Chapter 65 - The Summons to Lyon
By Monday afternoon, we touched down at Saint-Exupéry Airport in Lyon.
The air was brisk, smelling of damp limestone, river moss, and European diesel exhaust. The contrast between the sun-drenched terracotta of Coyoacán and the gray, historic majesty of Lyon was jarring, but there was no time for sightseeing.
Mateo had coordinated with an independent legal security firm based in Geneva—associates of the Swiss magistrate who had assisted us during our previous pursuit of the hidden offshore ledgers. Two discreet, dark sedans met us directly outside the international terminal, escorting our party through the cobblestone streets of the Presqu'île district toward our hotel near the Place des Terreaux.
The ledgers rested inside a custom titanium-reinforced, climate-controlled case that Mateo never permitted to leave his hand.
That evening, in the suite overlooking the Saône River, we rehearsed the presentation.
Valeria paced the parquet floor, firing potential legal objections at us in rapid French and Spanish. "They will argue that the formula is botanical folk science, not a proprietary intellectual property protected under modern international frameworks. They will claim that *Vander & Thorne* refined it into an industrial standard."
"And our counter is simple," Paloma said, adjusting the bone shuttle that hung around her neck over her embroidered black tunic. "You cannot patent what was never yours to claim. Industrial synthesis doesn't invent an ancient molecule; it merely mimics an art that sustained our people for four centuries."
Elena sat by the window, watching the streetlamps flicker to life along the river quays. She was wearing her finest hand-woven charcoal-and-indigo rebozo, her waist-length silver hair gathered into a regal, braided crown pinned with silver filigree.
"Let them talk about patents and capital," Elena said softly, turning toward us. "Truth is not an abstraction, Lucía. It lives in the weight of the thread, the scent of the wood, and the memory of the hands that held it before we were born."
Mateo knelt beside my chair, placing his hand over mine. "We have the documentation, the legal standing, and the truth on our side. But remember: Eduardo’s network was built on vanity. When vanity is threatened with total exposure, it lashes out."
May you like
"Let them lash out," I said, looking out over the city lights. "We didn't come across the ocean to negotiate."
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