Chapter 4 - The Bride's SecretBZZZZT!
Julieta thrust the taser into the neck of the closest mercenary. He dropped like a stone.
"Run!" she screamed.
We didn't hesitate. Paula, Julieta, and I sprinted toward the concrete ramp of the parking garage, dodging a barrage of bullets that shattered the windshields of parked cars around us. We dove into a stairwell, barricading the heavy metal door with a steel pipe.
"Julieta! The drug!" I panted, checking her face. "How are you awake?"
Julieta gave a breathless, triumphant laugh. "I check every number, Esteban. And I check every drink. I saw the residue on the rim of the flute. I dumped it in a potted plant and swallowed a breath mint. I faked passing out to see who was behind the plot."
She tapped a small, blinking lapel pin on her dress. "And I recorded the whole villain monologue from your supposedly dead mother."
I grabbed her face and kissed her fiercely. "You're brilliant. And pregnant?"
"Surprise," she smiled softly, then her face hardened. "But we have a bigger problem. While I was playing dead, I heard EfraÃn talking on his earpiece. They aren't just trying to take the company. They are selling it tonight."
Paula gasped. "Selling it? To who?"
"The Volkov syndicate," Julieta said, her voice dropping. "Russian mobsters. Your brothers owe them hundreds of millions from illegal gambling. The company is the payment. If they don't sign it over by midnight, the Volkovs will kill your entire family. Including your sons."
My stomach dropped to the floor. My boys.
May you like
Suddenly, the stairwell door burst open, taking the steel pipe with it. But it wasn't the mercenaries.
It was the police. Dozens of them. And they were pointing their guns right at me.
