The office door slammed so hard that the glass shelves rattled. "Maldición!" Don Marcelo swept the glass of tequila off his desk. It shattered against the wall. Amber liquid splashed across expensive wood and polished marble. Nobody entered. Nobody dared. The guards outside heard the crash and immediately looked away. Because everyone knew what it meant. Marcelo was furious, truly furious. Not the calculated anger he showed rivals. Not the cold rage he weaponized against enemies. This was different... it was personal and raw. Humiliating even. For years he had planned, he had waited... for years he had watched Thiago Andreas from a distance. Patiently and carefully, like a hunter watching his prey. And now, when victory was finally within reach... his idiot son had managed to get himself captured. Marcelo cursed again. Louder this time. The sound echoed through the room. He grabbed the edge of the desk and lowered his head. His breathing was

The following morning arrived without ceremony. The sun rose over northern Mexico, casting long golden streaks across the desert. It was a beautiful morning. A cruelly beautiful one. Because by sunset, someone would either be reunited with their family... Or buried. Thiago Andreas had not slept. Neither had Raphael nor Emiliano. The Andreas estate had been awake all night, transforming itself into something less like a family home and more like a military command center. Satellite images covered one wall, weapons were laid out across another table. Bulletproof SUVs waited outside, engines already running. Every trusted man Thiago had ever relied upon stood ready, no one smiled. No one joked, they all understood the assignment. Bring Juliana home, no matter the cost. Raphael adjusted the magazine of his pistol before sliding it into the holster beneath his jacket. His movements were calm. Too calm. Emiliano noticed. "You've been quiet." Raphael loo

The convoy reached the Andreas estate just before dusk. The massive wrought-iron gates opened without delay, and the vehicles swept into the courtyard one after another. Dozens of staff had gathered outside the mansion, relief written across their faces the moment Juliana stepped out of the SUV. No one rushed her. No one overwhelmed her. They simply watched, grateful that she had come home alive. Juliana barely noticed them. She was exhausted. Her body was home. Her mind was still trapped inside Don Marcelo's compound. Inside that dim corridor... Inside the room where Andrew was still being held. The grand doors of the mansion opened. Thiago walked beside his daughter as though afraid she might disappear again. Raphael remained close enough to react to the slightest danger. Emiliano refused to leave her side. For the first time since the kidnapping, the Andreas family was under one roof again. It should have felt complete. Instead... Something was

The study remained silent long after Juliana left. Neither Raphael nor Emiliano moved. The door she had closed behind her seemed to linger in both their minds, as though her tears had seeped into the very walls of the room. For a long moment, only the crackling of the fireplace broke the silence. Emiliano was the first to speak. "So..." His voice was flat, "...that's what all of this was about." Raphael remained standing by the window, his hands tucked into the pockets of his dark trousers. He was looking outside, but he wasn't seeing the estate. He was seeing his sister. Broken, pleading and crying, it was an image he couldn't shake. "I've never seen her cry like that," Raphael admitted quietly. Emiliano scoffed. "She'll get over it." Raphael slowly turned. "No." He shook his head once. "I don't think she will." Emiliano folded his arms. His expression hardened immediately. "So what?" "You want us to march back into Marcelo's territory becaus

Raphael Andreas did not call immediately. Instead, he sat in complete silence, the satellite phone resting in his hand while his thumb hovered over the keypad. This wasn't simply another operation. This was treason. Not against his family... Against his father's orders. Thiago Andreas had been clear. Andrew Tate was not to be rescued. The discussion had ended the moment he walked out of the study. Raphael knew exactly what would happen if his father discovered his intentions. There would be consequences. Severe ones. Not because Thiago hated Andrew. But because he believed Raphael would be risking himself—and by extension, the Andreas family—for a stranger. Raphael understood that reasoning. He simply couldn't accept the outcome. Not when Juliana had looked at him the way she had. He unlocked the phone. Only six names appeared. No surnames. No photographs. Just code names. Men who had worked with Raphael for years. Men whose loyalty belo