Chapter 5 - The Divorce Agreement
The visitor’s room at the Reclusorio Norte penitentiary was cold, sterile, and smelled faintly of floor disinfectant.
Alejandro sat at a stainless-steel table, his hands handcuffed to a metal ring embedded in the center. He wore a plain beige prison uniform. His once-groomed hair was shorn short, and his posture was entirely broken.
The heavy steel door opened, and Mariana walked in. She was accompanied only by Gonzalo. She wore a tailored navy dress, looking every bit the sovereign billionaire she was.
Alejandro looked up, tears springing to his eyes instantly. "Mariana..."
Mariana sat down across from him, crossing her legs gracefully. She didn't offer a greeting; she simply placed a single pen and a four-page legal document on the table between them.
"The final divorce decree," Mariana said flatly. "Unconditional surrender of all marital claims, full admission of financial sole-liability, and an immediate forfeiture of any rights to marital property."
Alejandro looked at the paper, his hands trembling against the steel table. "Mariana... please. I'm facing seven to ten years in here. My life is over. My mother is living in a shelter... she’s sick, she’s losing her mind. Can't you show a little mercy?"
"Mercy?" Mariana echoed, her voice dropping to a dangerous whisper that made the guards near the door stand at attention. "Where was your mercy when your mother stood in my kitchen, screaming that I was barren, worthless, and living off your money? Where was your mercy when she tore my clothes while you stood by the fridge, drinking water and looking away?"
Alejandro swallowed hard, a sob escaping his chest. "I was coward, Mariana! I was terrified of her! She controlled me my whole life!"
"You were not a coward, Alejandro," Mariana countered ruthlessly. "You were an accomplice. You enjoyed letting her abuse me because it stroked your pathetic ego. You wanted her to believe you were the king of the castle, while you quietly stole from the woman who actually built it."
She pushed the pen closer to his trembling fingers.
"Sign the papers, Alejandro. Or I will instruct my legal team to file secondary civil suits against your mother, ensuring she spends her remaining years in a state penitentiary alongside you."
Alejandro looked at the document, then at Mariana’s unyielding eyes. He realized, with absolute and terrifying finality, that the soft, patient wife he had manipulated for seven years was gone forever. In her place was an untouchable titan who would crush him without a second thought if he resisted.
With a shaking hand, Alejandro picked up the pen and signed his name on the dotted line of every page.
"It's done," Alejandro wept, collapsing forward against the steel table. "It's all done."
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Mariana picked up the signed documents, checking the signatures with professional precision. She stood up, buttoning her coat, and turned toward the exit.
"Goodbye, Alejandro," Mariana said softly. "I hope the memory of that white dress keeps you warm in here."
