The officers pinned him hard against the wall and snapped handcuffs around his wrists.
Fiona burst into hysterics.
“You can’t just take him away! This is his house!”
For the first time, Maria looked at her with the faintest trace of a smile.
“No, Fiona. It was never his house.”
Daniel reached into his folder and removed another document.
The deed was in Maria’s name.
She had bought the property three years before she had ever become involved with Ryan, using money from an investment she had made together with her father.
Evelyn tore the papers out of the lawyer’s hands.
“This is fake! My son pays for everything here!”
“Your son does not even pay the property taxes,” Daniel replied evenly. “And effective immediately, the owner revokes your permission to remain on these premises.”
Fiona went rigid.
“You’re throwing us out?”
“You have fifteen minutes to collect clothing and personal belongings you can prove are yours.”
The residential complex’s security guards escorted Fiona and Evelyn upstairs.
At that exact moment, Ryan’s phone, still lying on the dining table, began vibrating nonstop.
Calls from the board.
From the legal department.
From an outside auditor.
And from a number Ryan knew far too well.
The CEO himself.
Maria glanced at the screen but made no move to touch the phone.
Daniel stepped closer and lowered his voice.
“The auditors found the transfers. He’ll be summoned tomorrow.”
Maria gave a small nod.
“I expected that.”
“There’s one more thing,” Daniel added. “The stock purchase closed this afternoon.”
She looked at him in silence.
“What percentage?”
“Fifty-three.”
For the first time that night, Maria truly smiled.
Ryan had no idea yet.
But he had just been arrested for striking the woman who, as of that afternoon, controlled the company where he had always believed himself untouchable.
And even that was nowhere near the worst thing he would learn the following morning.
At six o’clock the next day, Ryan walked out of the district attorney’s office.
His shirt was wrinkled, and his jaw was clenched so tightly it ached.
A protective order had been issued against him, prohibiting him from going near Maria.
He had not slept at all.
His lawyer had made it painfully clear that the recorded slap, the earlier medical reports, and his attempt to attack Maria with a chair made any defense almost impossible.
On top of that, the authorities had received information about possible financial crimes connected to his company.
Only one thought remained in Ryan’s mind.
He had to keep his job.
As long as he remained chief financial officer, he could pay for stronger attorneys, help his mother and sister, and maybe find some way to negotiate with Maria.
He got into a taxi and headed for Santa Fe.
When he entered the company’s building, no one greeted him.
Employees who used to stand straighter the moment he passed now turned their eyes away.
Two assistants whispered to each other behind their hands.
At reception, he was given only a temporary access badge because his clearance to the executive floor had been disabled.
“They’re expecting you in the conference room,” the receptionist said.
With his stomach twisting into a knot, Ryan walked inside.
The CEO was already seated at the table, along with two corporate attorneys and the head of internal audit.
“Ryan,” the CEO began, “last night we received evidence that you committed a physical assault. But that is not the only reason we are here today.”
One of the auditors projected a series of bank transfers onto the wall.
Payments to a cosmetic clinic.
Airline tickets.
Designer handbags.
The monthly installment on Fiona’s car.
All of it had been paid from company operating accounts and then disguised as business expenses.
Ryan struggled to breathe.
“I can explain this.”
“Then please explain the altered invoices as well,” one of the corporate lawyers said. “And the digitized signatures used without authorization.”
Ryan stared at the screen.
Only then did he understand that there was no door left open for him.
The documents Maria had thrown into the pot had been nothing but copies.
The digital originals had been sitting on the audit department’s servers for weeks.
“I… I was going to pay it back.”
“You diverted more than four million Pesos over eighteen months.”
Ryan shot to his feet.
“My family depended on me!”
The CEO looked at him with open disgust.
“That does not turn corporate assets into your personal bank account.”
Ryan dropped to his knees beside the table.
“Please. Don’t fire me. Give me time. I’ll sign whatever you want. I’ll sell anything I have to sell.”
No one answered.
Then the door opened.
The crisp click of high heels echoed through the room.
Ryan turned his head.
Maria walked in.
She wore an ivory pantsuit, her hair pulled back with severe elegance, and a folder tucked under one arm.
She had made no attempt to cover the bruise on her cheek with makeup.
Calmly, she took the seat at the head of the table.
Ryan blinked several times.
“What are you doing here?”
The CEO rose from his chair.
“Ms. Maria Ortega represents the new majority shareholder group.”
A thin, nervous laugh slipped out of Ryan.
“That’s impossible.”
Maria opened her folder.
“Over the past three years, through an investment company, I acquired shares from several minority partners. Yesterday, the transaction that gave us fifty-three percent was finalized.”
Ryan stared at her as if she were a stranger.
“Why didn’t you ever tell me?”
“Because you never asked me about my work. To you, I was only the woman who was supposed to come home and cook for you.”
The silence in the room was suffocating.
Maria continued.