Chapter 14 - The Voice from the Cell
The speaker crackled with static for a long, agonizing second before David’s voice cut through the quiet apartment.
"Mariana? Mariana, are you there?" His voice sounded strained, breathless, completely shattered.
Mariana stepped up to the counter, her voice dropping into an icy, steady register. "I'm here, David. If you're calling about the divorce decree, save your breath. The judge signed it twenty minutes ago."
"I don't care about the decree!" David shouted over the line, his tone frantic and panicked. "Mariana, listen to me, you have to help me! They're going to kill me in here!"
"Who is going to kill you?" Mariana demanded, exchanging a sharp look with Alejandro Garza.
"Don Lorenzo's people! They found me in maximum security, Mariana! They know about the digital ledger you copied from the San Lucas accounts! They said if I don't get you to hand over the flash drive, they're going to come after... they're going to come after Chloe!"
At the mention of her name, Chloe flinched, her pencil snapping in half between her fingers. Mariana’s maternal protective instincts flared like a wildfire.
"Don't you dare bring our daughter into this!" Mariana screamed, slamming her hand against the marble counter. "You traded her health for your secret accounts, and now you expect me to bail you out of a criminal syndicate that you invited into our lives?"
"I didn't have a choice!" David sobbed over the phone. "If you want us to survive—if you want Chloe to be safe—you have to meet me. Tonight at midnight. At the old freight depot by the railway yards. Bring the flash drive with the syndicate's files. Just you. No lawyers, no police."
"That's a trap, Mrs. Hayes," Garza whispered urgently, leaning close to the phone. "Do not agree to anything."
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Before Mariana could reply, David’s voice suddenly changed tone—stiffening abruptly, as if someone had pulled a gun to his head on the other end of the line.
"Just... just bring it, Mariana," David whispered mechanically before the line went completely dead with a sharp beep.
