Chapter 4 - The Son Who Finally Chose His Wife
Sebastián walked to the hospital-room door.
Rebeca’s voice sharpened.
“Where are you going?”
He looked back at her.
“For three years, you taught me that my wife was the problem.”
“Sebastián—”
“You told me she was emotional.”
“She is.”
“You told me she imagined threats.”
“She does.”
“You told me my family was trying to help her.”
Rebeca’s lips pressed together.
Sebastián’s eyes moved to Valeria’s bruised legs.
Then to her trembling hand resting over her stomach.
“And I believed you.”
His voice broke on the last word.
Valeria looked away.
Because apologies did not erase bruises.
They did not erase nights spent wondering whether her husband would ever see what his family was doing.
They did not erase the fear that someone would take her baby while everyone called her crazy.
Sebastián stepped into the hallway.
Security guards were still stationed outside.
But now he saw them differently.
Not as protection.
As control.
“Clear this floor,” he told them.
One guard hesitated.
“Mr. Alcázar, your mother instructed—”
“My mother has no authority here.”
The guard looked toward Rebeca.
Sebastián’s voice became harder.
“Now.”
Within minutes, he called the hospital director.
Then the police.
Then a criminal attorney who had never worked for the Alcázar family.
He ordered the hospital to preserve all camera footage from the room, hallway, and maternity wing.
He contacted the bank and froze every account connected to the forged custody documents.
He revoked Octavio’s access to his business.
And when Rebeca tried to leave, Sebastián stood in front of her.
“You are not going anywhere.”
Her eyes flashed.
“You would choose her over your own mother?”
Sebastián looked at Valeria through the open door.
She was sitting upright now, exhausted but awake, one hand pressed over her stomach.
For years, he had believed family meant obedience.
He thought loyalty meant silence.
He thought protecting his name was more important than listening to the woman he married.
But now he understood.
A family that demanded cruelty was not family.
It was a prison.
“Yes,” he said.
Rebeca’s face hardened.
“She will turn you against us.”
“No,” Sebastián replied. “You did that yourselves.”
Octavio attempted to leave through the stairwell.
The police found him there with the black leather folder beneath his arm.
Inside were more forged signatures.
Financial records.
False psychiatric reports.
And a private letter written by Rebeca months earlier.
It described Valeria as “temporary” and the unborn child as “the future Alcázar heir.”
But the final paragraph was the worst.
If Sebastián refuses to cooperate, we will make him believe Valeria is dangerous. He is weak when it comes to her, but he has always been weak when it comes to me.
Sebastián read it in silence.
May you like
Then he folded the letter carefully.
And for the first time in his life, he stopped being afraid of disappointing his mother.
