Mental health is not judged. A mother always knows when her child suffers.
I read that in my Uncle Gerardo’s office, with the wedding dress in a bag and my grandmother’s reliquary on the table. There was the plan: dirty my name, make any defense look like an attack and use my pain as evidence against me.
Some comments already called me exaggerated. Others said that poor Andrew, that marrying a troubled woman must be a nightmare.
“If they already told a lie,” I said, “I’m going to tell the truth.
That afternoon I didn’t go out alone. Next to me were Ivonne and 3 women who appeared in the memory of Andrés: Fernanda, Lucia and Marisol. Fernanda signed a loan he never paid. Lucia gave her her savings for a fake business. Marisol almost lost her apartment because Andrés convinced her to put it as a guarantee.
They arrived with shame. But when they heard each other, they understood that the shame was not theirs. It was his.
We gave a statement in front of Constructora Montes. It was a stool full of cameras and women shaking while they decided to stop hiding.
Barragán spoke first.
There is evidence of a coordinated operation to emotionally, economically and publicly manipulate Valeria Montes Castillo, as well as other women. Reports have already been filed for fraud, counterfeiting, family violence and attempted dispossession.
Then I walked up to the microphone.
“I got married believing I was going to start a family,” I said. That same night I discovered that my husband, mother and other people had planned to take my house away, destroy my reputation and pose as unstable.
I breathed and looked at the camera.
“Many women are silent because they are afraid of being told crazy, exaggerated or burned. They also wanted to call me that. But this time there was a recording.
A reporter shouted:
Are you directly accusing your husband?
“I’m accusing Andrés León of believing that he could destroy a woman because he saw her cry.
The video went viral that night.
Andrés responded from his car, disheveled and with wet eyes.
I am a victim of a powerful family. Valeria hid from me who she was. I made mistakes, but she wants to ruin me out of spite.
Then he raised some papers.
“I have proof that the house is also in my power.
Barragán paused the video and barely smiled.
“He has just shown forged documents in front of all of Mexico.
That was his first mistake. The second was to try to blame his mother.
When the prosecution quoted him, Andrés stated that Rebekah had pressured him and that he only wanted to save the marriage. But the audios said something else. In one, he explained how he would trigger my anxiety attacks. In another, Rebecca replied:
