Chapter 4 - The Corruption of Pedregal
The Clínica San José de Pedregal looked less like a medical facility and more like a five-star luxury resort hidden behind twenty-foot stone walls in one of Mexico City's most exclusive neighborhoods.
At 2:00 PM, a black Mercedes sedan sped through the iron security gates, pulling up directly to the private rear entrance.
Inside Suite 104, Doña Regina Santillán sat in a plush velvet armchair, wearing a silk robe provided by the clinic's staff. A bottle of chilled sparkling water and a plate of sliced fruit sat on the glass coffee table before her.
Standing near the window was Camila Robles—a tall, polished thirty-year-old woman with bleach-blonde hair, dressed in a tailored crimson pantsuit.
"You were careless, Regina," Camila said coldly, swirling her glass of mineral water. "Throwing her down the stairs? In a house equipped with high-definition security cameras? Did you really think Mateo wouldn't find out?"
"I didn't know the boy had installed cameras!" Regina hissed, her voice filled with venom as she applied a fresh coat of red lipstick in a silver compact mirror. "He was playing the humble fool for three years! How was I supposed to know he was recording everything in that house?!"
"My father took a massive risk signing that psychiatric transfer order," Camila warned, walking over to the coffee table. "The prosecutor is furious. Mateo has already frozen the Robles family’s commercial accounts in Veracruz."
"Mateo is throwing a temper tantrum over a neighborhood nobody!" Regina snapped, slamming her compact mirror shut. "Once that girl realizes she won't get a single peso of the Santillán estate, she'll run back to Iztapalapa where she belongs. All we need to do is keep me in this clinic for two weeks until the press loses interest, then transfer me to a private villa in San Diego."
"And what about the child?" Camila asked, raising an eyebrow. "It's a girl, Regina. Mateo’s legal heir."
"A bastard born of trash," Regina sneered. "I’ll hire a team of family lawyers to contest the paternity. We'll claim the girl was cheating on Mateo with someone from her old neighborhood. A few million pesos to a corrupt lab technician, and the DNA test will show whatever we want."
BANG!
The heavy oak door of Suite 104 was smashed open with such violent force that the brass lock snapped completely out of the frame.
Camila screamed, dropping her glass onto the Persian rug.
Four federal agents clad in tactical gear and holding assault rifles flooded into the room, followed immediately by Prosecutor Carlos Garza and Mateo Santillán.
"Federal search warrant!" Garza boomed, holding up a laminated court order signed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. "Judge Fernando Robles has been suspended from his duties pending an investigation into judicial bribery and obstruction of justice! All transfer orders issued by his court are officially null and void!"
Regina scrambled out of her chair, her silk robe flying open, her face twisted in absolute terror. "Mateo! What is the meaning of this?!"
Mateo stepped past the tactical officers, his posture completely rigid, his face an unreadable mask of stone.
"You haven't learned a single thing, have you, Regina?" Mateo said softly, stepping over the shattered glass on the carpet. "I heard every word you just said."
Camila backed against the wall, her hands trembling violently. "Mateo... listen to me... I had nothing to do with this... my father—"
"Your father is currently being processed at the North Penitentiary, Camila," Mateo interrupted, not even looking at her. "And as for your family's shipping contracts in Veracruz... Vance Global Logistics purchased your debt at twelve o'clock today. You are bankrupt."
Camila gasped, collapsing against the wall, her eyes filled with tears of pure horror.
Mateo turned his attention back to his mother. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small digital recorder, pressing the stop button with a crisp click.
"Contesting paternity? Buying off lab technicians?" Mateo chuckled dryly, shaking his head. "You really are incapable of redemption."
"Mateo... please..." Regina wept, falling to her knees on the rug, reaching out to grab the hem of his trousers. "I am your mother! I raised you! I gave you everything! Don't let them take me to a public prison! I won't survive in Santa Martha! The women in there... they will kill me!"
Mateo looked down at the woman who had brought him into the world—a woman who had sacrificed her soul for vanity, money, and social status, and had ended up with nothing.
He gently pulled his foot away from her grasp.
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"You should have thought about survival before you pushed my wife down the stairs, Regina," Mateo whispered. "Take her away."
The tactical officers stepped forward, dragging Regina to her feet as her desperate, hysterical screams echoed through the marble corridors of the clinic, signaling the final, absolute destruction of the house of Santillán.
