CHAPTER 7 – THE HUNT FOR THE PATRIARCH
CHAPTER 7 – THE HUNT FOR THE PATRIARCH
By sunrise, every television screen in Mexico carried the same breaking headline.
MEXICAN BILLIONAIRE ACCUSED OF ORGANIZING BABY-TRAFFICKING NETWORK.
The surveillance video from Santa Elena spread across every major news channel.
The footage was impossible to deny.
Millions watched Don Ricardo Santillán calmly order a newborn to be taken from her mother.
His empire, once admired, collapsed within hours.
Banks froze accounts.
Business partners canceled contracts.
Board members resigned one after another.
Government prosecutors issued a nationwide warrant for his arrest.
But Ricardo Santillán had vanished.
Inside the Santillán headquarters, chaos erupted.
Employees carried boxes from their offices.
Lawyers argued in hallways.
Investors demanded answers.
Alejandro entered the emergency board meeting alone.
The directors stared at him.
One elderly shareholder spoke first.
"Your family name is finished."
Alejandro nodded.
"Then we begin with the truth."
Another executive slammed his hand on the table.
"The company will lose billions."
Alejandro looked around the room.
"My daughter lost three years."
"Her mother lost everything."
"If the company survives by protecting criminals..."
"...then it doesn't deserve to survive."
Silence filled the boardroom.
For the first time, they were not listening to a billionaire.
They were listening to a father.
That afternoon, Alejandro held a nationally televised press conference.
Reporters packed the auditorium.
Cameras flashed nonstop.
He stepped to the podium without lawyers, without public relations advisers, and without prepared remarks.
"My name is Alejandro Santillán."
"My family committed crimes that destroyed innocent lives."
"I cannot erase what happened."
"But I will never hide it."
He paused, struggling to control his emotions.
"I was raised to believe I had rescued an abandoned child."
"I now know I was living inside a lie."
He looked directly into the cameras.
"To every family searching for a missing son or daughter..."
"I will use every resource I own to help you find the truth."
The room fell silent.
Then one reporter asked,
"Will you testify against your own father?"
Alejandro answered without hesitation.
"Yes."
Meanwhile, hundreds of kilometers away, Don Ricardo hid inside an abandoned ranch near the northern border.
Only two loyal bodyguards remained.
The old billionaire watched Alejandro's speech on a dusty television.
He turned it off before it ended.
His face showed no regret.
Only disappointment.
"My son has become weak."
One bodyguard hesitated.
"Sir... perhaps it's over."
Ricardo smiled coldly.
"No."
"As long as I'm alive..."
"...the game isn't finished."
At that moment, a helicopter thundered overhead.
Then another.
Police vehicles surrounded the property.
A loudspeaker echoed across the valley.
"Ricardo Santillán!"
"This is the Federal Police!"
"Surrender immediately!"
Ricardo quietly picked up an old revolver.
May you like
Not to fight.
To make one final decision.
