Chapter 13 - THE BELLMAN
Mateo Cruz was Héctor’s nephew.
Héctor admitted it immediately.
He had arranged for the case to be delivered to Arturo.
Mariana stared at him.
“You framed him?”
“No.”
“Then explain the part where you secretly put stolen property in his hotel room.”
Héctor looked exhausted.
“Arturo stole the case months ago.”
“Can you prove it?”
“No.”
“So you stole it back?”
“Yes.”
“And planted it?”
“I wanted police to find it.”
Octavio swore under his breath.
Héctor had contaminated the cleanest piece of evidence against Arturo.
His fear had become sabotage.
Prosecutors were furious.
Arturo’s lawyer celebrated publicly.
The affair scandal began shifting.
Headlines now asked whether Mariana’s allies had orchestrated a trap.
She had not.
But perception did not care.
Mariana held a press conference.
She disclosed Héctor’s admission.
A reporter shouted:
“Are you losing control of your own people?”
Mariana answered:
“They are not my people.”
Another reporter asked whether she still believed Arturo committed crimes.
“I believe evidence should decide that.”
Arturo watched from his attorney’s office.
Then sent Mariana a message.
YOU FINALLY LEARNED TO SOUND HUMBLE.
She deleted it.
Not because it did not hurt.
Because answering would give him a room in her day.
The prosecution dropped the theft allegation involving the case but continued investigating other matters.
Arturo remained free.
He started appearing at restaurants with friends.
Smiling.
Performing innocence.
Camila stopped watching.
Mariana tried.
Failed.
One night she saw a photograph of Arturo laughing at a club and threw her phone across the room.
The screen cracked.
She stared at it.
Then laughed.
Thirteen years of marriage.
Hundreds of millions in assets.
Corporate investigations.
A dead worker.
And apparently a nightclub photograph could still turn her into a teenager.
The next morning, Ana called.
Someone had attempted to access the hotel’s old payroll archive using Mariana’s credentials.
Mariana was home.
The login came from Puebla.
May you like
From Sofía’s house.
