Chapter 5 - THE SHOWDOWN AT LOMAS DE CHAPULTEPEC
The corridor fell into a dead, suffocating silence.
The sound of rain pounding against the roof echoed like thunder.
Verónica’s eyes narrowed into slit-like points. The warm, compassionate doctor who had attended family dinners and wept at Camila’s funeral completely vanished. In her place stood a cold-blooded sociopath.
"The tape?" Verónica murmured, a bitter, vicious smirk spreading across her red lips. "Ah. Camila always was a paranoid little bitch. I thought I cleared out every file in that safe."
Héctor’s hand trembled on the grip of his gun, his knuckles turning white. "You killed my wife. You poisoned my sons. You sat at my dining table and drank my wine while you planned the destruction of my family!"
"Oh, spare me the moral outrage, Héctor!" Verónica snapped, stepping forward without fear, her mercenary bodyguards spreading out behind her, pulling suppressed handguns from their holsters. "You didn't notice a thing! You were so consumed by your corporate empire and your pathetic grief that you handed your children to me on a silver platter! You signed every document! Legally, I am their medical trustee. If you pull that trigger, my men will put three bullets in your chest, and I will walk out of here with full legal custody of your estate!"
"You're not walking out of here alive," Héctor growled.
"Where are the boys, Héctor?" Verónica asked, her voice dropping into a sinister whisper. "I know they’re in that room. Grab them!" she ordered her men.
The two mercenaries lunged forward toward the nursery door.
BANG!
Héctor fired a warning shot into the marble ceiling above them. Plaster exploded everywhere.
"Touch that door and the next bullet goes through your skull!" Héctor bellowed.
At that exact moment, the low, mechanical rumble of the service elevator hummed through the walls.
Verónica’s head snapped toward the end of the hall. "She's in the house... The maid!" she hissed. "She’s taking the children! Kill him!"
The mercenaries raised their weapons, but Héctor was already moving. He dived behind a thick marble pillar just as a hail of suppressed gunfire shredded the wall where he had been standing.
Glass shattered, paintings torn to ribbons, plaster raining down like snow.
Héctor leaned out from behind the pillar and fired three quick shots, hitting the lead mercenary in the shoulder. The man grunted and collapsed back against the staircase railing.
"Go to the garage! Don't let that vehicle leave!" Verónica screamed at her second man, while she pulled a small silver pistol from her own trench coat.
Héctor scrambled down the side corridor, using his intimate knowledge of his home to maneuver through the dark. He threw open the door to the secondary security room, slammed his palm onto the emergency lockout panel, and hit the master switch.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Heavy iron security shutters slammed down over every window and exit on the ground floor, locking the entire mansion into an impenetrable steel fortress.
Red emergency lights flashed through the corridors, accompanied by the deafening blare of a high-decibel security alarm wired directly to the Federal Police headquarters.
"What did you do?!" Verónica screamed over the alarm, her voice echoing frantically from the main hall.
Héctor stepped out of the shadow of the hallway, his gun raised, his eyes burning with absolute vengeance.
"I locked us in, Verónica," Héctor said coldly. "The police will be here in four minutes. And you are never leaving this house again."
Verónica panicked. She swung her gun toward Héctor and pulled the trigger.
CLICK.
The chamber jammed.
Before she could clear the jam, Héctor rushed forward like a enraged beast. He knocked the weapon from her hand, grabbed her by the collar of her designer coat, and slammed her violently against the grand mahogany wall.
"You took Camila from me!" Héctor roared into her face, his thumb digging into her jawline. "You tried to take my sons!"
Verónica gasped for air, her face twisted in terror as she looked into the eyes of a man who had nothing left to lose. "Héctor... please... we can work this out... I loved you! I did it for us!"
"Shut up!" Héctor screamed.
Down in the subterranean garage, the heavy security shutters were slowly grinding closed.
Mariana was behind the wheel of the massive, bulletproof Salvatierra SUV, the twins securely strapped into the reinforced infant seats in the back.
The third mercenary ran into the garage, raising an assault rifle toward the windshield.
Mariana didn't hesitate. She slammed her foot onto the accelerator.
The six-ton armored vehicle roared to life, its twin-turbo engine screaming like a jet. The SUV slammed directly into the mercenary, throwing him across the concrete floor, before smashing straight through the closing iron gate, bursting out into the rainy streets of Mexico City in a cloud of sparks and twisted metal.
Mariana glanced in the rearview mirror.
In the backseat, for the first time in five months, Gael and Nicholas were not crying. They were looking at her with wide, bright eyes, safe and calm.
May you like
Mariana stepped on the gas, speeding away toward the federal safehouse, picking up her phone to execute the final phase of her plan.
"It's done," Mariana spoke into the phone. "Deploy the evidence to the Attorney General."
