Chapter 12 - THE PRICE OF HER APOLOGY
Patricia arrived twenty minutes early.
That alone told me she was afraid.
She chose a table in the corner of the hotel lounge and sat with her back to the wall.
Her ivory suits were gone.
She wore gray wool, understated jewelry, and the expression of a woman attending a funeral she intended to control.
I sat across from her.
Elena occupied another table beyond a decorative screen where she could not hear ordinary conversation.
My phone recorded from inside my handbag after counsel confirmed the legal strategy for preserving the meeting.
Patricia looked at the bag.
"Are you recording me?"
"Assume everything important can be remembered."
She smiled without humor.
"You sound like a lawyer now."
"I have had a productive week."
A server brought coffee.
Patricia waited until he left.
"I owe you an apology."
I said nothing.
"The dinner went too far."
"Which part?"
Her jaw tightened.
"Taking the plates."
"And?"
"The leftovers."
"And?"
She looked toward the window.
"The comment about sons."
"And?"
"Lucia, enough."
"No."
I leaned forward.
"You splashed food on two little girls and laughed while one of them asked why her father did not protect her."
Patricia's face changed.
"Sofia said that?"
"Yes."
For one brief second, something like discomfort appeared.
Then she protected herself with pride.
"Children are dramatic."
I sat back.
"There is your apology."
"I said I was sorry."
"No, you listed actions you regret becoming expensive."
Her mouth tightened.
"Fine."
She opened her handbag and removed a folder.
"Let's talk about expensive things."
Inside was a proposed settlement outline.
It was not prepared by Rafael.
The formatting was too crude and the language too personal.
Patricia had likely dictated it herself to another attorney.
The first term required Altura to withdraw its default notice and extend the 5.4-million-peso note for twenty-four months at no additional default interest.
The second required Horizonte to recognize Andres's claimed purchase option over Hacienda San Jeronimo.
The third required me to agree that Patricia could resume unrestricted contact with the girls.
The fourth required both sides to withdraw accusations regarding false documents.
I looked up.
"This is your solution?"
"It saves everyone."
"It saves Andres."
"He is the one carrying the family businesses."
"He pledged imaginary receivables."
"That can be corrected."
"He circulated a false hacienda sale agreement."
"A draft."
"It had a fake seller representative and fake notarial stamp."
"Details can be misunderstood."
I almost smiled.
"You financed the man who impersonated Horizonte's representative."
Patricia's face went still.
"Who told you that?"
"Mauricio."
The name struck her like a slap.
"That coward."
"He has messages from you."
"He is lying."
"Then your records will clear it up."
Patricia looked away.
"I paid him for consulting."
"Forty thousand pesos?"
Her eyes snapped back to mine.
"You have the transfer."
"I know where it came from."
She lifted her coffee but did not drink.
"You have always been nosy."
"It's an occupational skill."
"Your occupation."
The contempt in her voice returned automatically.
Then she remembered my occupation was now larger than her son's.
"I suppose I should congratulate you."
"You don't have to."
"Sixty-one percent."
"Yes."
"And Altura?"
"Horizonte holds seventy-two percent."
She stared at me.
"So you did this to Andres."
"He asked for financing."
"You put your own husband in debt to you."
"His company was already in debt everywhere else."
"You could have given him the money."
"I could have."
"Why didn't you?"
"Because gifts do not fix businesses that spend more than they earn."
Patricia laughed bitterly.
"You sound like someone who has never had to protect a family name."
I looked at her.
"I have spent eleven years protecting your family name from the consequences of its own decisions."
She leaned forward.
"Then do it one more time."
"No."
The word landed between us.
Patricia blinked.
She was not accustomed to hearing it without explanation.
"The girls need their father."
"This is not about the girls."
"Everything is about the girls now."
"Then remove the first two pages and apologize to them directly."
"I will not crawl in front of children."
There it was.
"You expect Altura to delay 5.4 million pesos, Horizonte to legitimize a fake property claim, and me to restore your access to my daughters."
I tapped the paper.
"But saying sorry to an eight-year-old is where you discover dignity."
Patricia's eyes hardened.
"You are enjoying this."
"No."
"Of course you are."
