The judge listened attentively, and then did something unusual: she burst out laughing. Not a polite laugh, but a genuine laugh of disbelief at such brazenness. Then, her face hardened. She looked at Alejandro and delivered her verdict in a voice that cut through the air. “In twenty years, I have rarely seen such calculated and documented exploitation,” she said.
The ruling was devastating for him. The judge ordered the full repayment of the €178,342 I had lent him, plus six years of compound interest, totaling approximately €212,000. But the best part was this: he awarded me 40% of the shares in his technology company as compensation for being an undisclosed financial founder. Furthermore, she referred the case to the public prosecutor’s office to investigate securities fraud and tax evasion. Alejandro was devastated, stammering, while Verónica quietly slipped out of the courtroom, never to be seen again.
Six months later, sitting in my own design office, founded with the settlement money, I looked at the plaque on my wall: “Support those who deserve it. Document those who don’t.” Alejandro had lost everything, but I had built my future on the truth.
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