CHAPTER 9 — THE EMERGENCY BOARD MEETING
The boardroom occupied the highest floor of the Ibarra headquarters.
Octavio sat at the center of the long table. Eleven directors surrounded him, whispering as Renata entered.
Evangelina stood by the windows.
There was no sign of Tomás.
Renata placed Alonso’s phone in front of her.
“Where is he?”
Evangelina looked amused.
“My son is an adult. He goes where he chooses.”
“You recorded him tied to a chair.”
“You saw a performance. Tomás has always been dramatic.”
Alonso entered behind Renata.
His mother’s smile vanished.
“You were not invited,” she told him.
“I am still chief operating officer.”
“Not for long.”
Octavio struck the table with his hand.
“Enough.”
The room fell silent.
Renata presented the court order granting her temporary authority over Elena Cruz’s shares.
The company secretary verified the seal.
Several directors shifted uneasily.
“With thirty-two percent,” Evangelina said, “she cannot control this board.”
“She doesn’t need to,” Octavio replied.
He placed his own proxy on the table.
“I am assigning my twenty-one percent vote to Renata for the duration of the investigation.”
Evangelina stared at her husband.
“You weak, ungrateful coward.”
Octavio’s voice remained calm.
“You told me a child was dead. You stole Elena’s work. You turned our sons into weapons.”
“I saved your company.”
“Elena saved it.”
Renata now controlled fifty-three percent of the vote.
Her first resolution removed Evangelina from all executive authority.
The motion passed.
Her second suspended Alonso and Camila pending investigation.
It passed as well.
Alonso showed no reaction.
Camila’s chair was empty.
“Where is the family attorney?” Renata asked.
Evangelina smiled again.
“You should be more concerned about your own attorney.”
The boardroom doors opened.
Two officers from the federal financial-crimes unit entered.
They walked past Evangelina.
Past Alonso.
Past Octavio.
They stopped beside Renata.
“Mrs. Ibarra,” the lead investigator said, “we have a warrant to take you into custody for financial fraud, identity theft, and unlawful transfer of charitable funds.”
Lucía stood immediately.
“On what evidence?”
The investigator placed a document on the table.
It was an original account-opening form for Account 407.
Not a copy.
Not a digital scan.
Renata’s signature appeared at the bottom.
The investigator produced a surveillance image from the regional bank.
It showed a woman wearing Renata’s coat, carrying Renata’s handbag, and entering a private office to authorize the account.
“The woman used Mrs. Ibarra’s identification,” he said. “She also passed biometric verification.”
Renata looked at the image.
The woman’s face was partially turned away.
But her height, hair, and posture resembled Renata perfectly.
Evangelina watched from the window.
“This family welcomed her,” she said. “And she robbed us.”
The officers escorted Renata from the room as cameras waited in the lobby.
Alonso did not attempt to stop them.
But as Renata passed him, he whispered one sentence.
“Look at the woman’s left hand.”
Inside the elevator, Renata studied the surveillance image again.
The woman was wearing a wedding ring.
On her left wrist was a small crescent-shaped scar.
Renata had no such scar.
But she knew someone who did.
A woman who had spent years copying Renata’s clothes, hairstyle, and mannerisms.
Alonso’s cousin.
Ariadna Ibarra.
May you like
The same aunt who had murmured, “How embarrassing,” after the plate struck Renata’s face.
And according to the police report Renata had read that morning, Ariadna had died six months earlier.
