flash
The flickering flame of the kerosene lamp cast distorted shadows across the stone walls as Carmen froze, her breath catching in her throat. Deep within Mateo’s swollen ear canal, the glistening, segmented black mass shifted again. It wasn't a disease. It was alive. A horrific, parasitic centipede-like creature had burrowed into his head, its tiny legs scraping against his eardrum, driving him to the brink of madness. / Chapter 5 / 6

Chapter 5 - The Village Speecless

The crowd outside pressed against the open windows and doors of the office, gasping in shock. The legendary "Deaf Man" wasn't a cursed lunatic—he was a victim of the town's most powerful family, and he was completely cured.

"You're insane!" Ramiro shouted, panic bleeding into his voice. "Guards! Get this freak out of here!"

But before the corrupt local police could move, Carmen stepped forward. From the folds of her dress, she pulled out a thick, leather-bound ledger—something she had found hidden in a secret floorboard beneath Mateo's bed while he was recovering. It was the original land deed of Los Altos, signed by Alejandro's grandfather before they legally erased Mateo’s family.

"This ranch, this town hall, and half the agave fields in this valley don't belong to the Vargas family," Carmen announced, her voice echoing with newfound authority. "They belong to Mateo Silva. My father didn't owe you 85,000 pesos, Alejandro. You owe the Silva family millions."

Alejandro’s face twisted in monstrous rage. Realizing his empire was crumbling in front of the entire village, he pulled his revolver from the desk drawer and aimed it straight at Carmen's chest. "I'll kill you both before I let a fat pig and a mute freak take what's mine!"

Bang!

A gunshot echoed through the room. Screams erupted from the crowd outside.

But it wasn't Carmen who fell.

Mateo had lunged across the desk with lightning speed, grabbing Alejandro’s wrist and forcing the gun upward just as it fired into the ceiling. With a roar of pure, unadulterated justice, Mateo slammed Alejandro onto the desk, disarming him instantly. The local police, seeing the overwhelming crowd of villagers cheering for Mateo and realizing the tide had turned, refused to step in to help Alejandro. They handcuffed the landowner's son instead.

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The ink on the emergency audit report was barely dry when the secure terminal on my desk flashed a violent crimson. I hadn't slept in thirty-six hours, my eyes burning from staring at columns of ghost figures, duplicate invoices, and shell corporations linked to Dominic Rossi. But the red alert wasn’t from Rossi’s faction. It was an internal security flag originating from the estate’s main vault deep beneath the west wing.

The ink on the emergency audit report was barely dry when the secure ter...

The glass shattered into a thousand tiny diamonds on the marble, scattering the light from the chandeliers. The muffled laughter died instantly, replaced by a suffocating, heavy silence that crept outward from the grand staircase.

The glass shattered into a thousand tiny diamonds on the marble, scatter...

The heavy oak doors of my private study clicked shut behind us, locking out the clinical, terrifying silence of the kitchen. Evelyn Crane stood stiffly in front of my mahogany desk, her hands folded over her apron with the rigid precision of someone who had spent decades micromanaging every square inch of my estate. Behind her, Norah hovered near the doorway, clutching her clipboard like a shield.

The heavy oak doors of my private study clicked shut behind us, locking...

Turning to Ramiro and Don Arturo, who were trembling in the corner, Mateo pointed a stern finger at the door. "Get out of our sight. If I ever see you near my wife again, I will ensure you rot in the federal penitentiary alongside the Vargas family."

The two men scrambled out of the room like rats leaving a sinking ship.

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