Chapter 8 - Gathering the Thunder
The Drake Hotel ballroom was a sea of tuxedos, glittering diamonds, and champagne flutes. My mother Elena and brother Daniel were already there, standing near the VIP lounge.
When Elena saw me on Alejandro's arm, she breathed a visible sigh of relief, though her eyes remained anxious. She pulled me aside under the pretense of adjusting my diamond necklace.
"Mariana, thank God," she whispered. "Alejandro told us what you did. Why couldn't you just leave it alone? Everything we did, we did to keep the Velasquez name clean!"
"You ruined an innocent man's life to save your own skin, Mother," I said, my voice cutting through her polite facade like ice. "You let me hate the only man who ever truly loved me."
"Robert was a nobody!" Daniel hissed, joining us. "Alejandro is a kingmaker. Look around you, Mariana. This wealth, this power—it protects you."
"It protects him," I said, walking away from them toward the center of the ballroom.
Meanwhile, across the city, the rain was pouring down on the docks of the Port of Chicago. Robert, wearing a stolen security jacket, moved stealthily past the shipping containers. His heart pounded, not from fear for himself, but from the terrifying knowledge that Mariana’s life depended entirely on what he did in the next hour.
He reached Warehouse 4. Using his knowledge of the old Velasquez security protocols, he bypassed the perimeter lock. Inside, the massive, dark space was filled with crates labeled with false manifests.
Robert found the manager's office. Behind a false breaker panel on the wall lay the secondary data terminal. He plugged in the encrypted extraction drive Sarah Lin had given him.
Progress bar: 10%... 40%... 70%...
Suddenly, the heavy metal door of the warehouse slammed open. Three of Alejandro’s hired thugs stepped into the light, their guns drawn.
"Velasquez," the leader laughed. "The boss said you might try something pathetic like this. Step away from the console."
May you like
Robert looked at the screen. 95%...
Instead of running, Robert grabbed a heavy iron industrial wrench from the desk. "You'll have to kill me first," he said, his voice echoing with the strength of a man who had nothing left to lose but the woman he loved.
