Chapter 7 - The Morning After
At eight o'clock the following morning, while Teresa and Valeria were sitting in their living room complaining to relatives about Mariana's "cruelty," the doorbell rang.
Teresa opened the door expecting a formal written apology from her eldest daughter.
Instead, she was greeted by a process server holding an official legal envelope stamped with the seal of the Travis County District Court.
"Teresa Salgado?" the process server asked. "You are officially served with a civil lawsuit for forgery, grand conversion of trust funds, and financial fraud."
Teresa’s face turned paper-white as she pulled out the legal documents.
Attached to the lawsuit was a line-by-line forensic audit proving that Teresa had illegally forged seventeen-year-old Mariana's signature on her father's insurance payout checks, spending every dollar on Valeria.
The lawsuit demanded full financial restitution of six hundred thousand dollars plus fifteen years of accrued compound interest, or Teresa would face immediate criminal prosecution.
Valeria ran to the door, grabbing the papers from her mother's trembling hands. "Mom... what is this?! Six hundred thousand dollars?! We don't have that kind of money!"
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"If you don't pay it back, the court will place a foreclosure lien on this house," the legal notice read in bold red text.
👉 Read Part 8 to see how Valeria's fiancé reacted to the scandal.
