I reached out, my hand shaking violently as I took the heavy document.
“What condition?” Santiago asked, his voice barely a whisper.
Arthur Vance looked at me, his eyes softening with a profound respect. “The trust specifically states that the funds can only be unlocked and managed by the woman who actually raised you—the woman Julian discovered through private investigators right before his death. The legal guardian who sacrificed everything. Mariana.”
Arthur took a step closer, lowering his voice. “But you need to understand something very clearly, Mariana. Valeria already knows about this. She found out about Julian’s death last week. The eviction notice she gave you today? The sudden sale of your parents’ house? It isn’t a tantrum. It’s a legal trap.”
My heart froze. “A trap?”
“Yes,” Arthur said grimly, pointing to a clause hidden deep within the paperwork. “If you are evicted and declared financially unstable or homeless before tomorrow at noon, a clause in the state law allows the biological mother to claim emergency temporary custody and guardianship over Santiago’s legal affairs, since he is technically transitioning into university. If she gains that status, even for an hour, she can contest the will, seize the entire Vance estate, and liquidate everything.”
Arthur looked at his watch. It was 12:15 AM.
“You have less than twelve hours to prove you have a stable, permanent residence, or Valeria takes everything, destroys your family, and robs Santiago of his future permanently.”
Just as the weight of his words settled over us, the loud, piercing sound of a car horn echoed from the street.
We all looked out the window.
Two large moving trucks pulled up to the curb, accompanied by a black SUV. The doors slammed open, and out stepped Valeria, flanked by a police officer and a man holding a clipboard.
She wasn’t waiting for tomorrow morning. She was here tonight to force us out into the street before the sun could even rise.
