“Look at you… always playing the hero.”
“You monster,” I spat, my voice steady despite the adrenaline shaking my limbs. “You made me mourn a corpse while you kept a woman trapped under my floor?”
“It was fifty million pesos, Mariana!” Diego snapped, stepping forward, the crowbar swinging lightly in his grip. “Do you have any idea what that kind of money buys? I was going to leave you a small offshore trust once the investigation cleared! But you had to listen to that crazy old woman outside!”
“She’s not crazy,” I said coldly. “She’s the reason you’re going to burn.”
Outside, the air shattered with the sound of screeching tires and wailing police sirens. Red and blue lights flashed frantically through the front windows, illuminating the room in chaotic bursts.
Diego’s eyes widened in sheer panic. He grabbed Brenda’s arm. “The back door! Now!”
He lunged toward the patio, but I didn’t let him run. I swung the weighted metal lamp with every ounce of fury, grief, and betrayal I had carried for two agonizing years.
The heavy base hit Diego square across the knees. He let out a sickening yell and collapsed onto the tile floor, dropping the envelope of stolen documents. Brenda screamed, scrambling over him toward the kitchen, but the back door was suddenly kicked open from the outside.
“Police! Don’t move! Hands where we can see them!” two armed officers shouted, weapons drawn, stepping through the broken glass into the kitchen.
Within seconds, officers swarmed the house through both the front and back entrances. Mrs. Elvira was right behind them, pointing her broom like a spear. “That’s him! That’s the dead man!” she yelled triumphant tears in her eyes.
Diego was slammed onto the cold floor, handcuffs snapping around his wrists as he squirmed and yelled, his polished suit tearing against the broken glass. Brenda was shoved down beside him, sobbing hysterically and trying to blame everything on him.
As the paramedics wrapped a warm blanket around Sofia’s shivering shoulders, an officer approached me. “Are you alright, ma’am? The operator heard everything. Reinforcements are already raiding his brother Ernesto’s office.”
I stood in the doorway, watching the police haul Diego out toward the squad cars. As he passed me, he stopped, his face contorted in desperation.
“Mariana, please!” he begged, tears of cowardice welling in his eyes. “I did it for our future! Tell them it’s a mistake! I love you!”
I looked at the man who had turned my life into a quiet hell. I reached up, unclasped the silver wedding chain from around my neck—the ring I had kissed every night before sleeping—and tossed it onto the dirty driveway floor right at his feet.
“Diego,” I said softly, my voice echoing in the cool morning air. “You died two years ago. And today, I finally buried you.”
I turned my back on him, walked over to Mrs. Elvira, and took a deep, clear breath of fresh air—listening to the absolute, beautiful silence of my home.
