Chapter 15 - The Courtroom Battle
The first official preliminary hearing took place exactly three weeks later in the sterile, wood-paneled family court of Guadalajara.
Javier arrived wearing a dark, expensive tailored suit, sporting deep, dark circles under his eyes. He tried desperately to project an aura of a grieving, heartbroken husband. Doña Graciela marched into the courtroom behind him, dressed in black as if she were attending a prestigious state funeral. Jimena, Karla, and Mónica huddled together in the back row. They no longer looked like the arrogant queens of a mansion; they looked like terrified, broke young women waiting for someone else to foot the bill.
Javier’s high-priced defense attorney stood up first. He attempted a pathetic strategy, trying to minimize the assault. He painted the slap as a "regrettable family incident caused by extreme work stress." He argued that Doña Refugio had aggressively invaded private property, that Natalia had overreacted with "financial cruelty," and that Javier was merely a traditional man trying to protect his family's home.
Elena Robles sat at the plaintiff's table, listening without moving a single muscle.
When it was her turn, Elena didn't argue emotions. She simply approached the judge's bench and dropped a massive, indexed binder onto the wood.
"Your Honor, the defense claims my client reacted with financial cruelty. I submit to the court photographs of the severe facial bruising on a sixty-two-year-old woman, threatening text messages from the defendant's mother, and bank statements proving systematic financial fraud."
Elena pulled out the fake invoices. "Furthermore, I submit video evidence of the defendant's sisters openly discussing their fraudulent inclusion on my client's corporate payroll for services never rendered."
The judge, an older, stern man, adjusted his glasses and looked sharply at Javier. "Your sisters received hundreds of thousands of pesos from your wife's architectural firm without ever working there?"
Javier swallowed hard, sweat beading on his forehead. "It... it was an internal family arrangement, Your Honor."
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Elena fired back instantly. "A family arrangement that was illegally filed as corporate tax deductions, Your Honor."
The silence in the courtroom was so heavy and absolute that Mónica actually began to cry in the back row.
