Chapter 17 - The Digital Siege
Tuesday morning arrived with a suffocating, heavy heat. Laura sat at the kitchen table, opening her laptop to pay the monthly utility bills. Mateo was in the garage, cleaning the shotgun and running through tactical drills in his mind.
"Mateo!" Laura called out, her voice tight with confusion and rising alarm.
Mateo sprinted into the kitchen, the pistol drawn, expecting to see armed men in the backyard. Instead, Laura simply pointed at the glowing screen of her laptop.
"Look at this," she said, her hands shaking slightly.
Mateo leaned over her shoulder. The online banking portal displayed a terrifying string of red zeros. Their checking account, their emergency savings, the small college fund they had slowly started building for Emiliano and Jimena—everything was completely gone.
Before Mateo could process the financial wipeout, Laura’s cell phone rang. It was an automated voice message from her credit card company, informing her that all lines of credit had been permanently suspended due to a federal investigation into money laundering and wire fraud.
"He drained our accounts," Laura whispered in horror. "Arturo hacked the banks. He’s framing us."
Mateo grabbed his phone and tried to log into his independent contractor portal to access his pending invoices. The screen flashed a stark, uncompromising error message: Account Suspended - Legal Hold.
"He’s cutting off our resources," Mateo said, pacing the kitchen, his mind racing. "If we have no money, we can't run. We can't buy supplies. If he flagged us in the federal database, we can't even call the police for help because they will arrest us the second they run our names."
"We are completely isolated," Laura realized, staring at the red zeros. "He trapped us in this house."
"He thinks he did," Mateo corrected, his eyes darkening with absolute resolve. "Arturo operates with cartel money and corrupt politicians. He thinks because he can manipulate a computer screen, he has us beaten. But he forgot one crucial detail."
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"What's that?" Laura asked.
"I don't need a bank account to kill him," Mateo stated coldly. "But if he wants to play a digital war, I know someone who can play it better."
