Chapter 2
Chapter 2: The Sigil of the Wolf
Valeria gasped as the blunt force hit her back.
Losing her footing, her body tumbled violently down the wooden stairs. Her shoulder slammed against the steps, her legs caught the sharp edges of the banister, and she crashed onto the hard marble floor of the foyer, desperately wrapping both arms around her belly.
The room went dead silent.
Wine glasses shattered on the floor.
A woman shrieked.
Dozens of horrified eyes darted up to Elena, who stood on the stairs, shaking, tears streaming down her face.
"What did you do?!" someone screamed.
Valeria lay on the cold marble, gasping for air through a wall of white-hot pain. She looked up at the woman she trusted, her eyes welling with tears of betrayal.
"Why...?" she whimpered.
THWACK!
A sharp, violent crack cut through the panic.
A heavy metal bolt tore through the air and embedded itself deep into the wood of the staircase—exactly where Valeria’s chest had been standing just a second ago.
The silence in the room became absolute.
Every head turned to the wall.
The shaft of the bolt was still vibrating.
It was driven deep into the wood. Chest-high.
If Elena hadn't pushed her, that bolt would have gone straight through Valeria's heart.
Valeria’s legs began to tremble uncontrollably.
The horrifying truth hit her all at once.
Elena hadn't tried to kill her.
She had saved her.
Elena came flying down the stairs, throwing herself to her knees, sobbing. "Forgive me, ma'am! I had no time! He was going to kill you!"
A wave of panicked whispers broke out among the high-society guests.
Right then, Daniel rushed down from the second floor, his face twisted in a perfect picture of terror.
"Valeria!" he cried, throwing himself down beside her. "Oh my God, what happened?!"
He reached out, his hands trembling with faux concern. "Are you okay? What did that crazy woman do to you?" He snapped his head up, pointing a finger at Elena. "She pushed her! You all saw it! She threw my pregnant wife down the stairs!"
A few guests hesitated.
Yes, they had seen the push.
They had seen the housekeeper shove a heavily pregnant woman.
But they had also seen the bolt.
Elena’s chest heaved. Her hands shook, but her voice was steady as iron. "Liar!" she spat. "It was you!"
Daniel’s brow furrowed in righteous indignation. "Me? Are you out of your mind? What kind of monster would do that to his own family?"
Valeria lay there, clutching her stomach, her gaze shifting from the vibrating bolt in the wall to the face of her husband. Inside her, something precious was shattering into dust.
Elena marched over to the wall.
With a grunt of effort, she gripped the bolt and ripped it out of the wood.
She held it high for the entire room to see.
"You can't lie your way out of this one, sir."
The guests pressed closer. Elena turned the metal shaft, pointing to a small, intricate engraving near the fletching.
A silver emblem.
A howling wolf inside a circle.
Several guests gasped in recognition.
It was Daniel’s personal sigil.
The exact crest engraved on his private collection of custom hunting weapons, displayed proudly in the estate's library.
Daniel’s face drained of color.
For the first time, his perfect mask slipped.
"This is from your private collection," Elena said, her voice echoing. "You had this engraved on every single piece. I know because I'm the one who dusts your trophy room."
The murmurs turned into a roar of realization.
A close family friend spoke up, his voice tight: "I’ve seen that crest. She’s right. That's Daniel’s."
Valeria slowly lifted her head.
She stared at the silver wolf on the bolt. Then, she looked up into the eyes of her husband.
May you like
Her lips trembled. When she spoke, her voice was a broken whisper that carried across the silent room.
"You tried to kill our baby?"
