Chapter 12 - Shadows in the Distance
12 - 15
Though peace had finally settled over the Villaseñor estate, the wheels of justice in Mexico City continued to turn with relentless momentum.
Deep inside the maximum-security wing of the Federal Penitentiary of Santa Martha Acatitla, Paulina Robles paced back and forth across the cold concrete floor of her cell. Her expensive designer clothes had long since been replaced by a coarse, gray prisoner uniform. Her manicured fingernails were broken, and the high-society veneer that had once protected her had completely disintegrated under the harsh reality of prison life.
The heavy iron door rattled as a guard unlocked the latch, swinging it open with a metallic screech.
“Robles. Visitor,” the guard barked harshly.
Paulina froze, her heart leaping with a sudden, desperate surge of false hope. Could it be one of Morales’s secret associates? Could there still be a way out of this nightmare?
She hurried out into the cold corridor, her bare feet slapping against the concrete floor, and rushed into the attorney visitation booth. She sat down behind the thick, reinforced glass panel, picking up the heavy plastic telephone receiver.
On the other side of the glass sat a man wearing a dark trench coat and a wide-brimmed hat that cast a heavy shadow over his face. He picked up his receiver slowly, a faint, cold smile playing on the corners of his lips.
“Who are you?” Paulina demanded, pressing her face against the glass. “Are you here to get me out? Did Alejandro send you?”
“Alejandro Morales is singing like a canary to federal prosecutors, Paulina,” the man replied, his voice distorted through the secure intercom system, cold and rasping like dry autumn leaves. “He couldn't hold his water for a single week. He’s already traded your name for a reduced sentence.”
Paulina’s face crumpled in despair. “Then why are you here? To gloat?”
“I’m here because you failed,” the man said smoothly. “You had one job: keep Diego Villaseñor isolated, control his assets, and prevent any external variables from disrupting our long-term acquisition strategy. Instead, you let your petty jealousy over a maid ruin a five-year operation.”
“I didn't mean to—it was the child! The child changed everything!” Paulina sobbed hysterically.
“The child is irrelevant,” the man hissed coldly, his eyes flashing with a dangerous, unseen menace through the shadow of his hat. “Diego thinks he’s won. He thinks putting us behind bars and cleaning his board of directors secured his little happy ending. But he doesn't understand how deep our roots go into this city.”
Paulina trembled, pressing her back against the plastic chair. “What... what are you going to do?”
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“We aren't going to do anything right now,” the man said, setting his receiver back down onto the cradle with a heavy clack. “We are going to let him enjoy his little family reunion. We are going to let him lower his guard. And when the time is right... when he least expects it... we will strike at the only thing he actually cares about.”
The man stood up, turned his back on the screaming woman behind the glass, and walked down the dim prison corridor into the shadows, leaving Paulina sobbing uncontrollably in the dark.
