Chapter 12 - The Reveal
"This is a setup!" Mauricio screamed, struggling against the police officers as they dragged him toward the exit. "She's a liar! She staged all of this! She's crazy!"
Guillermo slowly stood up, keeping Raquel safely tucked behind him. He looked out over the sea of terrified, impeccably dressed guests.
"A setup?" Guillermo's voice boomed, rich with dark amusement. He reached down and gently lifted Raquel’s wrist, pulling back the cuff of the jacket to reveal the tiny, blinking red light of the high-grade audio recorder.
A collective gasp swept through the crowd.
"My daughter has been recording every single word, every single threat, and every single strike that occurred in this room tonight," Guillermo announced to the five hundred guests. "And she wasn't just recording locally."
He pointed to a man in a sharp suit standing near the entrance—his chief technology officer.
"Those devices are military-grade," Guillermo continued, his eyes locking onto Rebeca. "They have been actively live-streaming the audio to a secure server in my headquarters for the last two hours. We have Emilio coordinating the locks on the doors. We have Paola laughing at the abuse. We have Rebeca ordering the security to look away. We have Mauricio delivering three hundred strikes to a pregnant woman."
Rebeca stumbled backward, collapsing heavily into her chair. Her face turned the color of ash.
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"You are all accomplices," Guillermo growled at the guests, who were now frantically trying to hide their faces. "And tomorrow morning, this audio will be on the desk of every major news outlet and federal prosecutor in this country. The Del Valle name is dead."
Mauricio stopped struggling. The reality of his absolute destruction finally crashed down upon him. He was dragged out of the ballroom, his head hanging in total defeat.
