“He also intended to have Mariana declared legally incompetent,” Ximena continued. “He wanted to use false psychiatric reports to keep the house and control her assets.”
Mariana closed her eyes for a second.
Infidelity had been an open wound. That plan confirmed something worse: Rodrigo hadn’t simply stopped loving her. He had decided to destroy her.
Ophelia ran towards the stage.
—Mariana, stop! We’re your family!
—A family does not humiliate a woman because they believe she has no money.
—We gave you the surname Montemayor.
Mariana slowly came down.
—And my last name paid for the house where I was treated like a servant.
He explained that the Avándaro residence belonged to a company in the Cárdenas Group. It had also paid for Arturo’s surgery, Ofelia’s debts, and Paulina’s business.
—Everything they used to make me feel inferior came from my own accounts.
Paulina began deleting her posts, but her livestream was already circulating everywhere. Millions had heard how her family was taunting Mariana and plotting to get rid of her.
Rodrigo fell to his knees.
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—I’ve made mistakes, but I love you. Ximena means nothing.
Ximena laughed bitterly.
Mariana didn’t move.
“When you thought I was poor, you deceived me and let them treat me like dirt. Now that you know who I am, you say you love me. You don’t miss your wife. You miss the money you thought you controlled.”
“Remember how we started,” he pleaded. “I truly loved you.”
For the first time, Mariana’s voice trembled.
She remembered the young man who had shared quesadillas with her in the rain and promised her a life without humiliation. Maybe he had really existed. Maybe he was just a better actor.
—I remembered him too. That’s why it took me so long to accept that that man was gone.
Tomás handed Rodrigo a black folder.
The matter involved the divorce petition and the board of directors’ resolution removing him from his position as CEO. Through four intermediary funds, Corporativo Cárdenas controlled 63% of Montemayor Capital.
Rodrigo wasn’t just losing Mariana.
Even the company that claimed to have built it themselves.
—You can’t do this to me.
—I didn’t do it. You signed off on every transfer, every lie, and every betrayal.
When the officers asked him to follow them, Rodrigo resisted. They handcuffed him in front of the cameras.
Ofelia clung to Mariana’s dress.
—Don’t take our house away from us. Where will we go?
Mariana withdrew her hand.
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