Chapter 3 - THE WILL OF STEEL
Julian stared at his father as if the old man had lost his mind. "Heirs? What are you talking about? You have no other family! Mother is dead, and that traitor brother Mateo died decades ago!"
"Mateo is alive," Don Alejandro replied, his voice terrifyingly calm. "And his children stand before you."
Julian turned his gaze to Paco, then to Elena and Carlos. His eyes widened in horror as he recognized the distinct emerald-ringed eyes of the De la Vega family on the youngest boy. Panic, sharp and sudden, pierced his heart. For years, Julian had been secretly liquidating portions of the estate's offshore accounts, banking on inheriting the entire multi-million-dollar empire once Don Alejandro’s failing heart finally gave out.
"This is a scam!" Julian shrieked, pointing an accusing finger at Valeria. "She’s a gold-digger! She probably slept with half the state! You can't trust her! I am your only legitimate son! I’ve stayed by your side!"
"You stayed by my side to leech off my wealth while poisoning my land," Don Alejandro countered, pulling a thick folder of financial audit reports from his coat pocket and throwing them onto the table. "Did you think I didn't know about the secret contract you signed with the mining company? Did you think I was blind to the millions missing from our accounts?"
Julian’s face went pale. The air in the room became suffocating.
Don Alejandro turned his back on Julian and faced Valeria. He took her hands—rough and calloused from years of hard labor—and held them gently. "You asked if you could stay here until the baby is born, Valeria?"
Valeria nodded, tears streaming down her dusty cheeks. "That’s all I need, Don Alejandro. Just a safe place for my children to sleep until I can find work."
"No," Don Alejandro said firmly. "You will not stay here as a guest. You will stay here as the mistress of this house."
He stepped toward the grand desk, picked up a pen, and signed the leather-bound document he had pulled out earlier. He then called for his personal attorney, Senor Gomez, who was waiting in the study.
"Gomez," Don Alejandro declared, his voice ringing through the hall. "Execute the revised trust immediately. Stripping Julian de la Vega of all inheritance rights, effective tonight."
Julian let out an animalistic roar. "You can't do this! I am your son! You're giving everything to a peasant woman and her bastard children?!"
"They are my grandchildren," Don Alejandro snapped. "And Valeria has shown more strength, loyalty, and dignity in three hours of suffering than you have shown in twenty-eight years of luxury. Under this new deed, Hacienda El Milagro, its 10,000 acres, its livestock, and all liquid assets are transferred irrevocably to Valeria and her children."
Julian lunged forward, his face distorted with rage. "I’ll kill you! I’ll tear this place down!"
Before he could reach the old man, two towering ranch bodyguards stepped into the room, grabbing Julian by his arms and pinning him to the floor.
"Throw him out," Don Alejandro ordered coldly. "Strip him of his car keys, his credit cards, and his access to the estate. Let him see what it feels like to walk the dirt roads with nothing in his pockets."
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As the guards dragged a screaming, cursing Julian out into the darkness, Valeria stood frozen, overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of what had just occurred. "Don Alejandro... I cannot accept this... This is too much..."
"It is not a gift, Valeria," Don Alejandro whispered, a sudden spasm of pain crossing his face as he clutched his chest. "It is a duty. Protect them... because Mateo will come. When he finds out what you have... he will come to destroy us all."
