“I slapped your mother because she asked for it! And if she meddles in my affairs again, next time I won’t hold back!”

The restaurant descended into complete chaos.

Peralta tried to grab his briefcase and slip out toward the kitchen exit, but two officers tackled him to the carpeted floor, clicking handcuffs around his wrists while diners stared in absolute shock.

"Release me! I am a state-certified notary! You have no authority!" Peralta screamed as he was hauled up.

Andrés backed away against the window wall, his hands raised, his face dripping with sweat. "Elena! Tell them to stop! This is a misunderstanding! We’re married! You can't testify against your husband!"

"In criminal cases involving forgery, extortion, and physical assault against a family member, spousal privilege does not apply," Sofia said coldly, stepping forward beside the police officers. "And you forgot one little detail, Andrés—we have your mother's phone logs, too."

Teresa shrieked as an officer stepped up to her, grabbing her arm. "Get your hands off me! I am a respectable woman! I didn't do anything! It was all Andrés! He came up with the plan! He forged the papers!"

Andrés whipped his head around toward his mother, his eyes wide with betrayal. "What?! Mother, how could you say that?!"

"Shut up, you idiot!" Teresa shrieked, tears of sheer panic ruining her heavy makeup. "You ruined everything! I told you to get her mother to sign quietly, but you had to go and hit her!"

"Take them all in," the lead investigator commanded, waving his hand.

As the officers dragged Andrés, Teresa, and Peralta out through the main dining room past whispering patrons, Andrés looked back at me over his shoulder. The arrogance that had defined him for seven years was completely shattered, replaced by a pathetic, desperate terror.

"Elena! Please!" he sobbed as the restaurant doors swung open. "Don't do this to me! I love you!"

I didn't answer. I just stood beside Sofia, watching him get shoved into the back of a black police sedan.

Once the sirens faded into the distance, Sofia turned to me, her face serious. "That was a massive victory, Elena. Peralta's secretary is singing like a canary, and the video footage from tonight seals the forgery charges."

I let out a long, shuddering breath, sinking back into a chair. "Is it over?"

"Not yet," Sofia said grimly, sitting down across from me. "The investigator looked through Peralta's seized briefcase. They found something far bigger than your mother's home."

"What do you mean?"

Sofia pulled a manila folder from her bag and laid it on the table. "Andrés wasn't just working with Peralta. He was taking direct orders from a woman named Carolina Sterling."

The name struck me like a cold wave. "Carolina Sterling? Who is she?"

"She is the managing director of Apex Logistics Holdings," Sofia explained. "Her firm buys up debt-ridden properties across Mexico, uses corrupt notaries like Peralta to falsify ownership deeds, and sells them to international crime syndicates for money laundering."

Sofia tapped a document on the table. "According to these emails, Carolina promised Andrés a twenty percent cut of a multi-million-peso development project in Zapopan—on one condition."

"What condition?"

"He had to deliver the deeds to three specific properties in the historic district," Sofia said, looking me dead in the eye. "One was your mother's house. The second was the elderly bakery owner's shop next door to her. And the third... was your mother's sister's home."

My jaw dropped. "My Aunt Lupe?"

"Yes," Sofia nodded. "Carolina's firm wants the entire city block to build a massive commercial plaza. Your mother was just the first target because Andrés had direct access to her personal identification documents through you!"

A terrifying realization washed over me. Andrés hadn't just targeted my mother on a whim. He had spent years gathering personal data from my entire family, waiting for the right moment to orchestrate a massive land grab that would destroy my mother, my aunt, and our entire neighborhood!

"Where is Carolina Sterling right now?" I demanded, my hands gripping the edge of the table.

"She’s currently at a private estate in Tapalpa," Sofia said. "And when she finds out Andrés and Peralta were arrested tonight, she’ll liquidate all her local shell accounts and flee the country within twenty-four hours."

"We can't let her leave," I said, my voice steadying with iron resolve. "If she escapes, her lawyers will tie up my mother's home in civil court for years."

"She won't escape," Sofia smiled faintly. "Because Carolina doesn't know Andrés was arrested yet. We intercepted her private phone messages on Peralta's phone. She’s expecting Andrés to meet her tomorrow morning at the central registry office to hand over the forged deeds."