Chapter 7 - The Syndicate's Secret
The banquet hall was completely silent except for the harsh crackle of police radios.
My family huddled together in the corner, staring at me as if I were a terrifying stranger they had never met before.
Valeria was sobbing loudly into my mother's shoulder, her expensive red dress completely ruined and wrinkled.
I slowly walked over to the table where they were gathered, my high heels clicking ominously on the marble floor.
"Lucía, how could you do this to your own family?" my mother cried, wiping her tears with a silk napkin.
"You ruined your parents' anniversary party just to exact a petty, jealous revenge."
I stared at my mother, completely baffled by her delusional loyalty to the woman who had ruined my life.
"I did not ruin anything," I replied firmly, refusing to accept her misplaced guilt.
"I simply exposed the absolute truth about the monster she chose to marry."
Valeria suddenly looked up at me, her eyes filled with a terrifying, venomous rage.
"You think you have completely won, do you?" Valeria hissed, wiping the smeared mascara from her cheeks.
"You think sending Diego to prison makes you the undisputed queen of this family?"
She stood up abruptly, pushing my mother aside with surprising physical force.
"Diego was not just laundering money for Alexander's syndicate," Valeria announced, a cruel, desperate smile forming on her lips.
"He was secretly stealing from them, and he hid millions of dollars in offshore accounts under my name."
Alexander stepped forward, his cold gray eyes narrowing dangerously at the mention of stolen syndicate funds.
"Is that so?" Alexander asked quietly, his voice dripping with lethal curiosity.
"I am a very wealthy woman, Lucía," Valeria gloated, completely ignoring the terrifying criminal standing next to me.
"As soon as the police leave, I am taking a private jet to Europe, and I will be richer than you could ever imagine."
She laughed maniacally, convinced she had somehow outsmarted the entire criminal underworld.
I simply shook my head, feeling a strange mixture of pity and absolute disgust for my greedy sister.
"Valeria, you really should check your offshore bank accounts before you start bragging about your stolen wealth," I suggested softly.
Valeria frowned deeply, pulling her diamond-encrusted smartphone from her designer clutch.
She aggressively tapped the screen, aggressively logging into her secret, encrypted banking application.
Her cruel smile vanished instantly, replaced by a look of sheer, unadulterated horror.
"Where is it?" Valeria shrieked, frantically refreshing the banking page over and over again.
"Where is my money?"
I leaned closer to her, ensuring my voice was low enough for only her to hear the devastating truth.
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"I drained every single penny of it this morning while you were getting your hair perfectly styled," I whispered.
Before Valeria could physically attack me, a loud, violent explosion suddenly rocked the entire banquet hall.
