Chapter 4 - The Bitter RetaliationThe threat of the video and the looming presence of the law kept Doña Carmen and Patricia quiet for exactly twelve hours. By the next morning, they had packed three designer suitcases each, throwing furious, silent glares at Mariana and the children as they dragged their belongings out to Patricia’s brand-new SUV.
"This isn't over, Diego," Patricia hissed as she threw her bags into the trunk. "You think you can just throw your own mother onto the street? In Mexico, family values still mean something. We will see what the family court says about this."
"The family court?" Diego asked, leaning against the iron gate of his mansion, his arms crossed over his chest. "I’m sure the judge will be very interested to hear how a grandmother forced two children to eat scraps beside trash cans while she spent nine hundred thousand dollars of stolen money. Go ahead, Patricia. File the papers."
Patricia slammed the car door, and the SUV screeched away, leaving a cloud of dust in the quiet street of Lomas de Chapultepec.
For the first time in five years, the house belonged to those who had actually paid for it in tears and sweat. Diego spent the afternoon changing every lock on the property. He hired a new private security team, paid in cash, with strict instructions never to allow Doña Carmen, Patricia, or anyone associated with them past the front gate.
Inside, the healing began. Diego helped Mariana wash her hair, gently untangling the knots that had formed over months of neglect. He bought new clothes, shoes, and toys for Valeria and Mateo, filling the empty mansion with the sound of children’s laughter for the first time in half a decade.
But Doña Carmen was not a woman who accepted defeat easily.
While Diego was out buying fresh groceries with his family, Doña Carmen was sitting in a smoky diner downtown, meeting with a man named Héctor "El Tiburón" Vargas. Héctor was a notorious local loan shark and a fixer who specialized in disputing property titles through corrupt judges.
"My son has gone crazy, Héctor," Doña Carmen wept, dabbing her dry eyes with a silk handkerchief. "He came back from the US with a head full of radical ideas. He threw me out of my own home—the home he bought for me. He's threatening to ruin my reputation with a fake video."
Héctor sucked on a toothpick, looking at the copy of the property deed Doña Carmen had slid across the table. It was the forged document Licenciado Alatorre had prepared before he fled.
"The signature on this power of attorney is very good, Carmen," Héctor said, a greasy smile stretching across his face. "With the right judge, we can argue that the transfer was already finalized before Diego returned. If we tie the property up in a civil dispute, the court will order a temporary eviction of the current occupants until the trial is resolved."
"And how long will that take?" Patricia asked eagerly.
May you like
"Years," Héctor grinned. "And during those years, my associates can manage the property. For a small fee of forty percent of the house's value, of course."
Doña Carmen didn't hesitate. "Do it. I want that girl and those bratty kids back in the mud where they belong."
