We worked like mad. The large steel gates arrived from Cuauhtémoc’s blacksmith shop. The wall was almost completely enclosed.
Daniel, the young meteorologist who took Guillermo’s place, came running one morning.
—Doña Marga… the barometers have gone crazy. The pressure has plummeted. A monstrous polar air mass is coming. In 48 hours…
I warned the village. Nobody believed me. Only Don Ramón and his family arrived when the wind was already tearing off roofs. Then the baker, Doña Dorotea… fifteen people took refuge behind my wall.
The storm of the century lasted three days. Winds howled like beasts, snow fell three meters deep. Inside, the ranch held; the wall deflected the force, creating relative calm. Outside, the valley was devastated.
When the blue skies cleared, Beatriz signed her own death warrant. Sierra Investments knew about the market cycle and wanted to buy the property cheaply for a luxury resort. She was taking a commission of hundreds of thousands of pesos. Roberto and the lawyer Ricardo forced her to confess before a notary. “I didn’t sell.”