Chapter 10
The federal women’s correctional facility on the outskirts of the city was a bleak, sterile monument to institutional punishment. The air smelled strongly of industrial bleach and stale desperation. I sat in a small, windowless visitation room, separated from the general population by a thick pane of reinforced acrylic glass. The heavy steel door clicked open, and Karina was escorted in by a female guard. She wore the standard beige uniform, her hair pulled back into a severe, unadorned ponytail, completely stripped of the high-society glamour she used to wear like a weapon. But when she saw me, that familiar, manipulative smile crept across her face.
She picked up the heavy plastic telephone receiver on her side of the glass. I picked up mine, staring at the woman I had once foolishly believed was the love of my life. "Alejandro," she purred, her voice crackling slightly through the cheap electronic speaker. "To what do I owe this distinct pleasure? You haven't written. I was beginning to think you'd forgotten all about our beautiful vows."
"Cut the performance, Karina. I don't have the patience for it today," I said flatly, keeping my expression entirely neutral. "A man named Arturo Leon showed up at the Coyoacán property yesterday. He slapped an injunction on the clinic's construction, citing a defaulted loan you underwrote with Apex Holdings."
Karina’s smile widened, her eyes gleaming with a malicious, triumphant satisfaction. "Ah. I wondered when the timer on that particular bomb would finally run out. Did you really think you could just destroy my life, take everything the Mendozas had built, and walk away to play the happy philanthropist?"
"The Mendozas were thugs who murdered my father," I reminded her coldly. "You were just a parasite feeding off their scraps. But you didn't set up Apex Holdings. You aren't smart enough to structure a multinational shadow lien. You were taking orders. I want a name, Karina. Tell me who is actually trying to steal the land now."
She laughed, a harsh, grating sound that vibrated through the receiver. "You are so incredibly naive, Alejandro. You spent two years fighting the Mendozas, completely oblivious to the fact that they were just the muscle. They were the dogs barking at the gate. The man who holds the leash doesn't get his hands dirty. He sits in air-conditioned government offices and shakes hands with the President."
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"Give me the name," I demanded, gripping the plastic receiver so tightly my knuckles turned white.
"Why should I?" she taunted. "I have nothing left to lose. But you... you have your sweet mother. You have that new, pathetic physical therapist you've been sleeping with. If you go after the man behind Apex Holdings, he won't bother with civil lawsuits. He will simply erase you. You should have sold the land and walked away when you had the chance." The guard tapped Karina's shoulder, signaling the end of the visit. She hung up the phone, leaving me staring at the glass, fully realizing the nightmare was far from over.
