Chapter 14 - The Boardroom Trap
Marcela disappeared for forty-eight hours.
Then she resurfaced publicly.
At Aranda Desarrollos headquarters.
She walked into an emergency board meeting with three attorneys and announced that Alejandro was mentally unfit to lead the company.
The room exploded.
Marcela claimed Valeria had manipulated him.
She said federal investigators were using fabricated evidence.
She presented medical records suggesting Valeria suffered from anxiety and paranoia.
The records were Dr. Salgado’s falsified documents.
Alejandro stared at his sister across the long glass table.
“You know those records are under criminal investigation.”
Marcela smiled.
“Allegedly.”
Board members shifted uncomfortably.
Then Marcela made her real move.
She produced a trust amendment.
According to the document, Ricardo had granted temporary voting control to Marcela if Alejandro brought criminal exposure upon the family company.
Alejandro looked at the signature.
His father’s name.
Valeria, who attended by video from the apartment, leaned closer to the screen.
“Zoom in.”
Alejandro looked at her.
“What?”
“The signature.”
An assistant enlarged it.
Valeria studied the page.
“It’s fake.”
Marcela laughed.
“You’re an art conservator, not a handwriting expert.”
“No.”
Valeria replied.
“But I know paper.”
Everyone went silent.
“The document is dated seven years ago.”
“The watermark belongs to a paper manufacturer that changed its corporate mark four years ago.”
Marcela’s smile vanished.
Valeria continued.
“And the ink around Ricardo’s signature has feathering consistent with a high-solvent printer process.”
“That document was created recently.”
Alejandro looked at his sister.
“You forged Dad’s signature.”
Marcela stood.
“This meeting is over.”
The boardroom doors opened.
Agent Camila Reyes entered with federal officers.
“No.”
Camila said.
“I think it’s finally getting interesting.”
Marcela looked toward the opposite exit.
Two officers blocked it.
Camila held up an arrest warrant.
“Marcela Aranda, you are under arrest in connection with trafficking stolen cultural property, unlawful confinement, evidence tampering, conspiracy, and the death of Ricardo Aranda.”
Marcela’s face changed.
For one second, she looked like the frightened young woman who had lived in her father’s shadow.
Then the mask returned.
“You have nothing.”
Camila nodded toward the trust document.
“We have more every hour.”
Marcela looked at Alejandro.
“You’re going to let them do this?”
Alejandro answered quietly.
“You did this.”
Officers approached.
Marcela stepped back.
Then she said something nobody expected.
“If I go down, Mother goes down too.”
Esther, who had been watching from the rear of the room, went completely still.
Marcela smiled.
“You think she only covered up Dad’s death afterward?”
May you like
She looked directly at Alejandro.
“She knew before he got into the car.”
