Chapter 42Diego's study smelled the same as it always did, cigars and old whiskey soaked into the walls, but the mood in the room had shifted since the last time Pedro and Manuel had stood before him. There was no wine tonight, no relaxed grin. Diego paced behind his desk, phone pressed to his ear, his voice clipped and low."You're telling me they're following him," Diego said, "and you're only telling me now?"On the other end, the man from the warehouse offered an answer Pedro couldn't hear, but whatever it was didn't satisfy Diego. He ended the call abruptly and set the phone down hard on the desk."Oscar's being tailed," Diego announced to the room. "Alejandro's people picked up on the warehouse meeting."Javier, seated near the window with a glass of wine he'd barely touched, straightened slightly. "How much do they know?""Enough to be suspicious," Diego said. "Not enough to prove anything yet. But Miguel Torres doesn't strike me as a man who lets sus

Chapter 44Jake had a bad feeling the moment Oscar's car turned toward the industrial district again instead of the gym. Nathan felt it too, both of them quiet as they trailed at a careful distance, the streets growing emptier the farther they drove from the mansion's neighborhood."Same warehouse?" Nathan asked."Looks like it," Jake said, lifting the camera as Oscar's car slowed near the familiar lot.But this time, two other cars were already parked there, and more men stood waiting outside the warehouse doors than either of them had seen before. Jake's stomach tightened."That's a lot of company for a quiet meeting," Nathan muttered."Pull back," Jake said. "Park up the street. I don't like this."Nathan eased the car into a spot behind a row of dumpsters, far enough to stay hidden, close enough to watch. Through the zoom lens, Jake counted five men total, including Oscar and the man from before. One of them carried himself differently than the rest,

Chapter 46Sophia heard about the warehouse before Diego's people even finished cleaning up the mess. Oscar called her the moment he was safely back at his apartment, his voice still shaking with adrenaline as he explained what happened."They shot at his men," Sophia repeated, pacing her bedroom with the phone pressed hard against her ear. "In broad daylight, Oscar. Do you understand what that does to us?""I didn't tell them to open fire," Oscar snapped back. "That was their call, not mine.""It doesn't matter whose call it was. It's done. Now Miguel has proof someone dangerous is connected to you, even if he can't prove it's connected to me yet." She pressed her fingers against her temple, feeling the beginning of a headache. "This was supposed to look like bad luck and bad investments. Not gunfire.""What do you want me to do?""Stay away from anyone connected to that warehouse until I say otherwise," Sophia said. "And whatever you do, don't panic. Panic makes mistakes.""I'm not

Valentina hadn't heard anything back. Four days had passed since she sent the message to the casino's general inbox, and the silence had started to feel worse than any response could have, good or bad. She checked the prepaid phone every night after Diego fell asleep, refreshing an inbox that never changed.Maybe it had gone nowhere. Maybe someone had read it and dismissed it as a prank, one more strange message from a stranger with nothing better to do. Or maybe it had reached exactly the wrong person, someone connected to Diego who was simply waiting for the right moment to reveal what she'd done.That thought kept her awake more nights than she wanted to admit.She moved through her days carefully, performing the same quiet routines she always had, tending the garden, reading in the sitting room, joining Diego for dinner when he wanted company and retreating to her own thoughts when he didn't. Nothing about her behavior had changed, at least nothing she could see, but the fear sat

Chapter 50Jake's stitches from the fence had healed enough that he barely noticed them anymore, but Miguel still watched him more closely during briefings than he used to, an unspoken acknowledgment of how close things had come to going much worse."You're cleared for regular duty," Miguel said, closing the folder on his desk. "But you're not going anywhere near Oscar or that warehouse again. That's final."Jake nodded. He'd expected the decision and didn't have the energy left to argue against it. "Understood.""Good." Miguel leaned back in his chair. "I've got two new guys picking up that thread. Slower, more careful. I'd rather lose time than lose people."Nathan, seated beside Jake, cleared his throat. "What about the rest of us? Are we changing how we operate now that they've shown they're willing to shoot?""Yes," Miguel said simply. "No one goes anywhere alone anymore, on duty or off. I want check ins every two hours during active surveillance. If any