“Your daughter needed to learn not to make a fool of me.” Mauricio said this with a smile, standing in the middle of the wedding reception, while Daniela

At eight o'clock the following morning, the sun rose over the glass-and-steel tower of the corporate headquarters of Valdez & Sons Investments in the financial district of Querétaro.

I wore my best dark suit—the one I had bought for Daniela's graduation years ago. Beside me walked Daniela, wearing dark professional attire, her head held high despite the dark purple bruise under her eye. Hector walked on her left, carrying a sealed leather briefcase containing the forensic audit.

When we stepped out of the elevator on the executive floor, the receptionist looked startled. "Ms. Daniela? Mr. Valdez Senior is in a private meeting with Mauricio and Marco..."

"Good," I said, walking past her desk. "That saves us a phone call."

I didn't knock. I pushed open the double oak doors of the master boardroom.

Inside, old Don Fernando Valdez—a stern, grey-haired man who had built his empire from nothing—sat at the head of a massive conference table. Mauricio and Marco sat to his right, looking pale, disheveled, and exhausted, as if they hadn't slept a single minute all night.

Standing in the corner was Celeste, Daniela's mother, who had divorced me fifteen years ago. She was holding a handkerchief, looking nervous.

"What is the meaning of this intrusion?" Don Fernando demanded, slamming a hand down on the table. "Leonardo? Daniela? After the disgrace you brought upon my family at the reception yesterday—"

"The only disgrace in this room sits to your right, Fernando," I interrupted loudly, my voice commanding the entire space.

"Dad, don't listen to them!" Mauricio blurted out, jumping to his feet. "Daniela came here to distract you! She stole nine hundred thousand pesos from the firm! I caught her yesterday, and when I confronted her, her father pulled her out of the wedding to hide her!"

Celeste stepped forward, looking at Daniela with fake pity. "Daniela, sweetie, just confess! Mauricio promised me he won't press charges if you just return the money and finalize the civil marriage!"

I turned a cold stare onto my ex-wife. "You knew about this?"

Celeste flushed with guilt. "Mauricio called me last night... he explained that Daniela made a mistake. I was just trying to protect our daughter from prison!"

"You were protecting your own social standing, Celeste," I said sharply. "Just like you always do."

I stepped up to the head of the table and dropped Hector's thick leather folder directly in front of Don Fernando.

"Read it, Fernando," I said. "Every page."

Don Fernando looked at me suspiciously, then opened the folder. As he scrolled through the certified server logs, bank routing numbers, and casino credit receipts, the color slowly drained from his face.

"What is this?" Don Fernando whispered, his eyes widening. "Account 402... Marco's corporate expense card? Nine hundred thousand pesos transferred to the Royal Palm Casino over ninety days?"

Marco turned as white as a sheet. "Dad... that's a mistake! They hacked the system!"

"No one hacked anything, Fernando," Hector spoke up, stepping forward. "Your son Marco has a registered VIP gambling account at the casino. These receipts match the exact timestamps of the internal server transfers authorized from his IP address. And the PDF document Mauricio showed your daughter yesterday to frame her was forged on Mauricio's personal laptop."

Don Fernando stood up slowly, his hands trembling as he stared at his two sons. "Is this true?"

"Dad, listen to me—" Mauricio began, panic cracking his voice.

"Is it true?!" Don Fernando roared, his voice shaking the glass windows of the boardroom.

Neither of his sons could answer. They looked down at the mahogany table in silent, pathetic defeat.

Don Fernando collapsed back into his chair, looking aged by ten years in a single second. He raised a hand to his forehead, breathing heavily. "You stole from your own family... and you tried to frame an innocent woman..."

He then looked up at Daniela, noticing for the first time the severe bruise beneath her eye without the wedding veil covering it.

"And that?" Don Fernando asked, his voice dropping into a horrified whisper. "Did you do that to her too, Mauricio?"

Mauricio swallowed hard, trying to summon his previous arrogance, but under his father's terrifying glare, he crumbled. "She... she wouldn't cooperate, Dad. She was going to ruin everything..."