Chapter 8 - THE ARREST AND THE AFTERMATH
The heavy steel shutters ground upward with a loud hydraulic whine. The moment the gap reached two feet, a squad of armed Federal Police officers flooded into the foyer with flashlights drawn, their boots pounding against the marble floor.
"Hands where we can see them! Nobody move!"
Daniel immediately raised his hands, pulling Mateo and Sofía gently behind his back. "I am Daniel Garza. I triggered the emergency beacon. The situation is under control, but these individuals attempted to destroy evidence."
Lucía stood frozen in the doorway of the pantry room, her emerald green dress rumpled, her face pale as a sheet under the harsh white police spotlights. Beside her, Hector didn't even attempt to stand. He sat slumped against the wall, his head in his hands, staring blankly at the floor.
Two officers moved quickly, pulling Lucía out of the room and forcing her hands behind her back.
"Daniel! Tell them to stop!" Lucía shrieked, her voice cracking with a mix of humiliation and rage as the cold steel handcuffs clicked around her wrists. "This is a domestic misunderstanding! He’s setting me up!"
"Save it for your statement, ma'am," the lead commander, Officer Reyes, said coldly. He looked down at the physical padlocks on the floor, the scratched wood on the door, and the tiny body camera sitting on the hallway table. "We received the automated digital file bundle twenty minutes ago. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Monterrey has already signed the emergency arrest warrants."
As Lucía was escorted past Daniel, her eyes met his. The refined, aristocratic socialite was gone; only pure, unadulterated venom remained.
"You think you’ve won, Daniel?" she whispered harshly as the officer pulled her toward the door. "You have no idea who else was funded by those offshore accounts. Hector wasn't the top of the chain. You opened a door you won't ever be able to close."
Daniel didn't give her the satisfaction of an answer. He turned his back on her, dropping to his knees to pull Sofía and Mateo into a tight embrace.
"It's over, kids," Daniel whispered, his voice trembling as he kissed the top of Sofía's head. "They're gone."
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Mateo looked into his father's eyes, his young face still tight with distrust and exhaustion. "Is it really over, Dad? Or are there more people like them?"
Daniel looked past his son toward the empty, dark hallway, remembering Lucía’s parting words. The knot in his stomach tightened once again.
