Chapter 10 - The Trap Springs ShutChaos erupted within minutes. The grand steel security shutters of the Metropolitan Club slammed down over the windows and exits, trapping every guest inside. Sirens wailed softly as Alejandro’s private tactical security team swept through the ballroom and service corridors.
High-society guests panicked, shouting and demanding answers, but Alejandro stood in the center of the room like a statue of absolute authority, refusing to budge an inch. Mariana stood behind him, clutching his arm so tightly her knuckles turned white.
Ten minutes later, two towering security guards marched a kicking, screaming man into the center of the ballroom.
It was Lucas Delgado. His stolen waiter jacket was torn, and his face was slick with sweat as he struggled against the guards' iron grip.
"Let me go! You can't do this! I have rights!" Lucas roared, thrashing wildly until his eyes locked onto Mariana standing beside Alejandro. His expression twisted into vicious malice. "Ah, there's my sweet little wife! Living high on the hog with a billionaire while your own husband starves on the streets, huh? You think you can hide from me, Mariana?!"
Gasps echoed through the crowd. Whispers exploded like wildfire.
“Her husband?!” “She’s married?!” “It’s a scandal!”
Rebeca Rivas pushed her way to the front of the crowd, a triumphant, malicious sneer plastered across her face. "Well! What did I tell you, Alejandro? A common liar! A married woman hiding a fugitive husband inside your own estate!"
All eyes turned to Alejandro Rivas. The press, trapped inside by the lockdown, thrust their cameras forward, capturing every second of the impending disaster.
Alejandro slowly stepped forward. He didn't look at Rebeca. He didn't look at the press. He walked with slow, deliberate steps right up to Lucas Delgado.
Lucas smirked, puffing out his chest. "That's right, Mr. Billionaire. She's legally my wife. If you want her, you're going to pay me—"
Crack.
Before Lucas could finish his sentence, Alejandro’s fist slammed directly into his jaw with blinding, vicious speed. Lucas stumbled backward, crashing violently onto the marble floor, blood pooling from his lip.
The entire ballroom went dead silent. Not a single person breathed.
Alejandro casually shook out his hand, stepping over the groaning man on the floor. He turned toward the pack of cameras and the stunned crowd, his voice echoing with absolute, terrifying dominance:
"Lucas Delgado and Mariana López finalized their uncontested legal divorce in a state court three hours ago," Alejandro announced, his voice slicing through the silence like a razor blade. "Furthermore, Lucas Delgado has zero parental rights, having officially surrendered them in exchange for debt relief processed through my legal team this afternoon."
Lucas gasped from the floor, clutching his jaw in horror. "That's—that's not true! I never signed—"
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"You signed every single page," Alejandro interrupted coldly, pulling a document from his breast pocket and tossing it carelessly onto Lucas’s chest. "And effective immediately, you have an active restraining order keeping you five hundred miles away from Mariana and her daughter. If you ever breathe within their vicinity again, you won't just wake up on a courtroom floor—you will disappear from this earth entirely."
The security guards hauled Lucas up by his arms and dragged him screaming out of the building.
