Chapter 5 - The War in Las LomasThe peace in the Villaseñor mansion lasted exactly thirty-six hours.
It was 9:00 AM on Thursday when the front security gates buzzed with an urgent, unauthorized override code.
Down in the grand foyer, before the butler could even cross the marble floor, the heavy double doors swung open with a violent bang.
Elena Villaseñor marched into the house.
She was seventy years old, draped in expensive European furs, her silver hair styled into an imposing, razor-sharp chignon, her face carved from the same unforgiving granite as her son’s. Behind her strode two corporate attorneys carrying heavy leather briefcases, flanked by Paulina Robles’s weeping, furious father, Eduardo Robles.
“Diego Villaseñor!” Elena’s voice rang through the mansion like a gunshot, echoing off the high ceilings. “Get down here this instant!”
Upstairs in the second-floor suite, Marisol froze, dropping the hairbrush she was using to tidy Valentina’s dark curls.
Diego, who had been sitting at the small breakfast table reviewing architectural blueprints with a cup of coffee, looked up. His expression didn't show panic; it showed the cold, calculating fury of an apex predator whose den had just been breached.
He stood up, buttoned his suit jacket, and looked down at Marisol.
“Stay here,” Diego instructed quietly, his tone absolute. “Do not leave this suite under any circumstances.”
“Diego, your mother—she’s here with Eduardo Robles. They’re going to tear the house apart,” Marisol warned, her hands shaking.
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“Let them try,” Diego replied, a dangerous smile touching his lips. “It’s time I cleaned house permanently.”
He walked out of the suite, closing the heavy wooden door behind him, and descended the grand staircase alone to meet the storm waiting for him at the bottom.
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