Chapter 2 - THE DEMON OF LAS LOMAS"Turn off the lights! Now!" Mauricio screamed, shoving the paralyzing shock into the deepest corner of his mind.

He slammed the master bedroom door shut and threw the heavy oak bolt into place. Elena didn't panic; years of surviving trauma had made her terrifyingly calm under fire. She reached under her wedding dress train, pulled off her garter, and unstrapped a sleek black flash drive taped to her thigh.

"He wants this," she said coldly, holding up the drive. "Seven years ago, when your father set fire to my house, my father dragged himself out of the flames long enough to swallow a micro-SD card containing Guillermo’s double-entry ledgers. It exposes the corruption of the entire Salgado empire, including the corrupt judges, politicians, and cartel lords on your family's payroll."

"Why didn't you go to the police?!" Mauricio hissed, grabbing a heavy iron fire poker from the hearth.

"Because the police chief was the man who handed your father the gasoline!" Elena snapped back. "I spent seven years hiding my siblings in a convent in Zacatecas, using every peso I earned—and every piece of information I stole from your study—to buy their protection. But three days ago, Guillermo’s men located them."

BOOM!

The heavy oak front doors downstairs were blasted open with a tactical breach charge. The violent explosion shook the foundations of the mansion, sending dust raining down on the newlyweds. Loud, disciplined boots echoed through the marble foyer below.

"Mauricio!" a booming, gravelly voice resonated from the grand staircase. "Come out, my boy! Is this how you welcome your old man back from the dead?"

Mauricio’s blood ran cold. That voice. It was the same voice that had read him bedtime stories, the same voice that had taught him how to play chess. Guillermo Salgado was alive.

"Give me the girl and the ledger, son," Guillermo shouted, his voice moving closer up the stairs. "You’re a businessman! Don't let a pretty little piece of trailer trash from Zacatecas destroy a billion-dollar legacy! She lied to you! She seduced you just to use your money to fight me!"

Mauricio looked at Elena. Her breath was hitching, her chest heaving against her lace bridal gown. But her eyes weren't filled with deceit—they were filled with absolute, terrifying devotion to her siblings, and a agonizing guilt for dragging Mauricio into her hell.

"Go out the balcony," Mauricio whispered softly, grabbing her hands. "There is a emergency escape ladder behind the ivy. Take my car keys."

"No, Mauricio! He will kill you!"

"He's my father," Mauricio lied, trying to look brave. "He won't shoot his own son."

"You don't know him!" Elena cried, grabbing his lapels. "He killed his own brother for insurance money in 1998! He doesn't care about blood, Mauricio! He only cares about power!"

Before Mauricio could react, the master bedroom door exploded inward. Wooden splinters shredded the air as three masked mercenaries in black tactical gear poured into the room, laser sights painted across Mauricio’s chest.

Behind them stepped a shadow from the grave.

May you like

The metallic click of Gerald Whitmore’s briefcase snapping open echoed t...

Daniel stood frozen in the harsh fluorescent light of the hospital corri...

The silence in the Lake Forest kitchen was deafening, save for the rhyth...

Guillermo Salgado looked older, his hair silver, his face scarred with a deep burn down his right jawline—a souvenir from the fire he had set in Zacatecas. He wore a tailored suit and held a gold-plated pistol fitted with a silencer.

"Hello, daughter-in-law," Guillermo sneered, aiming the weapon directly at Elena’s forehead. "I see you finally put on a nice dress."