Chapter 6 - The Turning PointWhen relative calm was restored, Julián was breathing heavily, his suit jacket rumpled, his hair out of place. He looked less like a captain of industry and more like a common criminal caught red-handed.
Claudia remained seated, her hands resting quietly on the table, exactly as she had been when the hearing began. The contrast between her absolute, icy composure and Julián’s frantic disintegration was absolute.
Judge Aranda reviewed the remaining tabs in the black folder.
—Mrs. Rivera, your legal team has presented a devastating array of evidence. Not only does this court have grounds to grant an immediate divorce under fault, but the financial and criminal implications require the immediate intervention of the Federal Attorney General’s Office.
Esteban nodded respectfully. —We have already filed the corresponding criminal complaints, Your Honor. The federal prosecutor’s office has verified the documentation.
The judge signed his name across a formal decree, the scratching of his fountain pen sounding loud in the quiet room. He looked up at Julián, who was still being held by the bailiffs.
—Mr. Julián Salvatierra, by order of this court, all assets associated with Salvatierra BioMed, including the residential property in Lomas de Chapultepec, all corporate bank accounts, and subsidiary holdings, are hereby frozen and placed under the judicial receivership of Mrs. Claudia Rivera, effective immediately. Furthermore, pending the federal investigation into tax fraud and extortion, you are remanded to custody.
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—No! You can't do this! Do you know who I am?! My family built half the medical infrastructure in this city! —Julián screamed, struggling wildly against the bailiffs as they snapped steel handcuffs around his wrists.
Doña Elvira stood up, screaming hysterically, before collapsing back into her seat, clutching her chest as her high blood pressure spiked. Renata bolted from the courtroom, pushing past the throng of reporters waiting outside the double doors, desperate to escape the cameras capturing her downfall.
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