Chapter 9 - The Trial by Fire
Octavio raised the weapon, his finger tightening on the trigger as Valeria closed her eyes in prayer.
Before the hammer could fall, Luciana threw herself across the marble floor, tackling Octavio around the knees.
The gunshot tore through the ceiling, shattering an antique crystal chandelier that rained glass down onto the floor.
Sebastián moved like a flash of lightning, crossing the distance between himself and his cousin.
He caught Octavio's wrist, twisting the joint until the bone fractured with an audible snap.
Octavio dropped the gun and screamed in agony, collapsing onto the shards of broken crystal.
Sebastián kicked the weapon across the hall, leaving his cousin writhing in total defeat.
Sebastián turned slowly toward his mother, who had backed away toward the edge of the open marble terrace overlooking the five-hundred-foot mountain drop.
The wind howled through the terrace columns, whipping the rain against the glass doors.
Rebeca held little Mateo precariously over the marble balustrade, her eyes wild with complete insanity.
"Take one more step, Sebastián, and we all go over together!" Rebeca shrieked into the storm.
"If I cannot own the Alcázar empire, then no one will!"
Mateo began to cry softly, his small voice cutting straight through Sebastián's soul.
Sebastián stopped, slowly raising both of his hands into the air to show he was unarmed.
"Look at yourself, Mother," Sebastián said, his voice calm, steady, and mesmerizingly low.
"You killed my father with thallium poison, thinking you could rule his shadow forever."
"You beat Valeria, you forged my name, and you terrorized an innocent girl."
"And for what? For numbers on a bank screen? For a house made of cold stones?"
Rebeca’s hands trembled slightly on the balustrade, tears of pure, venomous frustration leaking down her painted cheeks.
"He never loved me, Sebastián!" Rebeca screamed through her tears.
"Your father spent twenty years planning to leave everything to you and that pathetic girl!"
"I gave him my entire youth, and he treated me like a decorative ornament on his desk!"
While Rebeca’s focus was entirely fixed on Sebastián’s voice, Valeria silently pushed herself up from the floor.
Using a sharp piece of fallen crystal from the shattered chandelier, Valeria sliced through the nylon ropes binding her wrists.
With the ferocious, unstoppable power of a mother fighting for her cub, Valeria surged forward.
She wrapped her arms around baby Mateo, ripping him from Rebeca's grasp and pulling him securely against her chest.
Rebeca lost her balance on the wet terrace floor, her high heel catching on the hem of her designer skirt.
She slipped backward, screaming as her torso tilted over the stone railing toward the dark abyss below.
Sebastián leaped forward with explosive speed, his hand shooting out and catching Rebeca by the wrist inches before she plunged into the darkness.
Rebeca dangled over the sheer mountain drop, the wind roaring beneath her as she stared up into the face of her son.
"Pull me up, Sebastián!" Rebeca begged, her arrogance completely evaporating into sheer, primal terror.
"I am your mother! You cannot let me die!"
Sebastián held her wrist with an iron grip, his face completely devoid of hatred, leaving only profound, sorrowful exhaustion.
"I am saving you, Mother," Sebastián whispered softly.
"Not because you deserve mercy, but because my son will never grow up in a family that trades in murder."
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Sebastián pulled with all his strength, hauling Rebeca over the stone balustrade and throwing her safely onto the marble terrace floor.
Sirens wailed in the valley below as twenty federal police cruisers and armored military trucks stormed up the private driveway.
