Chapter 11 - THE HEIRESS
Paulina stared at Isabel’s handwritten amendment.
Twenty percent.
Worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
She could barely breathe.
Isabel had signed it twelve days before her death.
Two witnesses had signed beneath her.
Paulina understood immediately why Esteban could never see it.
If Valentina inherited those shares, Diego would control the company beyond challenge.
Esteban would lose everything.
Paulina photographed the document.
Then she made a decision.
She called Diego.
“I have something you want.”
Diego answered coldly.
“The box.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Not over the phone.”
“What do you want?”
Paulina smiled.
“Now you sound like a businessman again.”
“Name it.”
“Ten million dollars.”
Diego laughed.
Paulina frowned.
“What’s funny?”
“You still think this is about money.”
“It always is.”
“No.”
Diego looked across the room at Valentina drawing a picture beside Marisol.
“Not anymore.”
Paulina’s voice hardened.
“Then you’ll never see what Isabel left your daughter.”
Diego stopped.
“What did you say?”
Paulina knew she had him.
“Ten million.”
“Tomorrow.”
“Bring the box.”
She hung up.
Marisol had heard enough.
“You’re not paying her.”
“No.”
“Then what are you doing?”
Diego smiled faintly.
“Letting her believe I will.”
The next afternoon, Paulina arrived at a private underground parking garage.
She carried the wooden box.
Diego stood beside a black SUV.
Alone.
Or so she thought.
“Money?”
Diego lifted a briefcase.
Paulina smiled.
“Give it to me.”
“Box first.”
She laughed.
“You never trusted easily.”
“I trusted you.”
That erased her smile.
She handed him the box.
Diego opened it.
He found the amendment.
Read it.
Then looked at Paulina.
“My mother left Valentina twenty percent.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you destroy this?”
Paulina smiled.
“Insurance.”
Diego closed the box.
“You just admitted to withholding a legal testament.”
Her expression changed.
Then two investigators stepped from behind a concrete pillar.
Paulina froze.
Diego hadn’t come alone.
Neither had the law.
One investigator approached.
“Ms. Robles, we need to ask you several questions regarding financial records connected to Villaseñor Holdings.”
Paulina backed away.
“You set me up.”
Diego looked at her.
“No.”
“You did that yourself.”
She pointed toward him.
“You think Marisol loves you?”
Diego’s eyes hardened.
“She loved you when you had nothing.”
Paulina stopped.
That sentence hurt more than anything else he could have said.
Diego continued.
“You loved what my name could give you.”
Paulina’s face twisted.
“You’ll come crawling back when she takes half of everything.”
Marisol’s voice came from behind Diego.
“No.”
Paulina turned.
Marisol had been standing near the second SUV.
“I don’t want half.”
She walked forward.
“I never did.”
Paulina laughed bitterly.
“Then what do you want?”
Marisol looked at Diego.
Then at the box containing Valentina’s inheritance.
“I want my daughter to grow up knowing nobody can ever make her feel ashamed of where she came from.”
Paulina stared at her.
Marisol continued.
“And I want you to understand something.”
“You called my daughter a problem.”
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“She became the reason your lies were exposed.”
Paulina had no answer.
