Chapter 4 - The Legal Offensive
Three days after the incident, I was discharged from the hospital. Instead of returning to my old apartment, Alejandro brought me to his private estate in Pedregal, protected by high perimeter walls and round-the-clock security. The physical wounds from the allergen had healed, but the battle was just beginning.
My parents’ legal representatives immediately tried to negotiate a quiet settlement. They sent frantic messages through distant relatives, begging me to withdraw the criminal charges. My mother sent a recorded voice note weeping about “family honor” and claiming that Fernanda had only meant to “scare” me with the almond mist, not realize the severity of the reaction. They conveniently glossed over the fact that Fernanda had grown up with me and knew precisely that nut extracts triggered anaphylactic shock.
Alejandro and I held a formal strategy meeting with Mateo Vance and his criminal defense team. Mateo made our position crystal clear: we would not accept a plea deal that allowed Fernanda or my parents to evade state prison time.
“We are filing formal charges for attempted murder with premeditation, conspiracy to commit severe bodily harm, and physical assault,” Mateo stated. “Furthermore, we are initiating civil lawsuits for emotional distress, medical costs, and punitive damages that will effectively freeze all assets associated with Roberto Hernández’s estate.”
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To ensure that public opinion remained untainted by my family's attempts to spin the narrative, Alejandro’s PR firm released a controlled statement accompanied by the hospital's official medical discharge report and security footage from the venue. The video clearly showed Fernanda spraying the toxin, my parents watching me collapse, and all three running away while guests panicked.
The public outcry in Mexico City was swift and overwhelming. The image of a bride being poisoned by her own sister on her wedding day sparked national outrage against familial abuse and toxic entitlement. The social prestige my father had spent a lifetime building crumbled overnight. Bank credit lines were frozen, private clubs canceled his memberships, and business partners severed all ties.
