The Billionaire's Sin

The Reckoning

Ernest was already weak from all the beatings they gave him. He was beaten so severely that he could hardly move. He looked at Amelia to be sure she was alright as he turned on the tracker in the guise of a watch that Damien gave him, and he hid it in his sleeves away from sight.

He knew that in no time, Damien would find them. This was just enough information for him.

As they were on their way, one of the men was trying to track down Amelia and Ernest, and as soon as Ernest turned on the tracker, he got the signal.

“I have gotten them,” he said, showing Damien the laptop.

“Got you,” Damien muttered.

Damien alerted the police to his situation, and in no time, they joined him on their way to the warehouse.

The police officers stormed the warehouse, entering strategically and catching all the accomplices of Rodriguez's deed.

“Amelia!!” Damien called out, “Amelia…it’s me, Damien.”

Damien could hear the sounds of their voices echoing, but neither Ernest nor Amelia could speak because there was a gag over their mouths.

One of the police officers accompanied him as he tried to find out where they kept Amelia and Ernest.

When Rodriguez saw from his camera that this k********g had escalated and Damien was taking no jokes, he tried to escape the police officers.

Damien later found where Amelia and Ernest were kept and managed to loosen up Amelia.

Just then, Rodriguez came into the room and snatched her into his hands, holding his arm over her neck and pointing a gun at her, then at Damien.

“Damien!” Amelia's voice trembled.

“Well, well…the man that was supposed to be my friend,” he said.

“Friend? Rodriguez…friends?” Damien replied to him while still trying to untie Ernest.

“Rodriguez, who the hell are you?... You have a lot up your sleeves that I do not know about… or you think I did not see the foul play in having me acquire Amelia for her misery.”

Damien's eye narrowed. “Let her go for your good, Rodriguez.”

About five officers lined up inside the room, pointing their guns at Rodriguez.

“Let her go, sir! If not, we will be forced to shoot.”

As Rodriguez pointed the gun back at Amelia’s head, one of the men shot his leg so that he could release Amelia.

Amelia ran back to Damien, and the police officers got hold of Rodriguez.

Rodriguez was kept alive cause Damien had already informed the police of Amelia’s mom, whom Rodriguez tried to get rid of in the past.

Paramedics carried out Ernest, who was barely clinging to consciousness.

Rodriguez was dragged out in handcuffs into another paramedics bus, but with police escorts, so that his leg could be treated.

“I should have gotten rid of you from the first day!... Amelia,” Rodriguez roared as they shoved him into the van.

“You’re not meant to be alive,” he continued.

“Anything you say will be used against you,” one of the officers assured him.

Amelia sobbed into Damien’s chest as he blocked her eyes and ears from seeing or hearing all that Rodriguez was saying about her.

“Shhh…baby, don’t cry, he is gone now,” he said softly.

“It’s all over now, sweetheart,” he added, caressing her.

Rodriguez’s day of reckoning came knocking, and there was no place left for him to hide. Annastasia was a key witness at his trial, the voice he tried to silence all along. He went in great shock as she walked through the door. Everyone sat there to watch Rodriguez Santos finally go down—The Morales and Damien.

At this point, Rodriguez had no one on his side.

Diego shook as if he had just seen a ghost.

“Annastasia,” he muttered, raising his arm to point at her.

“Your mother, Amelia,” he added.

“Yes, Papa,” Amelia let out a smile.

“Everything will be clear later, let’s sit for Rodriguez hearing.”

The court rose as the judge was in his seat.

The judge said, “Uhmm, Mr. Rodriguez Santos, you are accused of conspiring to end Anastasia’s life shortly after childbirth twenty-two years ago. How do you plead, sir?”

Rodriguez replied, “Not guilty, these accusations need to be backed up!”

“Witness, please kindly state what happened,” the judge said abruptly.

