Chapter 20
CHAPTER 20: THE EDGE OF THE ABYSS
With the last ounce of strength left in my battered body, my hand reached behind my back. My fingers wrapped around the cold, textured steel handle of the compact pistol Marcus had hidden for me.
I didn't hesitate. I didn't look away.
I pressed the barrel directly against Santiago’s chest and pulled the trigger.
The suffocating pressure on my throat vanished instantly. Santiago gasped, a choked, wet sound escaping his lips. His eyes locked onto mine with a final, horrified look of recognition—the sudden, terrifying realization that the helpless woman he used to abuse on a kitchen floor was the one ending his life. He slumped sideways into the dirt, motionless. The monster who had haunted my dreams for three years was finally gone.
But there was no time to celebrate. I scrambled to my feet, ignoring the burning in my lungs, and sprinted toward the falling crane line.
The car seat was dropping fast—ten feet... five feet...
I threw my body across the concrete, sliding underneath the shadow of the metal scrap pit, my arms reaching out into the open air.
Snap.
The safety line caught for a split second, jolting the seat just three feet above the jagged iron spikes. I lunged forward, my fingers catching the nylon strap of the car seat. I pulled Leo into my arms, rolling backward onto the concrete just as the heavy iron hook broke free, crashing into the metal pit with a deafening, sparks-flying roar.
I held my son, his loud, healthy cries the most beautiful sound I had ever heard. "I got you. I got you, baby," I whispered, tears flooding my face as Marcus and the federal agents secured the perimeter.
"Valeria!" my father yelled, running toward me, his face filled with relief.
But the relief didn't last.
From the shattered roof of the factory, a low, ominous sound began to echo through the metal rafters—the deep, rhythmic chopping of a heavy military helicopter rotor. The wind from the blades whipped through the broken windows, kicking up a storm of dust and rust.
Marcus ran to the doorway, looking up into the stormy Veracruz sky. "We have a problem! Isabella’s private extraction team just arrived. She’s on the chopper—but she’s not leaving empty-handed."
Suddenly, the factory’s secondary PA system crackled to life. Isabella Rivas’s voice echoed through the building, cold, mocking, and completely unbothered by her team's defeat.
"You saved the boy, Valeria. But look down at your father's chest."
I spun around, my breath catching in my throat.
My father was standing over me, but he wasn't looking at me anymore. He was staring down at his own white dress shirt. Right over his heart, a single, steady, bright red sniper laser dot was perfectly centered.
Through the massive hole in the ceiling, the silhouette of a blacked-out military helicopter hovered. A sniper rifle barrel protruded from the open side door, locked dead onto Ricardo Salazar.
"A family debt must always be paid, Valeria," Isabella’s voice purred through the speakers as the helicopter engines roared. "Sign the digital authorization key on the global banking tablet in your father's pocket right now... or watch him die before the count of three. One..."
My father looked down at me, his eyes filled with a fierce, stubborn pride. "Don't sign it, Valeria. Let the empire stand. If you give them the Salazar network, nobody is safe."
"Two..." the voice echoed, cold and unyielding.
My finger hovered over the tablet in my father’s trembling hand, my heart shattering into a million pieces. The red dot blinked ominously against his chest. If I pressed the button, the Rivas family would reclaim billions and control the global shipping corridors. If I didn't, my father would die right in front of me.
"Valeria, don't—" my father started.
Before the voice could count to three, the sound of a second, deafening explosion rocked the outside of the foundry. The sniper's laser dot suddenly jerked away from my father’s chest, dancing wildly across the wall as the helicopter above violently veered to the side to avoid a shoulder-fired missile that streak past it into the night sky.
"What the hell is that?!" Marcus shouted, pulling his radio to his ear. "Who is firing on that chopper? That's not our team!"
The PA system hissed with static, but it wasn't Isabella’s voice anymore. A completely different voice, dark and distorted through an electronic scrambler, broke through the frequency, sending a completely new wave of terror through my body.
"Valeria Salazar. The Rivas family were just puppets. The real owners of your empire are coming to collect. Run."
Suddenly, the lights in the entire foundry went pitch black. The automated security doors of the factory began to slam shut one by one, sealing us inside the dark labyrinth. In the final second of fading light, I looked down at my phone.
May you like
A new message from an untraceable source flashed on my screen: a live-streamed video of my penthouse in New York, where Sofia Vance was currently being dragged into a black van by men in matching tactical gear.
The game hadn't ended. It had just expanded.
