Chapter 4 - The Montero Counter-AttackWhile Alejandro and Mariela locked themselves in the study, reconstructing the shattered pieces of the Villareal empire’s compliance records, the Montero family was organizing a brutal retaliation.
Isabela had not spent the night in a police cell. Her father, Don Fernando Montero, a ruthless old-school patriarch with deep ties to the corrupt elements of the state judiciary, had pulled enough strings to secure her immediate release on a technicality regarding the arrest warrant's filing time.
Inside the heavily guarded Montero estate in the exclusive sector of Puerta de Hierro, Isabela paced the length of her father's office, her face distorted with rage.
"He's going to ruin us, Papa!" she screamed, throwing a crystal vase against the wall, shattering it into a thousand pieces. "He has the audit files! That little rat Mariela dug up everything. If Alejandro hands those papers to the federal prosecutor, we lose the shipping lines, we lose the warehouses, and the syndicate will kill us for compromising the routes!"
Don Fernando, a heavy-set man with cold, calculating eyes and a thick gray mustache, sat calmly behind his desk, puffing on a Cuban cigar. "Calm yourself, Isabela. You let your pathetic jealousy blind you. Dragging the girl by the hair in front of the governor? Foolish. You handed Alejandro the perfect excuse to declare war."
"I want her dead, Papa! I want them both destroyed!"
"Death is sloppy, and it brings the federal police to our doorstep," Fernando said, blowing a ring of gray smoke into the air. "We don't kill Alejandro Villareal. We neutralize him. We strip him of his power so that his evidence becomes useless noise."
He leaned forward, tapping a thick manila folder on his desk. "Alejandro thinks he is invincible because he controls the real estate market in Jalisco. But he forgets who owns the banks that fund his developments. I spoke with the regional director of Banco Occidental this morning. The Villareal Group has a massive three-hundred-million-dollar credit line due for renewal in exactly five days. If that renewal is denied, his projects stall, his stock collapses, and the board of directors will be forced to oust him as CEO."
Isabela’s eyes lit up with a wicked gleam. "And who takes over if he is ousted?"
"The board is greedy. They want stability," Fernando smiled slowly. "We have already bought the allegiance of three major board members. If Alejandro falls, we put our man, Federico Luna, in the big chair. Once Federico is in control, the audit papers disappear, Mariela goes to prison for corporate espionage, and you, my dear daughter, will file for a multi-million-dollar divorce settlement, claiming Alejandro used his power to frame you due to his ongoing affair with a servant."
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Isabela laughed, a harsh, grating sound. "The narrative is perfect. The public loves a story about a wealthy, arrogant man abusing his faithful wife for a younger woman. But Papa... what about the documents Alejandro already has? What if he leaks them to the press?"
"Let him leak them," Fernando scoffed. "The media companies are owned by our friends. We will run a counter-campaign. We will paint the documents as forged fabrications created by a corrupt accountant—this Mariela—who has a criminal record we are currently... manufacturing."
