Chapter 6 - Wolves at the Threshold
"No!"
The scream tore from my throat before I could stop it. I lunged forward, forgetting the shears, forgetting Bruno's size, forgetting everything except the fragile sliver of paper that proved my child existed.
Bruno stepped directly into my path, his massive hand clamping around my wrist and twisting it brutally until the shears clattered uselessly to the hardwood floor. With his other arm, he shoved me backward with sickening force.
I lost my footing on the slick hem of my soaked dress and crashed hard onto the Persian rug, twisting my hip to protect my abdomen as I landed.
Above me, the sonogram paper caught fire. Camila dropped it into an empty crystal ashtray on the sideboard, watching with cold delight as the edges curled into black ash, the tiny, faint shadow of my unborn baby dissolving into smoke and carbon.
"There," Camila whispered, dusting her fingertips together. "Problem solved. An accident. Just like your mother’s hair."
Adrián stared at the burning ash, frozen. For a fraction of a second, something human—a flicker of horror, perhaps regret—passed across his face. He looked at me on the floor, clutching my stomach, gasping for breath.
"Lucía... are you... is it mine?" he stammered.
"Don't fall for it, Adrián!" Bruno snapped, shaking Adrián’s shoulder violently. "She’s cornered! She’ll say anything to keep you on the hook. Look at her, she’s completely unhinged! Sign the non-disclosure agreement now, make her hand over the hard drives, and let's get the hell out of here before the family comes looking!"
"Is it mine?" Adrián repeated, stepping toward me, his voice trembling.
I looked up at him from the floor. The man I had loved for four years. The man who had promised to protect me, who had eaten at my mother’s table and complimented her stews, who had sworn on his grandmother’s grave that my dreams were his dreams.
In that moment, whatever remaining thread of tenderness had lingered in my heart died completely. The soil turned to salt.
"No," I lied, my voice steady, cold, and venomous. "It’s not yours. It never was."
Adrián stopped dead in his tracks. His expression curdled from shock to pure, wounded arrogance. His jaw clenched until the muscles twitched violently.
"Get out," he snarled.
"What?" Camila blinked, surprised. "Adrián, the documents—"
"I said get her the fuck out of my house!" Adrián roared, his voice shaking the glass windows. He glared down at me like I was a roach he had found under his boot. "Take your miserable peasant heritage and get out before I call building security to throw you onto the street like the trash you are! If you ever mention my name, if you ever come near my family, I will erase you!"
Bruno smirked, grabbing my arm and yanking me roughly to my feet. He dragged me toward the foyer, throwing my backpack after me.
"You heard the man," Bruno whispered in my ear, his breath hot and sour against my neck. "Run along, little bird. Before your wings get clipped for good."
He shoved me through the front door into the private hallway. The heavy double doors slammed shut with a concussive thud, followed by the electronic click of the deadbolt sliding into place.
I stood alone in the carpeted corridor, my knees shaking violently, my dress ruined, my hands smelling of smoke and ash. But as I pulled my backpack onto my shoulders, my fingers touched the front pocket.
The encrypted flash drive with all of Adrián’s shell company banking records was still inside.
May you like
They thought they had destroyed my leverage by burning an ultrasound printout. They didn't know that Dr. Alarcón’s office maintained digital records. And they had no idea that when it came to protecting my bloodline, I was far more dangerous than any contract they could ever write.
***