"I would trade every satisfying moment of this week for Sofia never asking whether her father was ashamed of her."
Patricia looked away.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then she surprised me.
"Andres wanted another child."
"I know."
"You refused."
"After my second pregnancy nearly put me in the hospital for weeks, yes."
"There were options."
"There are always options when someone else's body pays for them."
She ignored that.
"If you had given him a son, he would have been different."
The sentence was so monstrous in its certainty that I did not immediately react.
"You blame me for the man you raised."
"I am telling you men need legacy."
"He has two children."
"Daughters marry away."
I stared at her.
"Sofia heard you say things like that for years."
"She needed to understand reality."
"Your reality."
"The Villasenor reality."
I closed the folder.
"Then the Villasenor reality can pay its debts."
I started to stand.
Patricia grabbed the folder.
"Sit down."
I remained standing.
"Why?"
Her face changed.
The arrogance cracked.
"Because if Altura enforces now, Federico will demand his two million."
"He should."
"Andres cannot pay both."
"Then he borrowed too much."
"PTV cannot absorb the loss either."
"You mean your company."
"Yes."
She said it reluctantly.
"How much did you put into his plan?"
Patricia looked toward Elena's distant table.
"More than Federico knows."
I sat again.
"How much?"
"Nine hundred thousand."
That matched Mauricio's hint.
"For the hacienda?"
"For preliminary costs."
"There was no purchase agreement."
"There was supposed to be."
"With whom?"
She hesitated.
"Andres said he had someone inside Horizonte."
My pulse changed.
"Who?"
"I never met him."
"Name."
"He called him M."
Mauricio had been the fake representative, but Patricia was describing someone else.
"What was M supposed to do?"
"Get the board to approve a private sale after the financing was ready."
"What financing?"
Patricia closed her eyes briefly.
She had already said too much.
"A fund from Monterrey."
"Name."
"Sierra Norte Capital."
I knew the name.
Sierra Norte had approached Horizonte six months earlier about buying hotel assets.
We declined because their funding structure was opaque.
"Did Sierra Norte commit money to Andres?"
"Three million."
"Where is it?"
"They never funded."
"Why?"
"They wanted proof he controlled San Jeronimo."
So Andres created proof.
Fake proof.
"And Gabriel Rios?"
Patricia's eyes widened slightly.
"You know about him too."
"Answer."
"Gabriel was supposed to replace Sierra Norte."
"With his fund's money?"
"Yes."
I felt the pieces align.
The false purchase agreement was not just bragging material for a party.
It was the bridge between one failed financing attempt and another.
"And the 5.4-million-peso Altura loan?"
Patricia looked at me for a long time.
"Working capital."
"Don't insult me now."
Her lips pressed together.
"Andres used part of it to keep his construction company alive."
"And the rest?"
"He moved some through consulting invoices."
"To PTV?"
She did not answer.
I leaned closer.
"How much Altura money went to your company?"
"It was repaid."
That was not a number.
"How much?"
"Nine hundred thousand."
My hands went cold.
The same nine hundred thousand she claimed was her investment in the hacienda plan may have originated from Andres's loan proceeds.
"You didn't put nine hundred thousand into Andres."
Patricia's face tightened.
"You received nine hundred thousand from Andres and then recycled it through your company."
"It was consulting revenue."
"For what consulting?"
"Family strategy."
I almost laughed.
"That is not a service description."
"You know nothing about our business."
"I know enough to follow a transfer."
She stood abruptly.
"This conversation is over."
"You asked for it."
"I tried to save your family."
"No."
I looked up at her.
"You tried to make me finance the illusion that your son is successful."
She picked up her handbag.
Then she leaned over the table.
"If you take him down, Lucia, do not expect him to fall alone."
"Is that a threat?"
"It is a warning."
"About what?"
Patricia's eyes moved toward my purse.
"Ask your precious finance director why Andres has been paying Horizonte employees for information."
She walked away before I could answer.
I sat completely still.
Elena reached my table seconds later.
"What did she say?"
I looked toward the exit.
"She says Andres has someone inside Horizonte."
Then my phone vibrated.
A new email had arrived from an internal address.
The sender was one of Horizonte's senior project managers.
The subject line contained only three words.
May you like
WE NEED TO TALK.
