CHAPTER 3: THE CHOICE
CHAPTER 3: THE CHOICE
The hospital lights flickered.
The door behind them slammed shut—locked.
Esteban looked around rapidly. No exits. No time.
His father stepped closer.
“Come with me, Esteban. Leave them. You still have a future.”
Yohandra coughed weakly, struggling to sit up.
“Don’t listen to him…”
Lia clung to her mother, crying silently.
Esteban’s breathing shook.
For a moment, everything blurred—the wedding, the altar, the running, the truth collapsing all at once.
Then he looked at his father.
And something in him hardened.
“You never gave me a future,” Esteban said quietly. “You gave me a cage.”
His father’s expression cooled.
“Careful.”
Esteban stepped backward toward Yohandra’s bed.
“I choose them.”
A long silence.
Then the father sighed.
“Pity.”
He reached into his coat.
Esteban reacted instantly—jumping in front of Yohandra and Lia as the sound of a gun being drawn clicked through the room.
But before anything could happen—
ALARMS BLARED.
The hospital doors exploded open.
Security rushed in.
Someone had called the authorities.
Chaos broke out instantly.
In the confusion, Esteban grabbed Yohandra and lifted Lia into his arms.
“Hold on to me,” he said.
They ran.
Behind them, his father shouted something—but it was swallowed by alarms, shouting, and crashing footsteps.
They didn’t stop running until the rain outside hit their faces again.
May you like
Until the hospital disappeared behind them.
Until silence finally returned.
