stepped forward, removing his cap.
"I should have spoken years ago, sir."
Aurora pointed at him furiously.
"You'll never work another day if you open your mouth."
The old driver smiled sadly.
"I'm eighty years old."
"What else can you take from me?"
He faced Leonardo.
"The letter wasn't written by Maribel."
"I drove your mother to a handwriting expert."
"They copied your wife's signature perfectly."
Gasps echoed across the ballroom.
Leonardo felt his knees weaken.
"You... forged it?"
Aurora lifted her chin.
"I did what was necessary."
"That woman wasn't worthy of our family."
Leonardo looked at Renata.
"Did your mother ever try to contact me?"
Renata nodded.
"So many times."
"Grandma's guards pushed her away."
"They said you hated us."
A businessman near the front quietly lowered his phone.
No one dared interrupt.
Leonardo slowly pulled out his own cellphone.
He opened his banking app.
Thirty-six monthly transfers.
One hundred thousand pesos each.
Every payment sent to the same account.
Aurora's account.
His hands began shaking.
Three million six hundred thousand pesos.
Gone.
While his daughter searched through garbage.
He looked directly at his mother.
"Where is the money?"
Aurora didn't answer.
Instead, she smiled.
"It belongs to the family."
"I am the family."
Leonardo's face hardened.
"No."
"You are a thief."
He dialed one number.
"Commander Ruiz?"
"This is Leonardo Cárdenas."
"I need financial crimes investigators at the Gran Hotel Reforma."
May you like
"And an ambulance."
"My daughter's mother is dying."
