AFTERMATH : After the 5 minutes.
The slam of the judge's gavel was the loudest sound Elijah Fernandez had ever heard. Louder than a gunshot. Louder than an explosion. It was the sound of his world ending.
"Custody of the minor, Juliet Isabella Fernandez, is hereby granted to the petitioner, Rosa Maria Flores, effective immediately," Judge Sandoval declared, her voice echoing in the silent, tense courtroom. "This court is adjourned."
For a single, suspended second, there was absolute silence. The air was sucked from the room.
Then, the world exploded.
"NO."
The word was a low, guttural snarl that ripped from Riven's throat.
It was the sound of a beast whose cub had just been stolen. He was on his feet in an instant, the chair screeching backwards. The raw, unchecked fury on his face was more terrifying than any cold, calculated threat.
Juliet, startled by the noise, began to whimper, her little hands reaching for him.
That was all it took.
He took a single, explosive step toward the judge's bench, his entire body coiled like a spring. He wasn't Riven the brother anymore. He was a force of pure, paternal devastation.
He never made it.
Two of his own bodyguards, Viktor and Marco, moved with practiced, grim efficiency. They didn't try to hurt him. They threw their arms around him, becoming human shackles.
"Riven, no!" Viktor grunted, straining to hold back the force of nature that was his boss. "You can't! Look at the judge! Look at the cops!"
"GET OFF ME!" Riven roared, his voice cracking. He thrashed against them, a tornado of grief and rage. "SHE'S MINE! SHE'S MY SISTER!"
Through it all, Elijah didn't move.
He simply... stood. He watched as Tia Rosa, her face pale and streaked with silent tears, walked toward them. He watched as a social worker gently pried a now-crying Juliet from Riven's line of sight.
His expression was unreadable. A blank page. Then, his eyes met Tia Rosa's.
There was no hate. No anger. It was something worse: a profound, soul-deep betrayal that seemed to hollow him out from the inside.
He looked at the woman who had sung him lullabies, and he saw a stranger who had just broken his world into a million pieces.
Without a word, he turned.
He didn't look back at Juliet's reaching hands or Riven's ragged shouts. He just walked. Each step was quiet, measured, and final.
The door to the courtroom closed behind him with a soft, definitive click that was louder than any scream.
Leo didn't move. He just stood there, his tablet hanging limply at his side. His brilliant mind, which could calculate trajectories and decrypt codes, had completely short-circuited.
All he could process was the devastating sight of his strongest brother being physically restrained from tearing their family apart. The numbers had failed. Logic had failed. They had lost.
Tia Rosa's hands trembled as she signed the documents Abogado Rodríguez put in front of her. The pen felt like a betrayal in her hand.
She finally reached Juliet, scooping the crying baby into her arms. "Shhh, mi amor, mi vida," she cooed, her own tears falling onto Juliet's blanket. "Tia is here. You're safe now."
But the words felt hollow. The victory tasted like ash. She had won. She had fulfilled her sister's wish. So why did it feel like she had just committed a terrible, unforgivable crime?
She looked at Riven, who had finally stopped struggling, his body slumping in defeat, his breath coming in ragged, broken sobs that Viktor tried to shield from view. She looked at Leo's vacant stare.
Sofia placed a comforting hand on her arm. "You did the right thing, Rosa. You honored your sister."
But the victory felt like ash in her mouth. She had won. She had the piece of paper. She had the law on her side.
But as she looked at the broken men she loved, she wondered if she had just lost everything else.
SCENE: THE FERNANDEZ MANSION - NIGHT
The mansion was a tomb.
Riven was in the gym, the sounds of his fists hitting the heavy bag not like punches, but like gunshots. There was no technique, only a brutal, punishing rhythm of grief.
Leo was locked in his study, every screen dark. He just sat in the silence, the first time he could ever remember his mind being completely, terrifyingly empty.
Elijah stood at the floor-to-ceiling window in his office, a crystal glass of amber whiskey untouched in his hand. He stared out at the city he commanded, a kingdom that now felt utterly meaningless.
On his desk, laid out with a reverence usually reserved for holy texts, was the copy of his mother's will.
"I hereby appoint my sister, Rosa Maria Flores, as the sole legal guardian..."
His mother's words, her elegant script, were a cage. How do you fight a ghost? How do you wage war against the last wish of the woman you loved most in the world?
Riven stormed into the office, his knuckles raw and bleeding, his chest heaving. "We're not just letting this go, Elijah! We take her back. Tonight. I don't care about the law!"
"The law," Elijah said, his voice dangerously quiet, "is the least of our concerns." He finally turned, and the look in his eyes made even Riven take a step back. It was a bottomless well of pain.
"It was Mother's wish, Riven," he whispered, the words tearing from him. "Her last, dying wish... was to take Juliet away from us."
The truth landed in the room, heavier than any weapon.
Could they ever break their own dead mother's wish?