The witness said, “Thank you, your honour. I was very much present and on duty that night. I overheard Mr. Santos and the attending doctor discussing his orders. The doctor was ordered to inject her with a lethal dose. I was able to swap it for a sedative, and the doctor had some other patient to attend to. Being a nurse then, the doctor assigned me to confirm her status and call for her to be ‘packed up’... that was when I was able to move and keep her in a storage room out of sight till I could take her somewhere safe, and when she woke up, she explained to me her side of the story.”

“Mmm, she also had to stay with me and my family for a while cause she needed to be looked after before she moved to a friend’s place three years later in the Caribbean Island, Dominica. We still kept in touch.”

“I woke up in a storage room. This witness risked everything to save me,” Annastasia said.

“What a baseless accusation! I need a lawyer,” Rodriguez barked.

“I need you to be less aggressive, Mr. Rodriguez,” the judge said. “Uhmm, if you are found not guilty, you will be remanded and assigned a lawyer.”

“Do you have proof of these claims, witness?” the judge added.

The witness said, “Yes, your honour. I managed to gather hospital records altered to hide the attempt on the victim’s life at all costs after she told me all that happened and how Mr. Rodriguez here was related to her. I also obtained a falsified death record, which was created under his instructions with his authorization as her legal guardian.”

“Okay, so how are you related, Annastasia?” the judge asked.

“Mr. Rodriguez used to be my husband’s friend and business partner until his business fell apart, and I had to start working under Mr. Rodriguez to support my husband,” Annastasia replied, looking over at Rodriguez.

“My water broke while I was at the workplace that night, and the defendant pretended to be my husband in the document. He must have tipped off the attending doctor, who then carried out his orders for ‘termination.’”

“These documents match the night she gave birth, your honour,” the witness said.

“Where is your husband?” the judge asked.

“Over there, your honour,” Annastasia replied, pointing to where Diego was seated.

The evidence was passed to the judge to be reviewed. After a while, the judge said, “After reviewing the evidence and testimony, we can confirm from Amelia’s birth certificate and this evidence that the claims all match the victim and the witness’s account. This court finds the defendant, Rodriguez Santos, guilty of falsification of records and attempted murder of Mrs. Annastasia Morales and also Amelia Morales.”

Murmurs filled the courtroom, but the judge wasn’t finished. His eyes moved to the victim's stand.

“Mrs. Morales… before the court rises, I have one final question. This evidence from the night of the child’s birth,” he said, tapping the page—“It bears Mr. Rodriguez’s signature, same as the one on the original birth certificate. Why is that?”

Annastasia’s fingers gripped the edge of the stand tighter as she let out a sigh.

“Because Mr. Rodriguez took advantage of me twenty-three years ago, and I became pregnant. And when I went into labour, he came to the hospital, and I knew it was because of one thing: to cover his shame. He is the biological father of Amelia.”

The witness continued, “I managed to draw out the initial birth record signed by Mr. Rodriguez that was kept out of reach, probably even to be destroyed, and handed it to the victim later on… Mr. Diego later came to claim the child, Amelia.”

The judge studied for a long moment, then nodded. “That explains everything.”

The court rose and concluded.

“Rodriguez!!! You!!!” Diego said sharply with tears rolling down his cheek, attempting to stand up, but Annastasia held him back.

Rodriguez was cuffed and taken in; his expression was stern as metal.

Amelia felt her chest tighten from the truth revealed. She was silent till she left the court.

Damien held her close to him and didn’t let go.

The mark of what she had been through was still unmistakable. She didn't even know if she would ever be able to come to terms with the truth. Still, she had Damien's love and support, and now that Rodriguez was put behind bars, that was all the closure she needed.

A lot of the time, she would stand in the garden of the Serrano mansion with Damien's arm around her waist and think about how far they had come.

The diamond ring sparkled in the sun. Damien and Amelia were ready to learn, grow, and fall in love. Amelia let herself believe that happiness was possible for the first time in years.