Chapter 8 - The Price of Treason
The fall of Doña Esther and Marcela was swift, brutal, and entirely public. Alejandro refused to use his influence to bury the scandal; instead, he allowed the media full access to the legal proceedings. He wanted the world to see the absolute destruction of the old guard that had tortured his wife.
The trial lasted three months. The media labeled it "The House of Cards of Las Lomas."
Every elegant joke, every humiliation Valeria had endured for two years was laid bare before the court. But the definitive evidence was the medical testimony regarding the chemical injections. When Dr. Gomez presented the toxicology reports showing the deliberate attempt to deform the unborn child for financial gain, the public’s fury reached a boiling point. Protesters gathered outside the courthouse daily, demanding the maximum penalty.
Doña Esther, stripped of her wealth, her accounts seized by the federal government to pay for the complete reconstruction of the damaged housing complexes, looked ninety years old as she sat in the defendant's chair. Her aristocratic friends had abandoned her; her name was an international synonym for monstrosity.
On the final day of the trial, the judge—a completely unbothered, incorruptible magistrate appointed from outside Mexico City—handed down the verdict.
Guilty on all counts.
Esther Aranda was sentenced to thirty years at the Santa Martha Acatitla women's penitentiary, essentially a life sentence for a woman of her age. Marcela received twenty-five years for her direct participation in the physical restraint and abuse of Valeria. Their personal properties, including the grand mansion in Las Lomas de Chapultepec, were liquidated by court order.
Alejandro stood in the back of the courtroom as his mother and sister were led away in standard-issue prison uniforms, their hands cuffed behind their backs.
For a brief second, Doña Esther looked at her son through the glass partition. Her eyes were full of a desperate, silent plea for mercy.
May you like
Alejandro didn't blink. He didn't offer a single nod of acknowledgment. He turned his back on them, walking out of the courthouse into the bright, warm afternoon sun where Valeria was waiting for him in the back of a safe, comfortable car.
The past was dead. The empire had been purged.
