CHAPTER 2 – PART 2
Valeria looked at my father with open disgust.
"Shut up, you nosy old man," she snapped. "You and your useless wife are the reason my marriage fell apart."
Héctor let out a mocking laugh.
He slowly looked my father up and down, as though he were nothing more than an inconvenience.
"Well, look at that," he sneered. "Grandpa's got some fight left in him."
He rubbed his chin before shaking his head.
"Sir, why don't you go lie down? Stay out of grown-up business. You already got your lesson today. Don't go asking for another one."
My father straightened himself despite the obvious pain shooting through his back.
"I ain't afraid of you, son," he replied firmly.
That was all it took.
The last shred of patience disappeared from Héctor's face.
His fake smile vanished.
For the first time, I saw the violence that had been hiding behind those cold eyes.
He took two quick steps toward us.
I immediately moved in front of my father, raising both arms to stop him.
But Héctor was much faster—and much heavier—than he looked.
Before my hands even reached his chest, he swung the back of his hand across my neck with tremendous force.
The blow landed like a brick.
My breath disappeared instantly.
I stumbled backward and crashed hard into the television stand.
"Don't touch him!" my mother screamed from the hallway.
Seeing me hit the cabinet, my father lunged forward.
He raised his weathered fist and tried to punch Héctor.
The man didn't even flinch.
Without the slightest effort, he shoved my father squarely in the shoulders.
Arturo lost his balance.
His weakened legs couldn't support him.
He slammed backward into the hallway wall before sliding helplessly to the floor.
The groan that escaped him tore straight through my heart.
"Dad!" I shouted.
The air rushed back into my lungs.
My vision narrowed.
I charged.
Pure rage had taken over.
I no longer cared that Héctor outweighed me by at least fifty pounds.
I didn't care if he was armed.
I threw everything I had into a punch aimed directly at his nose.
My fist connected—
—but only partially.
At the last second, Héctor turned his head.
Instead of breaking his nose, my punch smashed into his cheekbone.
He grunted in surprise.
Apparently, he hadn't expected me to fight back.
In one motion, his enormous hand grabbed the front of my shirt.
The fabric tightened around my throat.
Then...
He lifted me.
Not completely off the floor—
Just enough to remind me how much stronger he was.
I smelled stale tobacco.
Sweat.
Beer.
"You're making one hell of a stupid mistake," he growled, spitting the words into my face.
His other hand curled into a fist.
The thick metal rings covering his fingers gleamed beneath the dim apartment lights.
Everything slowed down.
I tried to pull free.
His grip felt like a steel vise.
Then—
CRASH!
An explosion of shattered glass echoed through the apartment.
Héctor froze.
So did I.
Both of us turned toward the living room window.
A heavy crystal ashtray had smashed through one of the glass panels.
Thousands of glittering shards rained down from the fourth floor onto the street below.
Our eyes followed the sound back toward the hallway.
There stood Mateo.
My little boy.
He had come out of the closet.
His tiny body shook from head to toe.
His face was ghostly pale.
He was breathing so hard it looked painful.
Above his head, he held another decoration from our apartment—
A heavy wooden statue.
His small arms trembled beneath its weight.
He was ready to throw it too.
"Leave my dad alone!" Mateo screamed.
His voice cracked with fear.
With desperation.
And with a courage no seven-year-old should ever have been forced to find.
The instant Valeria saw him...
Everything about her changed.
The anger disappeared.
She forced a warm smile onto her face.
A smile so fake it made me sick.
"Mateo..."
"My sweetheart."
She opened her arms and took a careful step toward him.
"Come to Mommy."
Mateo immediately backed away.
He gripped the wooden statue even tighter.
"No!"
His voice echoed through the hallway.
"You're mean!"
"You hit Grandpa!"
"Go away!"
Valeria stopped walking.
The fake smile melted from her face.
Fury flooded back into her eyes.
Only this time...
It was directed at her own son.
"Don't you speak to me like that," she snapped.
"I'm your mother."
"Come here."
"Right now."
Taking advantage of the distraction, Héctor shoved me aside with tremendous force.
I hit the floor hard.
My knee slammed into the edge of the coffee table.
