Chapter 11 - THE INJUNCTION
The hearing was scheduled for three that afternoon.
Andrew arrived with three attorneys.
He wore a charcoal suit.
No tie.
A faint bruise marked his wrist where officers had restrained him during the warehouse confrontation.
He looked nothing like the man who had laughed while ordering Mariana to kneel.
He looked desperate.
Desperate men could be more dangerous.
Andrew’s lawyers argued that Mariana had manipulated secured debt to seize control of a marital company.
They presented the forged transfer as proof that she had personally participated in the foreign fund months earlier.
They claimed her sudden denial was retaliation following a domestic dispute.
Mariana listened without reacting.
Then Andrew’s attorney said the words she expected.
“Mrs. Escalante is using her family’s financial power to rewrite history.”
Mariana’s attorney stood.
“We intend to prove history was already being rewritten.”
The judge refused to grant Andrew full control.
But he issued a limited temporary order.
Neither side could sell major assets.
Neither side could alter the company’s ownership structure.
And Mariana’s voting proxy was temporarily restricted until the authenticity of the disputed signatures could be reviewed.
Andrew walked outside looking relieved.
For the first time in two days, he had gained ground.
Mariana did not panic.
She had learned something during the hearing.
Andrew’s attorney had submitted metadata for the forged document.
The file originated from an executive laptop.
Not Victor’s.
Andrew’s.
That gave investigators a path.
But there was another problem.
The company had forty-eight hours before a major bond payment.
Without board authority, Mariana could not authorize the rescue financing she had prepared.
If the payment failed, thousands of employees could be dragged into Andrew’s war.
Rafael wanted to let Andrew face the consequences.
Mariana refused.
“The workers didn’t slap me.”
“They didn’t forge anything.”
“They shouldn’t lose their jobs because Andrew wants to win.”
That evening, Mariana called the bond trustee.
She offered a temporary personal guarantee.
The trustee agreed to consider it.
Then an email arrived.
Someone had leaked the domestic scandal to the press.
Photographs of Mariana leaving the mansion appeared online.
So did a carefully edited statement from Andrew.
It described him as a husband being financially destroyed by a vindictive billionaire heiress.
There was no mention of Brenda.
No mention of the necklace.
No mention of the forged signature.
By midnight, cameras surrounded Escalante headquarters.
And then Andrew appeared live on television.
He looked into the camera.
“I loved my wife.”
He paused dramatically.
“But I will not let her family steal what my father built.”
Mariana watched from her office.
Rafael stood beside her.
“What are you going to do?”
May you like
Mariana picked up her brown leather purse.
“Show them what his father actually built.”
