The truth became even uglier from there.

Diego and Selina had been involved on and off for nearly five years.

When she became pregnant, she told Diego first.

But he was drowning in debt from a failed real-estate project and refused responsibility.

He told her he couldn’t afford a child.

Then Diego realized something.

His older brother Arthur had something he didn’t.

Money.

Corporate power.

And a mother obsessed with producing a male heir.

So Diego encouraged Selina to get close to Arthur.

She attended company dinners.

Listened to his complaints.

Flattered him.

Whenever Arthur mentioned his daughters, Selina knew exactly what to say.

“You built an empire. It must be difficult knowing you don’t have a son to carry it on.”

Arthur fell for it.

Messages became dinners.

Dinners became an affair.

When Mateo was born, Selina allowed Arthur to believe the child was his.

Later, Diego secretly confirmed that Mateo was actually his own son.

But instead of admitting the truth, he saw an opportunity.

If Mateo was merely Diego’s child, the boy might receive a little family money.

But if Mateo was believed to be the eldest brother’s first son?

Beatrice would treat him like royalty.

She might transfer ownership.

Create trusts.

Bring Selina into the company.

And that was the real target.

Vance Fine Furniture.

Diego and Selina had created fraudulent vendor companies under the names of Selina’s relatives.

Some submitted invoices for timber that was never delivered.

Others charged outrageous markups.

Diego approved purchase orders.

Selina verified receipts.

Arthur authorized payments.

Money flowed into accounts controlled by Diego.

And there was one major obstacle.

Me.

As long as I retained forty-three percent ownership and oversight of the company finances, moving large amounts of money without detection was difficult.

So they needed me weakened.

Removed.

And paid as little as possible in the divorce.

Carmen had discovered the scheme because part of her work involved recording trucks entering the warehouse.

For years, she kept her own small ledger.

License plates.

Delivery times.

Cargo weights.

Whenever Diego pressured her to approve a shipment that hadn’t actually arrived, she marked the entry with a tiny red star.

There were twenty-three stars.

When Diego realized Carmen might expose him, he made a catastrophic mistake.

He had two men intimidate her and hold her for several hours while attempting to force her to sign a confession claiming she had altered warehouse records.

But Carmen had hidden her real ledger inside her bag.

The men missed it.

Her son reported her missing.

Nearby security footage eventually connected the men to Diego.

Once investigators found Carmen, the entire operation collapsed.

Forensic auditors compared her handwritten records with company payment data.

On those twenty-three dates alone, Vance Fine Furniture had paid more than $2.8 million for deliveries that never existed.

Combined losses from inflated invoices exceeded $4.5 million.

Investigators also found three forged corporate documents.

One attempted to reduce my voting rights.

Another granted Arthur emergency control over company assets.

And a third proposed a trust naming Mateo as the primary future corporate successor.

When Arthur Sr. saw my forged signature, he called Sarah Jenkins.

“Bring Mariana back to Chicago.”

I returned alone.

My daughters remained safely in Boston with my sister.

I didn’t walk back into that company as Arthur’s betrayed former wife.

I walked in as its largest shareholder.

Arthur Sr. sat at the head of the boardroom.

Arthur looked fifteen years older.

Diego wouldn’t look at me.

Beatrice sat silently in the corner.

Sarah placed a stack of legal documents onto the table.

“The company has three legitimate equity partners. Mariana Vance owns forty-three percent. Arthur Vance Sr. owns twenty-four percent. Arthur Vance Jr. owns thirty-three percent.”

She looked toward Diego.

“Every document indicating otherwise is invalid due to forgery.”

Diego exploded.

“She isn’t even a Vance anymore! Why does a woman who divorced my brother own more of this company than the actual sons?”

Arthur Sr. slammed his hand down.

“Because she invested real money when we were bankrupt!”

Diego went silent.

“She saved this business while you were losing money on ridiculous schemes!”

Then Diego snapped,

“And eventually her daughters will marry and everything will leave the family anyway!”

Arthur Sr.’s expression changed.

“A company is not a prize you inherit simply because you were born male.”

Seconds later, he grabbed his chest.

We called an ambulance.

He had suffered a mild heart attack.

He survived.

But whatever denial he still had about Diego vanished.

Police later found Selina staying with relatives.

Under questioning, she broke.

She handed over messages.

Payment records.

Recorded calls.

She admitted that Diego was Mateo’s father.

She admitted knowing Maya’s DNA had been used.

And she confessed her role in the vendor fraud.

When I eventually faced her, she cried.

“I was only trying to secure my son’s future.”

I stared at her.

“You used my six-year-old daughter’s DNA. You helped steal from a company supporting nearly two hundred employees. You helped convince a father to abandon his daughters so your son could be crowned an heir.”

I shook my head.

“That isn’t protecting a child.”

Then Selina said something else.