Chapter 6 - The Summons to the 45th Floor
By late afternoon, the Ortega family household had descended into complete, unadulterated chaos.
Federal marshals and corporate repossession agents had already arrived at the Ortega & Sons commercial warehouses, padlocking the main gates, seizing inventory logs, and slapping bright orange seizure notices across every piece of heavy machinery.
The family car keys, company credit cards, and corporate checkbooks had all been rendered instantly worthless.
Sitting in the living room of their soon-to-be-foreclosed suburban mansion, Mauricio and his father stared blankly at a formal legal summons delivered by a courier just twenty minutes prior.
At the very top of the legal document, embossed in elegant, heavyweight gold foil, was the official corporate seal of Horizonte Capital.
And directly beneath the seal, written in bold, unyielding typography, was the name of the executive who had authorized every single stroke of the legal axe.
Chairperson Valeria Cruz.
The name hit Mauricio like a physical blow to the chest, far worse than any punch he had ever thrown.
“Valeria...” he whispered, tracing the printed signature with a trembling finger. “She... she runs Horizonte Capital. She controls billions of pesos.”
Beatriz looked like she had seen a ghost, her face drained of all color as she stared at the luxurious Persian rug beneath her feet, realizing that the very roof over her head was owned by the woman she had ordered to wash dirty underwear by hand.
“Call her,” Beatriz demanded frantically, grabbing Mauricio’s arm with desperate claw-like fingers. “Call her right now on your phone! Grovel! Beg for her forgiveness! Tell her it was a misunderstanding! Tell her your mother made a mistake!”
Mauricio pulled out his phone with shaking hands, frantically dialing my personal number—the exact number I had used throughout our entire two-year relationship.
It rang three times.
Then, the automated carrier voice chimed in.
“The subscriber you have dialed is no longer in service, or has blocked incoming calls from this device.”
He tried again. Same result.
He tried messaging through encrypted apps. The messages sat on a single gray checkmark, forever unread.
“She blocked me,” Mauricio whispered, a cold wave of absolute panic washing over him. “She completely cut us off.”
Before panic could fully morph into total despair, the front doorbell chimed loudly through the expansive foyer.
Don Ortega dragged himself up from the couch and trudged toward the heavy oak door, slowly pulling it open.
Standing on the porch were two uniformed private security guards and a sharp-suited corporate emissary holding a polished leather briefcase.
“Are you Don Ortega?” the emissary asked calmly.
“I... yes. I am,” Don replied weakly.
“I am Attorney Eduardo Silva, representing Chairperson Valeria Cruz of Horizonte Capital,” the lawyer stated smoothly, flashing a brief, polite smile that held zero warmth. “I am here to deliver a personal invitation on behalf of our Chairperson.”
Mauricio rushed to the doorway, pushing past his father.
“Where is she?! Let me speak to Vale! I want to talk to my wife!”
Eduardo raised an eyebrow, looking Mauricio up and down with undisguised contempt.
“Your wife, Mr. Ortega, legally annulled your marriage this morning on grounds of domestic violence, physical assault, and fraudulent inducement. The paperwork was signed by a family court judge within three hours.”
Mauricio stumbled backward, clutching the doorframe as if he had been shot.
“Annuled? She... she can’t do that without a trial!”
“She can, and she did,” Eduardo replied coolly. “Furthermore, our Chairperson has requested your immediate personal presence at the Horizonte Capital executive boardroom tomorrow morning at 10:00 AM sharp.”
“What does she want from us?!” Beatriz shrieked from the living room, marching toward the door with her face twisted in rage. “Does she want to gloat?! Does she think she can humiliate an established family just because she has money?!”
Eduardo turned his gaze toward Beatriz, his expression turning glacial.
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“Madam, your family hasn't been established since your primary credit lines defaulted at noon. Our Chairperson doesn’t need to gloat. She simply wishes to discuss the final terms of your family’s complete financial annihilation.”
Eduardo snapped his briefcase shut, turned on his heel, and walked down the steps toward a waiting black Mercedes, leaving the Ortega family standing in the doorway of their collapsing empire in absolute, suffocating silence.
