CHAPTER 3: THE WOMAN THEY NEVER KNEW
Meanwhile, seventy miles away, Mariana sat at the top floor of Escalante Global Headquarters.
Floor-to-ceiling windows overlooked the city.
Sunlight poured across polished marble.
Three attorneys sat across from her.
Her father stood near the window.
Alejandro Escalante.
One of the wealthiest men in the country.
A man who had spent four years respecting his daughter's choice to live independently.
A man who never once interfered in her marriage.
Until now.
"You still have time to stop this."
Mariana looked up.
Her father wasn't smiling.
He looked disappointed.
Not in her.
In Andrew.
"He struck you."
Mariana touched the fading bruise on her cheek.
The room became silent.
Alejandro's jaw tightened.
"For four years I watched you protect that family."
Mariana stared out the window.
Memories flooded back.
The nights she secretly covered payroll.
The loans she arranged.
The debts she erased.
The scandals she buried.
The investors she convinced to stay.
Andrew never asked where solutions came from.
He simply accepted them.
Like oxygen.
Like sunshine.
Like something that would always exist.
Until it didn't.
One attorney opened a file.
"There is more."
Mariana raised an eyebrow.
The attorney slid several photographs across the table.
Brenda.
Entering hotels.
Meeting private investors.
Signing confidential agreements.
Mariana's eyes narrowed.
"What is this?"
The attorney took a breath.
"Corporate espionage."
The room went still.
For months, Brenda had been selling confidential information.
Not only betraying Mariana.
Not only sleeping with Andrew.
She had been leaking company secrets.
To competitors.
The damage totaled millions.
Alejandro shook his head slowly.
"Your husband wasn't merely foolish."
He looked directly at Mariana.
"He brought a snake into his own house."
Mariana leaned back.
A cold smile appeared.
For the first time since leaving the mansion.
A genuine smile.
Because Andrew thought losing a wife would be painful.
He still had no idea he was about to lose everything else too.
