Chapter 4 - The Unexpected Visitor
I stared at Mateo in complete disbelief as the words left his mouth.
There was absolutely no logical way Doña Patricia could know I was the owner of Horizonte Capital.
She believed I was a pathetic, uneducated woman who sold cheap apartments for minimum wage.
I walked quickly over to the security monitors mounted on the wall of my office.
I switched the camera feed to the main lobby on the ground floor.
Doña Patricia was standing fiercely by the reception desk, wearing a bright red designer coat and demanding attention.
She looked impatient, tapping her expensive leather shoes against the marble floor.
I zoomed in on the thick envelope she was clutching tightly in her wrinkled hands.
It bore the distinct golden seal of the federal family court system.
I instructed Mateo to go down to the lobby and handle her without revealing my true identity.
I watched the screen as Mateo stepped out of the elevator and introduced himself as the managing director.
Doña Patricia looked him up and down with obvious disdain before shoving the envelope into his chest.
Even without audio, I could tell she was speaking to him with the same venom she usually reserved for me.
Mateo opened the envelope and briefly scanned the documents inside.
He nodded politely to her, offered a fake smile, and promised to deliver the papers to the owner.
Doña Patricia turned on her heel and marched proudly out of the glass building, looking completely victorious.
A few minutes later, Mateo rushed back into my office and threw the legal papers onto my desk.
He looked physically sick as he urged me to read the first page immediately.
I picked up the heavy document and felt a cold shiver run straight down my spine.
It was not a business lawsuit or a real estate dispute regarding the hacienda.
It was an emergency petition for full, immediate custody of Sofía and Valentina.
Andrés had officially filed to strip me of all my maternal rights, claiming I was dangerously unstable and entirely broke.
The document stated that I had kidnapped the girls from a family event in a fit of hysterical jealousy.
He also formally accused me of being unemployed and completely incapable of providing a safe home for his children.
I felt a dark, violent rage burning in the very center of my chest.
He was trying to use the pathetic, poor housewife persona he forced upon me to steal my babies.
He wanted to take my daughters and give them to Isabella so they could play perfect family with his new son.
I threw the papers onto the floor and ordered Mateo to call the most ruthless family lawyer in the country.
I wanted to crush Andrés so thoroughly that he would never see the light of day again.
Mateo picked up his phone, but he did not dial the number.
He looked at me with deep regret and said there was a massive problem with the custody petition.
He pointed to the signature line at the very bottom of the last page.
The petition had already been signed, approved, and fully enacted by a corrupt federal judge.
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Mateo told me that child protective services and armed police officers were already dispatched.
They were currently on their way to my secure estate to legally seize my daughters right now.
