Chapter 10 - PAULINA’S REAL DEAL
Diego’s attorney spread the documents across the conference table.
“Paulina wasn’t only working with your mother.”
Diego stared at the transfers.
“She was working with Esteban.”
“For at least eighteen months.”
Marisol sat beside him.
“What did he pay her for?”
The attorney turned another page.
“Information.”
“Company schedules.”
“Board communications.”
“Private financial projections.”
Diego’s expression darkened.
Paulina had slept beside him.
Eaten at his table.
Worn his ring.
While passing information to his uncle.
Then the attorney found another transfer.
The date was yesterday.
One million pesos.
Diego immediately understood.
“The media story.”
The attorney nodded.
“Likely.”
Diego stood.
“Call the board.”
“What are you planning?”
“To stop defending myself.”
Three hours later, Villaseñor Holdings held an emergency press conference.
Dozens of cameras waited.
Reporters shouted questions.
Diego walked to the podium.
Marisol watched from behind the curtain.
He began calmly.
“My daughter is not a scandal.”
The room quieted.
“Her name is Valentina Vega.”
“She is three years old.”
“And DNA testing has confirmed that I am her father.”
Cameras flashed.
Diego continued.
“For several years, information about her existence was deliberately kept from me.”
“I will not blame her mother.”
“Marisol tried repeatedly to contact me.”
“I have the letters proving it.”
Marisol closed her eyes.
For the first time, someone was publicly defending her.
Then Diego changed direction.
“Today, Villaseñor Holdings also discovered evidence of financial misconduct involving members of my extended family.”
The reporters erupted.
Diego raised one hand.
“The evidence has been delivered to our legal team and the appropriate authorities.”
Across the city, Esteban watched the broadcast.
His face went white.
Paulina stood beside him.
“You said he wouldn’t find the ledger.”
“He wasn’t supposed to.”
Esteban turned toward her.
“Where is Isabel’s box?”
Paulina hesitated.
Esteban understood.
“You lost it?”
“No.”
“Then where is it?”
Paulina looked away.
The box was hidden inside a storage unit.
And inside that box remained one document nobody had seen.
Not Diego.
Not Marisol.
Not Esteban.
A handwritten amendment to Isabel’s will.
Paulina had read it.
That was why she had refused to destroy the box.
Because the amendment left Isabel’s personal twenty-percent ownership stake in Villaseñor Holdings to one person.
Not Diego.
May you like
Not Esteban.
Valentina.
