Chapter 5 - The Reckoning
Before the relief could settle, a cold voice echoed from the top of the basement stairs.
"How incredibly touching."
Daniel snapped his head up. Standing at the top of the concrete steps was Teresa.
She wasn't running. She wasn't panicking. In her hand, she held a small, sleek remote control—the manual override for the mansion’s backup power and drainage pumps.
"Mother..." Daniel growled, pushing Valeria behind him as he stood up, his eyes burning with pure rage. "You tried to drown my wife and my child!"
Teresa smiled coldly, stepping down one stair at a time. "I tried to save this family from a disastrous mistake. That girl is a nobody, Daniel. And that child would have stripped us of control over the estate. I did what had to be done."
"You're a monster," Valeria whispered from the floor, clutching her aching chest.
"I am a realist," Teresa corrected, reaching into her coat pocket and pulling out a small, silver syringe. "And unfortunately, accidents in private residences happen all the time. A drowned mother... a heartbroken husband who suffered an overdose... it’s a tragic story the press will buy in a heartbe—"
BANG!
A heavy brass statuette slammed into the back of Teresa’s head.
Teresa gasped, dropping the syringe as her knees buckled. She fell forward, tumbling down the concrete stairs and crashing at Daniel’s feet, unconscious.
Standing at the top of the stairs, breathing heavily and holding a blood-stained brass decor piece, was the head housekeeper, Rosa.
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"Nobody touches this family while I'm alive," Rosa panted, her eyes fierce.
Outside, the flashing red lights of police cruisers and ambulances finally illuminated the mansion's driveway. Sirens wailed, cutting through the dark night.
