Chapter 7 - POINT BLANK
(Word count: ~1,500 words)
The air in the master bedroom was thick with a suffocating, lethal tension. Dr. Vance was standing near the foot of the massive king-sized bed, his suppressed handgun raised toward the doorway. Teresa was leaning over the nightstand, frantically searching through the mahogany drawers for a spare safe key.
Neither of them expected anyone to emerge from the walk-in closet.
CLANG!
Valeria swung the heavy brass candlestick with every ounce of strength in her body, striking Teresa hard across the shoulder and neck. Teresa let out a sharp shriek of agony, staggering backward and crashing into the nightstand, sending glass lamps and crystal vases shattering across the hardwood floor.
"What the—!" Vance shouted, spinning around, his gun swinging toward Valeria.
Valeria didn't hesitate. She threw the heavy brass candlestick straight at Vance's face. The metal struck him square across the cheekbone, opening a jagged gash. Vance grunted in pain, his aim wavering for a fraction of a second.
Valeria bolted for the master bedroom’s double doors, screaming at the top of her lungs: "MARCOS! RAMOS! SECOND FLOOR!"
Her voice echoed violently down the grand marble hallway outside.
"Shut her up!" Teresa screamed, staggering up from the floor, her face twisted in a mask of pure, murderous rage. "Kill her!"
Vance leveled his pistol at Valeria’s back as she reached the hallway balcony.
THWIP! THWIP!
Two silenced shots tore through the air. One bullet splintered the antique wooden doorframe an inch from Valeria’s ear; the second struck her right shoulder.
A white-hot burst of blinding agony exploded through Valeria’s arm. She gasped, stumbling against the balcony railing overlooking the grand foyer below. She clutched her shoulder, warm blood immediately seeping through the white fabric of her uniform apron.
"You stupid little servant," Teresa snarled, rushing out into the hallway, her dark eyes blazing with psychotic hatred. She grabbed Valeria by her hair, pulling her backward over the balcony railing. "You ruined everything! You brought the police into this house!"
Valeria fought back furiously, using her good left arm to punch and scratch at Teresa’s face. "You murdered Lucía!" Valeria choked out, pain radiating through her shoulder like liquid fire. "You poisoned a mother!"
"She was going to destroy my life over a few hundred thousand dollars!" Teresa spat, her fingers tightening around Valeria’s throat, pushing her further back over the high stone railing. Below them, the marble floor of the foyer waited forty feet down. "She deserved what she got! And so do you!"
"Teresa, stop!" Vance shouted, coming out onto the balcony, blood streaming down his face from his cut cheek. "We have to go! The guards heard her!"
Down below in the main foyer, heavy footfalls thundered across the stone floor.
"VALERIA!"
Alejandro’s desperate, terrifying roar echoed up from the ground floor. He burst into the foyer from his study, looking up just in time to see Teresa pushing Valeria back over the balcony railing.
"Halt! State Police!" Agent Ramos’s voice boomed right behind Alejandro, followed by the clatter of tactical boots rushing up the grand staircase.
"Kill them both!" Teresa screamed at Vance, completely out of her mind with panicked fury.
Vance raised his pistol, aiming down at Alejandro in the foyer.
"NO!" Valeria screamed. With the last reserve of strength in her body, Valeria threw her weight forward, slamming her body directly into Dr. Vance’s knees.
Vance lost his footing on the slick wooden floor. His gun went off harmlessly into the high ceiling, plaster raining down like white dust. Vance tumbled backward down the top three steps of the grand staircase, losing his grip on the firearm. The suppressed pistol clattered down the steps, landing at the feet of Agent Ramos.
"Don't move! Hands on your head!" Ramos yelled, pointing his tactical rifle straight at Vance's chest.
Vance instantly threw his hands up, sobbing in terror. "Don't shoot! Don't shoot! It was all Teresa! She planned it all!"
Teresa realized in an instant that everything was lost. Her face went pale, her eyes darting wildly toward the emergency exit at the end of the second-floor hallway. She released Valeria, turning to sprint toward the rear stairs.
"Teresa Salazar! Stop right there!" Ramos shouted, scrambling up the steps past Vance.
Teresa didn't stop. She reached the heavy metal door leading to the rear service stairs, pushing it open violently. But as she stepped through the doorway, a dark figure was already standing on the other side waiting for her.
Marcos.
The head of security didn't say a word. He stepped forward and delivered a devastating, precise right hook straight to Teresa’s jaw.
Teresa’s head snapped back, her eyes rolling into the back of her head. She crumpled to the floor like a sack of wet laundry, unconscious before she even hit the ground.
Marcos calmly stood over her, pulling out a pair of heavy steel handcuffs and snapping them securely around her wrists. "Clear," he called out down the hall, his voice entirely unbothered.
Up on the balcony, Valeria collapsed against the base of the stone railing, her breath coming in ragged, shallow gasps. Her right arm was completely numb, blood soaking her shoulder and dripping onto the polished floorboards.
"Valeria!"
Alejandro reached the top of the stairs in seconds. He dropped to his knees beside her, his hands trembling as he gently elevated her head. His face was pale with absolute horror as he saw the blood soaking through her uniform.
"Hold on, Valeria," Alejandro pleaded, his voice cracking with emotion. "Please, hold on. Call an ambulance! NOW!" he roared toward his guards.
Valeria looked up at Alejandro through blurred, heavy eyes. The pain in her shoulder was agonizing, but a strange, profound sense of peace was settling over her heart.
"Mateo..." Valeria whispered, her voice barely audible. "He's... in the panic room... he's safe..."
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Alejandro let out a choked sob, pressing a clean cloth from his pocket against her bleeding shoulder to stem the flow. "He's safe because of you, Valeria. You saved my son. You saved my family. Please... keep your eyes on me. Don't close your eyes."
Valeria offered a faint, weak smile. "I'm not going anywhere, Mr. Ríos," she murmured softly before the edges of her vision turned dark, and she succumbed to the darkness of exhaustion and pain.
