Chapter 11 - Tears of a Monster
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The panicked scream shattered the quiet of the ground floor.
At the end of the hall, the heavy oak door of the executive study swung open instantly. Don Fernando rushed out, his face pale with concern, his phone still in his hand from his interrupted video conference.
"What happened?! What was that noise?!" Fernando called out, running toward the foyer.
Then he stopped dead in his tracks.
The sight before him shattered his soul. Sitting in the center of the grand entrance, bathed in a growing pool of dark red blood, was Rosa—the woman who had raised his children, the loyal heart of his home.
"ROSITA!" Fernando cried out, his voice cracking with unbearable grief.
He sprinted across the marble floor, throwing himself onto his knees right beside her broken body. Ignoring the blood soaking into his expensive trousers, he gently hovered his hands over her, terrified that touching her might cause further injury.
"Rosa, please! Open your eyes!" Fernando sobbed, tears spilling down his face. "Someone call an ambulance! Fast!"
Valeria came sprinting down the rest of the stairs, her face contorted in a mask of sheer terror. She threw herself down beside her husband, wrapping her arms around his shaking shoulders, forcing out loud, dramatic wails.
"Oh, Fernando! It's terrible! It's so terrible!" Valeria sobbed theatrically, covering her face with her hands.
"What happened to her?!" Fernando demanded, his eyes wide with panic.
"I... I was coming out of my room and I saw her!" Valeria lied smoothly, her voice trembling with simulated trauma. "She was carrying a heavy bucket... her poor old legs gave out! She tripped on her own apron, Fernando! I tried to reach out and catch her, but she just fell! It happened so fast!"
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She pressed her head against Fernando’s chest, hiding her cold, unblinking eyes.
"I told you she was too old to work," Valeria whispered, poisoning his mind even in his grief. "Her eyes were failing her, Fernando. It was a tragic, terrible accident..."
