Chapter 5 - THE POLICE AT THE GATE
"You're spying on me?!" Beatriz shrieked, her guilt transforming instantly into raw, cornered, venomous rage. "You had me followed?!"
"I didn't have you followed, Beatriz," I said, my voice deadpan and icy. "My corporate risk division flagged your Gibraltar shell company three weeks ago when Javier de la Vega attempted to use my proprietary commercial land deeds as collateral for a twelve-million-euro bridge loan in London."
Beatriz’s eyes widened in sheer, paralyzed horror.
"Javier told me the deeds were public domain!" she screamed, tears of ruined arrogance spilling down her cheeks. "He said you had transferred the development rights into a secondary holding trust! He told me we could force you into a twenty-million-euro settlement before you returned from Dubai!"
"Javier lied to you," a deep, booming voice echoed from the terrace stairs.
Stepping onto the terrace, wearing a dark three-piece suit, was Mateo Cruz, flanked by four armed officers from the Policía Nacional and Senior Inspector Ramos from the Special Economic and Financial Crimes Unit.
Inspector Ramos stepped forward, pulling an embossed judicial warrant from his leather binder.
"Doña Beatriz Moreno de Vega," Inspector Ramos announced cleanly in formal Spanish. "Under an emergency warrant issued by the High Court of Andalusia, you are under arrest for Aggravated Child Abuse, Corporate Embezzlement, Forgery of Commercial Instruments, and Criminal Conspiracy to Defraud."
Beatriz backed against the stone balustrade, thrashing her arms wildly. "Get away from me! Do you know who my family is?! My father was a magistrate in Seville! Alejandro, tell them to stop! I am your wife!"
"You ceased being my wife the second you put a trash bag into my daughter's hands, Beatriz," I said, looking at her with absolute, diamond-hard detachment.
Two female officers moved forward with practiced efficiency.
CLICK. CLICK.
The cold stainless-steel handcuffs locked tightly over Beatriz’s wrists, pinning her arms behind her silk dress.
"Alejandro! You monster!" Beatriz wailed as she was dragged toward the terrace stairs, her high heels stumbling on the stone. "You will never see the end of this! My lawyers will drag your name through every tabloid in Europe!"
"Your lawyers won't have any money to file motions, Beatriz," Mateo Cruz said smoothly, holding up a tablet. "The judge signed an emergency freezing order on every single bank account associated with you and Javier de la Vega fifteen minutes ago."
May you like
As her hysterical screams faded down the grand staircase and into the police transport waiting at the front gates, the heavy silence returned to the terrace.
I stood by the balustrade, looking out at the calm Mediterranean sea beneath the rising stars, taking my first clean, completely free breath in ninety days.
