Five days. Diego had been gone for five days, and Esperanza felt the absence like a physical wound. This wasn't the first time her husband had disappeared—his work as a healer and his past as the Ghost meant he sometimes vanished for days at a time. But those times had always felt purposeful, controlled, temporary.This felt different. Wrong. Final.The Vega estate, once a home filled with warmth despite its size, had become a mausoleum of empty rooms and echoing silence. Esperanza found herself unable to stay inside, the walls closing in with memories and fears. So she'd ventured out for dinner alone, desperately seeking the comfort of crowds and strangers' conversations to fill the void Diego's absence had created.She chose a upscale Italian restaurant downtown, one she and Diego had never visited together. Somewhere without memories attached. Somewhere she could pretend, just for an hour, that her life wasn't falling apart.The hostess had just seated her near the window when Espe

Later that night, Isabella's phone rang with Alejandro's number. She answered while Santiago was in the shower, stepping onto the apartment balcony for privacy."We need to accelerate the timeline," Alejandro said without preamble. "Lucia and I are done waiting. We've been planning this for years. Years, Isabella. And now that Diego is finally out of the picture, we're ready to take what's ours.""What's yours?" Isabella repeated. "You mean the Vega Empire?""Our birthright," Alejandro corrected, his voice carrying zealous conviction. "What should have been ours from the beginning if Ricardo Vega hadn't stolen it. If circumstances had been different. If justice actually existed in this world.""I'm working on it," Isabella said. "Santiago is almost completely under my control. Another few weeks and—""We don't have weeks," Alejandro interrupted sharply. "Every day that passes is another day something could go wrong. Another day for Esperanza to find allies or leverage. Another day for

Esperanza's hands slammed on the desk sergeant's counter with enough force to make papers jump. "I don't care about your protocols! I don't care about your resource limitations! My husband is missing and you've buried his case like it doesn't matter!""Ma'am, please calm down—""I will not calm down!" Esperanza's voice rose to a near-shout, drawing attention from everyone in the station. "I want to speak to your superior! Now! And while I'm waiting, I'm making some calls of my own!"She pulled out her phone and began dialing with furious precision. First, her family's lawyer. Then a city councilman who owed the Vegas a favor. Then a journalist friend who specialized in exposing police corruption and incompetence.Each conversation was loud, deliberate, and designed to create maximum embarrassment for the department."Yes, that's right," she said into the phone, her voice carrying through the entire station. "They've classified my husband's disappearance as low priority despite clear e

Isabella left Esperanza's office with frustration burning in her chest. The confrontation had gone completely wrong. Instead of breaking Esperanza's spirit, instead of intimidating her into backing off, Isabella had only strengthened her enemy's resolve.Esperanza hadn't flinched. Hadn't backed down. Hadn't shown even a flicker of the fear Isabella had hoped to instill.Which meant the direct approach wouldn't work. Isabella needed a different strategy.If she couldn't neutralize Esperanza, she'd have to make Esperanza's opposition irrelevant by forcing Santiago's hand completely. No more waiting. No more gentle persuasion. It was time to use the nuclear option.That evening, Isabella invited Santiago to her apartment with promises of a quiet dinner and quality time. But the moment he arrived, she launched into tears—perfectly calculated, beautifully performed tears that made Santiago immediately uncomfortable."What's wrong?" he asked, moving to comfort her. "Is it the baby? Are you

When consciousness returned, Diego's mind was clear and sharp. He lay on the cold warehouse floor, surrounded by corpses, but his thoughts had regained their tactical precision.Then he heard it. Distant sirens. Screaming. Chaos coming from somewhere outside the warehouse.Diego forced himself to stand, his body protesting but obeying. He navigated through the warehouse and found stairs leading up from what he now realized had been a basement ritual space.The moment he emerged onto ground level and stepped outside into daylight, Diego saw the devastation.He was in what looked like a middle-class residential neighborhood. And scattered across the street were people—civilians—convulsing on the ground. A woman outside her car. An elderly man on the sidewalk. A teenage boy who'd been riding a bicycle.All of them marked with spreading black veins across their exposed skin. All of them suffering from corruption poisoning.Severus. The possessed madman had run through this neighborhood, a