Mariana had used the power to transfer to her name a property that legally did not belong to the person over whom she had power.
The writing was nonexistent.
But that wasn’t the best part.
The best part came when Gerardo remembered something he had hidden years before in the old safe in the office. He returned to the house that night, entering through the basement service door, whose master key was still hidden behind a loose brick.
He found the safe intact.
And inside, the documents that Mariana and Bruno thought were secret: promissory notes with a lender nicknamed El Turco, threats, bank statements for lost bets and cryptocurrencies, eviction notices from Mariana’s real estate office and, most revealing, two one-way plane tickets to Paris for Sunday.
They didn’t plan to take care of him.
They planned to get rid of him, sell everything, and flee the country.
Furthermore, hidden in the bedroom closet, Gerardo managed to record the conversation in which Mariana admitted that they would leave him for three months in a cheap residence and then « that the State would pick him up. »
With that recording, the fraud ceased to be a family matter. It became a criminal matter.
The next day, Sara spoke with the prosecutor’s office, and two detectives discreetly joined the plan. Meanwhile, Gerardo, through the trust, bought Bruno’s debt to El Turco, paying a smaller but sufficient sum to become a legal creditor. He also purchased the assignment of the debt for the premises where Mariana had her office.
When it was over, he was no longer just the betrayed father.
He was the master of his own debts.
The signing of the supposed closure was scheduled for Friday at nine in the morning, in an elegant notary office in Polanco.
The buyers were a young, respectable, and hopeful couple: a pregnant doctor and her husband. A cashier’s check for a fortune lay on the table.
Mariana radiated confidence. Bruno trembled beneath his suit.
At nine five, Gerardo opened the double doors.
She didn’t come in as a victim.
He entered standing tall, wearing a perfectly ironed dark suit, polished shoes, and with the clear gaze of a man who had finally stopped lying to himself.
Mariana went white.
« Dad… » he stammered.
Gerardo didn’t look at her. He walked to the head of the table and sat down.
« Gentlemen, » he said to the buyers, « I deeply regret having brought you here. You are not buying a house. You are being used in a fraud. »
The silence was total.
Mariana exploded.
—He’s confused! He has cancer! I have power of attorney!
Sara stepped forward and dropped a folder on the table.
—What you have —he said in a cold voice— is an invalid document, a forged signature, an impossible transfer, and sufficient evidence for pretrial detention.
He explained the trust. He explained the invalidity of the deed. He showed the comparison of signatures. Then he produced the recording and played the part where Mariana said they would leave him in a cheap residence until the money ran out.
The doctor took her check immediately.
« We’re leaving, » she said, horrified. « And they’ll be sued for damages. »
Bruno started to cry.
Gerardo then opened another folder and pushed the promissory note bought from El Turco towards his son-in-law.
« You don’t owe that man anymore, » he said. « Now you owe me. »
Bruno looked at him as if he had seen the devil.
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