Chapter 6 - OUT OF THE ASHES
“The Final Betrayal Lies Within the Bloodline.”“You’re a monster,” Daniel growled, aiming the rifle at Vance.
“Perhaps,” Vance replied, unfazed by the weapon pointed at him. “But I am a monster with resources. Did you really think Patricia was the one who tipped us off about Leo’s whereabouts ten months ago?”
Daniel’s heart stopped. “What do you mean?”
Vance smiled, a slow, predatory grin. “How did we know exactly when you would be lighting the barbecue? How did we know the back door would be unlocked? Patricia was just the vault keeper, Daniel. The key... was much closer to home.”
From the shadows behind Vance, a figure stepped forward.
The flashlight beam caught her face.
Daniel felt the air leave his lungs. Mariana let out a strangled shriek from the corner of the bunker.
It was Mariana’s mother—Elena.
She stood there, dressed in expensive jewelry, looking down at them with a cold, detached expression.
“Mother...?” Mariana whispered, her voice cracking with a pain worse than death. “No... please, no...”
“I had to do it, Mariana,” Elena said, her voice devoid of emotion. “Your father’s debts didn't disappear when he died. These people... they were going to take everything from us. They were going to take my house, my life. I gave them one boy to save the entire family legacy.”
“You traded your grandson to save your money?!” Daniel screamed, his finger tightening on the trigger.
“It was business, Daniel,” Elena said coldly. “And now, you’re ruining it. If you just let them have Inés, we can all go back to normal. We can tell the police Leo was found in a park. You can have your son back. Just give them the girl.”
Daniel looked at Mariana. Her face had gone completely blank, paralyzed by the ultimate betrayal.
But Daniel didn't hesitate.
“Go to hell,” Daniel said.
He pulled the trigger.
The gunfire roared in the enclosed space. The bullets tore through the ceiling, shattering the wooden frame of the hatch.
Vance’s men returned fire, bullets sparking against the steel ladder.
Daniel grabbed a canister of lighter fluid Patricia had kept in the living room closet, which had fallen near the hatch during the struggle. He threw it upward, shooting it mid-air.
A massive fireball exploded in the living room, screaming upward and engulfing the wooden floorboards in a violent, roaring blaze.
“Mariana! Take the kids through the ventilation shaft! Now!” Daniel yelled.
During his brief time in the bunker, he had noticed the ventilation duct was large enough for a child—and a small adult—to crawl through. It led directly to the drainage system of the gated community.
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Mariana, fueled by pure survival instinct, pushed Leo and Inés into the narrow metallic tube. She scrambled in after them.
Daniel fired one last burst at the hatch to keep Vance’s men back, then threw himself into the vent just as the living room ceiling collapsed in a shower of sparks and burning wood.
