I came home from a late-night business trip and found my daughter washing clothes by hand in complete darkness. “They went on vacation,” she whispered. I asked her to roll up his sleeve. When I saw the bruises, I didn’t scream. / Chapter 7 / 20

Chapter 7 - The Unravelling WebBy nine o'clock the following morning, Roberto and I were sitting inside the imposing glass-and-stone building of the Guanajuato State Attorney General’s Office in downtown León.

Across the mahogany desk sat Prosecutor Valeria Gomez—a sharp, no-nonsense woman with dark hair tied in a tight bun, known throughout the region for prosecuting financial crimes and domestic syndicate networks.

"Mr. Torres," Prosecutor Gomez said, flipping through the thick stack of evidence Roberto had presented. "This binder from your wife's closet is remarkable. Most people in domestic financial fraud cases spend months trying to gather proof. She documented her own conspiracy in painstaking detail."

"She thought I was too tired, too ignorant, and too far away on the road to ever look inside her closet," I said flatly.

"Licenciado Ernesto Treviño has been a thorn in our side for three years," Gomez continued, her eyes lingering on the forged power-of-attorney forms. "We’ve known he operates a fraudulent notarization mill for organized property theft, but we lacked a direct victim willing to testify with original documents. Your daughter’s signature on these blank pages gives us the exact leverage we need."

She signed a red order form and stamped it with the state seal.

"I am assigning a specialized forensic unit to examine the binder and your home's digital security logs," Gomez declared. "Furthermore, we are issuing an immediate raid warrant for Treviño’s downtown office."

"What about Patricia?" I asked. "Where is she staying?"

"Our investigators tracked her shuttle van to a boutique hotel registered under her sister's name near the airport," Gomez revealed. "She tried to use your joint credit card three hours ago to settle the room balance, but the fraud freeze triggered an automatic location flag. My officers are monitoring her every move."