Pain shot through my entire leg.
Héctor calmly adjusted his shirt before walking toward the hallway.
He passed right beside Valeria.
"Come on, kid," he said in that gravelly voice.
"Don't make this harder than it has to be."
"Drop that thing."
"And let's go."
Step by step...
He walked toward Mateo.
The hallway suddenly felt impossibly narrow.
My father was still on the floor, struggling to get back up.
My mother stood trapped behind Héctor, unable to reach her grandson.
Mateo remained frozen.
The terror in his eyes grew as the enormous tattooed man closed the distance between them.
I forced myself to my feet, ignoring the pain exploding through my knee.
There was no way...
No way...
I was going to let that man touch my son.
I sprinted into the hallway.
My heart pounded so violently I could hear nothing else.
This nightmare had crossed a line.
It was no longer just a family argument.
It had become something far darker.
And I knew I was only seconds away from discovering exactly how far Valeria was willing to go to get what she wanted.
The hallway of my own apartment had become a dead end.
A suffocating tunnel where every breath felt heavy as lead.
Watching Héctor move toward my son with absolute confidence—
Like a man who believed he was untouchable—
Awakened something inside me I'd never felt before.
This wasn't simply anger anymore.
It wasn't heartbreak.
It wasn't betrayal.
It was instinct.
The raw, primal instinct of a father watching a predator close in on his child.
I ignored the sharp pain stabbing through my right knee.
I pushed off with my left leg and launched myself down the hallway.
I wasn't thinking.
Not about strategy.
Not about whether Héctor might be carrying a gun beneath that tight black shirt.
Not about the metal rings on his fists.
All I saw...
Was his broad back blocking the light...
Standing between me...
And my son.
"Get away from him!" I roared.
My own voice sounded almost inhuman.
Before Héctor could reach for the wooden statue in Mateo's trembling hands...
I crashed into him from behind.
I grabbed the back of his neck with my left hand.
My fingers dug in with every ounce of strength I had left.
My right hand hooked around his belt.
Then I threw my entire body weight backward.
All one hundred sixty-five pounds of me driven by pure adrenaline.
I wasn't trying to beat him.
I was trying to drag him away from my son—
Back into the living room—
Anywhere he couldn't reach Mateo.
The attack caught him completely off guard.
He let out an angry grunt.
His heavy boots slid across the hardwood floor.
The two of us slammed sideways into the hallway wall.
A framed family photograph shattered as it hit the floor.
Broken glass scattered around my father's feet.
The impact knocked the air out of me.
But I refused to let go.
Because I knew...
The second I loosened my grip...
He would turn around.
And if he did...
The fight would be over.
"Run, Mateo!" I yelled.
"Go!"
"Get to the kitchen!"
"Get outside!"
"Find help!"
As I shouted, I wrapped my forearm tighter around Héctor's neck, trying desperately to choke him—
Trying to shut down the incredible strength that dwarfed my own.
But Mateo never moved.
He stood frozen against the hallway wall.
His eyes wide with terror.
The wooden statue slipped from his hands and landed on the floor with a dull thud.
His tiny body shook uncontrollably.
He was watching his entire world collapse—
The one place where he was supposed to feel safe—
Now filled with blood...
Violence...
And fear.
"Let go of me!" Héctor bellowed.
His roar shook the walls.
He was unbelievably strong.
Stronger than I had imagined.
Despite my weight hanging from his back, he slowly straightened.
Then he did something terrifyingly smart.
He threw himself backward—
Crushing me between his massive body and the opposite wall.
A sharp crack exploded through my ribs.
Pain shot across my chest.
For one horrifying moment, I was certain something had broken.
The air burst from my lungs.
My grip instantly weakened.
Tears filled my eyes from the sheer agony.
Sensing my weakness, Héctor seized my arm, twisted it away from his neck, spun me around effortlessly—
And hurled me down the hallway.
I flew backward into the living room.
I landed face-first on the old rug beside the couch.
The impact rattled every bone in my body.
I tried to push myself up immediately.
But my head spun violently.
Warm blood trickled from my left eyebrow...
May you like
Blurring my vision.
To be continued...
