BLOOD AND ASHES

THE SECRET SHE CARRIED

The roar in Tobias’s chest had already escaped him when he lunged, fists clenched, hatred blazing in his eyes. He wanted nothing more than to crash through Delgado’s smirk with every ounce of fury his broken life had given him.

But the senator did not flinch.

Instead, he lifted his hand with calculated calm and extended a single forefinger. Slowly, deliberately, he moved it from right to left as if slicing the air, as if warning a reckless child not to cross a line. His eyes gleamed with cruel amusement.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” His voice slithered like a serpent across the room. Then he tilted his chin toward the couch, toward Ethan. “However… do you want your son to witness how his father is beaten into pulp?”

The words struck Tobias harder than any fist could. He froze mid-step, his pulse hammering so violently his ribs ached.

His eyes darted to Ethan, who was still curled on the couch, wide-eyed and confused. The boy’s frail chest rose and fell around the plastic tubing, every shallow breath tethered to that fragile chain of oxygen.

Tobias’s fists trembled. He could fight. He could charge. But Ethan—Ethan would see it all. Ethan would watch his father broken, bloodied, humiliated. The thought carved through Tobias’s rage like a blade.

Delgado stepped closer, his smirk widening, savoring his victory without a single punch thrown. “I know medicine, Tobias. I know stress is poison to a child like yours. His lungs already fight for every breath, sí? His immune system is already fragile. Imagine what will happen if he watches his father torn apart before his eyes. Do you want his heart to collapse? His oxygen to fail? His fragile body to shatter under the weight of fear?”

The senator’s words were calm, clinical, yet every syllable dripped menace. He was right—and Tobias hated him for it. His fury churned, trapped between the urge to strike and the duty to protect his boy.

Delgado leaned back, brushing invisible dust from his immaculate suit. “No. This is not the time for violence. I am here to talk business, viejo amigo. Not to rant. If you comply, if you sit down and listen, I will give you what you crave most.” He paused, savoring the suspense. “Your wife’s body. That's right, I’ve had it all along.”

The words slammed into Tobias like a thunderbolt. His knees weakened, rage crumbling into shock. Elena—his Elena. The memory of her body tumbling into the night still haunted him. And now Delgado admitted it—he had stolen her body, kept it like a trophy or perhaps a bargaining advantage.

But for what exactly?

Tobias’s breath came ragged. His grief surged, twisted into fury and despair.

Delgado’s eyes flicked to Ethan again. The boy sat stiffly, with confusion painted across his pale face. “The boy doesn’t need to be here.”

Tobias said nothing, his throat was locked tight with rage.

“My men can take him somewhere safe. You’ll see him again after our discussion.”

Still Tobias didn’t answer.

Delgado smiled thinly. “You’d rather have him watch? Fine. But imagine him fainting from shock, choking on his own breath as my men do their work. That is on you.”

Tobias’s heart clenched. He looked at his son, at those innocent eyes staring up at him, desperate for reassurance. For a moment, all the hatred in him softened, replaced by raw fatherly love. His voice cracked, but he forced steadiness into his tone.

“Ethan, uncle here is going to take you out so you can get some goodies for yourself. Be a good boy while you’re with him.”

Ethan blinked, hesitant, but obedient. Slowly he slid off the couch, his thin frame was dwarfed by the hulking bodyguard who stepped forward. The man’s massive hand hovered near the boy’s back as he guided him out, the oxygen tube trailing behind like a fragile lifeline.

The door clicked shut. The room felt colder, emptier, more dangerous without Ethan’s presence.

Delgado gestured at a chair, his smile was smug. “Shall we?”

Tobias’s jaw clenched as he sank into his seat. His hands curled into fists against his knees. Delgado sat opposite, crossing one leg over the other with the elegance of a man who believed the world was his stage.

Tobias’s voice cut the silence, sharp and venomous. “Killing my wife. Stealing her body. Crippling my school. That is not an honorable way of revenge. You did all this because I exposed your charity scam—because I told the truth. That fake platform drained thousands of people, and you know it.”

Delgado chuckled softly, like a man listening to a child’s tantrum. “Ah, Tobias. Always the righteous maestro. Yes, you exposed my charity. Yes, it cost me six million dollars in damages. Yes, it nearly threatened my position as senator. Do I desire revenge? Of course.” His smile sharpened. “But that is not the true reason you are sitting in ruin...Well it's part of it actually.”

Tobias’s eyes narrowed, suspicion was cutting through his confusion. “Then what is the reason?”

Delgado leaned forward, his elbows resting lightly on his knees, his voice dropping deeper into a conspiratorial whisper. “I know you, Tobias. I know about your past. You, the notorious gangster. The drug lord feared and worshiped in underground circles. And I know of your so-called salvation—the day you walked away to play schoolmaster. Noble, wasn’t it?” His smirk darkened.

“But there is more. You are not merely a failed teacher or a repentant sinner. You, Tobias Sheldon, are heir to great wealth. Wealth beyond imagination.”

Tobias blinked, his breath catching.

Delgado’s words struck like hammers. “You are worth billions Tobias, I tell you. Thirty thousand kilograms of gold. Thirty million carats of diamonds. Assets worth more than one hundred billion dollars. Precious commodities willed to you. Yours by right.”

Tobias staggered back in his chair, stunned. The room tilted around him. Gold? Diamonds? A hundred billion? His mind raced. This had to be a dream. A cruel joke.

His lips trembled. “Delgado… I have no idea what you’re saying. I have lived a hard life. I pushed drugs, I bled in the streets, soaked my hands in mud and blood just for cash. I rotted in jail before I clawed my way toward salvation. If I had such wealth, do you think I would be here? Driving a Toyota Corolla? Begging parents not to pull their children from my failing school? Do you think I would bow to the police like a criminal?”

Delgado’s laughter rolled through the room, smooth and mocking. “Well, Tobias, I cannot deny—I’m surprised you claim ignorance. But the truth…” He leaned closer, eyes glinting with triumph. “…is that your wife knew about it all along.”

Tobias’s heart stopped. His eyes widened, his breath was locked in his chest. His head snapped up, disbelief and betrayal flooding his face.

“My wife?” he whispered.

The words cracked through the silence like glass breaking.

Tobias’s pulse thundered in his ears. The room swayed, walls closing in. Betrayal gnawed at his chest—had Elena hidden this from him all along?

If all that Tobias is saying was true then why would she?

His grief twisted into something darker, a storm of suspicion and rage.

Delgado’s smirk widened, savoring the crack in Tobias armor. Tobias’s knuckles whitened against the chair. Was Elena his salvation—or the cruelest lie of all?