Chapter 3 - TWENTY-SIX PERCENT
His grandfather Arturo created it after watching his own brothers destroy a company through inheritance fights.
Each firstborn grandchild received a protected voting block.
Valentina's block was twenty-six percent.
Until she turned twenty-five, the shares were managed jointly by her legally acknowledged biological parents.
"Jointly."
"Yes."
"Then who has been signing for her?"
"Isabella."
"She isn't her biological mother."
"We did not know that when the documents were prepared."
"You knew."
Carmen's eyes flashed.
Rosa did not back down.
"You knew before Valentina was born."
Beatriz snapped, "Careful."
"You were in the clinic when Dr. Leon said Isabella's embryos had failed."
Isabella gripped the table.
"What?"
"I heard him through the door. He said there was no viable embryo left."
"I was told they found one."
Carmen said, "Enough."
"No," Marco replied. "Not even close."
Jonah traced five years of trust votes.
Acquisitions.
Debt approvals.
One merger.
All approved using Isabella's signature as Valentina's maternal co-trustee.
If that status was false, dozens of corporate actions could be challenged.
The upcoming wedding created an even bigger issue.
"Tomorrow's ceremony triggers the marital succession clause."
"If Isabella becomes your spouse while listed as Valentina's legal mother, she becomes automatic successor trustee if anything happens to you."
"I didn't write that."
Carmen did.
"Was tomorrow about the wedding or the trust?"
Rosa whispered, "That's why she wanted me gone."
"What?"
No severance.
No reference.
A nondisclosure agreement and a one-way ticket to San Antonio where her mother now lived.
Carmen said, "It was generous."
"You were removing me before the trust changed."
Rosa had cooked his meals.
Stayed up with Valentina during fevers.
Braided her hair.
Worked birthdays while standing ten feet from the child she gave birth to.
And Marco had called it loyalty.
His phone buzzed.
Jonah received an email from the fertility clinic's archive server.
The records Marco requested had been accessed fifteen minutes earlier.
Then deleted.
User credential:
DR. LEON MENDEZ.
"Someone knows we're asking questions."
"Find him."
"Marco."
"What?"
"Leon Mendez disappeared four years ago."
"Disappeared?"
May you like
"The clinic told everyone he moved to Costa Rica."
Then Rosa whispered, "I never believed them."
