Chapter 4 - Eight Hundred Thousand
"Eight hundred thousand pesos," the bank representative said.
I closed my eyes.
"And the collateral?"
"The Del Valle apartment."
"I never authorized it."
Her tone changed immediately. "Then you need to file a fraud dispute today."
I drove straight to my attorney, Elena Cruz.
She had handled my father's estate years earlier and still kept copies of the original deed.
I spread the documents across her conference table.
Elena read silently for ten minutes.
Then she looked at me.
"This is bigger than a bad marriage."
"I know."
"No. I don't think you do."
She showed me a notarized authorization attached to the approved loan.
The seal belonged to a notary named Eduardo Salas.
"Have you ever met him?"
"Never."
Elena checked the date.
I laughed once, without humor.
"I wasn't even in Mexico City that day. I was in Monterrey for a conference."
"Can you prove it?"
"Flight records. Hotel. Photos."
"Good."
My phone vibrated.
Mauricio.
I ignored it.
A second message arrived.
COME HOME. WE CAN FIX THIS.
Then another.
IF YOU INVOLVE LAWYERS, DON'T EXPECT ME TO PROTECT YOU FROM MY MOTHER.
Elena read it over my shoulder.
"Save that."
She called the notary's office.
The receptionist said Eduardo Salas had been hospitalized for two months.
The loan had supposedly been notarized during that period.
Elena's face hardened.
"Someone used his seal while he was out."
Then her assistant knocked and entered with a printout.
"I pulled the property registry," she said.
She placed it in front of us.
The apartment wasn't the only thing Mauricio had tried to borrow against.
There was a second application.
This one named the entire building.
Elena pulled the page closer and traced the property description with her finger. The filing included the storage units, the parking spaces, and even the small ground-floor office my father had used before he became ill. Whoever prepared it had not guessed. They had studied the building in detail.
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"Mauricio knew all of this," I whispered.
Elena looked at me. "Or someone gave him the records. Either way, this was planned."
