flash
The hangover hit Mateo like a freight train at sunrise. Sunlight filtered through the velvet curtains of the luxury hotel suite, burning his eyes. Beside him, Valeria was still asleep, smelling of cheap neon cocktails and expensive perfume. Mateo groaned, reaching for his phone on the nightstand. / Chapter 2 / 20

Chapter 2 - The Emergency Room Standoff

Mateo thrashed against the officers, his head spinning. "You're crazy! I own this estate! I'm her husband!"

Alejandro held up a laminated legal document stamped by the state supreme court. "This is a court-ordered emergency guardianship and financial freezes injunction. Camila transferred her full power of attorney to me three weeks ago. She knew what you were doing with Valeria. She was just waiting for the right moment to strip you bare."

Mateo’s face drained of color. "That’s impossible... she loves me! She’s carrying my child!"

"She was carrying your child," Alejandro corrected, his eyes dark with pure hatred. "While you were turning off your phone to toast to your 'last night of freedom,' the emergency medical team I brought had to perform an emergency C-section on her unconscious body in the back of an ambulance."

Mateo froze. "The baby... is the baby alive?"

"She's in an incubator, weighing less than four pounds," Alejandro replied. "And you will never touch her."

Mateo was escorted out of his own driveway in handcuffs for interfering with an active crime scene investigation. Valeria, who had followed him in a taxi, watched from the gates in terror. When she saw Mateo being shoved into the back of a police cruiser, she backed away into the shadows, realizing the golden goose was about to be slaughtered.

At the hospital, Alejandro stood outside the glass doors of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Inside, a microscopic baby girl fought for every breath. Down the hall, Camila lay hooked to a ventilator, her face pale, her body bruised from the terrifying tumble down the stairs.

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Isabella’s artificial tears gleamed under the soft golden chandeliers of the private VIP suite, her hands trembling with a performance worthy of a grand stage. She gestured wildly toward Khloe, who lay crumpled on the cold marble, her white silk dress torn and stained with drops of spilled champagne. Marcus stood frozen in the doorway,

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Alejandro pressed his hand against the glass. Five years ago, Mateo had used forged financial records to ruin Alejandro's reputation and steal Camila away, convincing her that Alejandro was a fraud. Alejandro had swallowed the pain and built an empire twice as big just to protect her from afar.

Now, the waiting game was over. War had arrived.

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