Chapter 10 - The Explosive Betrayal.Brenda squeezed her eyes shut, crying uncontrollably as the cold metal pressed against her skin.
"I will do whatever you want, Mariana, just please do not kill me!" she begged pitifully.
I slowly lowered the weapon, staring at her with absolute disgust.
"Where is Andrew hiding right now?" I demanded, my voice sharp and commanding.
Brenda sniffled, wiping her ruined makeup from her face with a shaking hand.
"He is not in the city anymore," she stammered, terrified to meet my gaze.
"He fled to a private compound in the mountains, a safehouse belonging to a ruthless cartel."
My blood boiled at the realization that he had actually sought refuge with my family's oldest rivals.
The Navarro cartel had been enemies of the Escalante syndicate for three violent decades.
Andrew had not just stolen from me; he had committed the ultimate act of treason by aligning with our enemies.
"He traded the stolen corporate secrets to the Navarros in exchange for their protection," Brenda confessed rapidly.
"He promised them all of your company's classified logistics data to help them smuggle weapons undetected."
I tightened my grip on my pistol, my mind calculating the sheer magnitude of his betrayal.
Suddenly, a loud, rhythmic beeping sound echoed through the cavernous warehouse.
Victor's head snapped up, his eyes scanning the stacked wooden crates around us.
"Ms. Escalante, we have a major problem," Victor announced, his voice laced with genuine urgency.
He pointed to a massive metal shipping container sitting near the loading dock.
Strapped to the side of the container was a highly sophisticated, military-grade explosive device.
The digital timer was rapidly counting down from forty-five seconds.
Brenda gasped, covering her mouth in absolute shock.
"He told me the container was full of cash to pay the mercenaries!" Brenda screamed hysterically.
"He set us all up, he wanted me dead too!" she wailed, realizing the depths of Andrew's treachery.
Andrew had never intended for anyone in this warehouse to survive the night.
"Run!" I screamed, grabbing Brenda by the arm and yanking her violently toward the exit.
We sprinted across the concrete floor, our footsteps echoing loudly over the frantic beeping of the bomb.
Victor led the way, kicking discarded weapons and debris out of our path.
Thirty seconds remained.
My lungs burned as I dragged the hysterical mistress toward the shattered metal doors.
Twenty seconds.
We burst out of the warehouse and into the freezing rain, running frantically toward the edge of the harbor.
Ten seconds.
"Get into the water!" Victor ordered, diving headfirst off the concrete pier.
I shoved Brenda off the edge, watching her plunge into the dark, freezing water below.
Five seconds.
I leaped into the air, bracing myself for the catastrophic shockwave.
The entire shipyard erupted in a blinding flash of orange fire and deafening destruction.
The massive shockwave hit me mid-air, violently propelling me down into the icy depths of the harbor.
Water rushed into my ears, drowning out the roaring inferno that had just consumed the warehouse.
I kicked hard toward the surface, gasping for air as a rain of burning debris fell all around us.
Andrew had tried to bury me beneath the rubble of his own cowardice.
But as I treaded water in the freezing harbor, watching the flames paint the night sky red, my resolve solidified into pure, unbreakable steel.
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He had just escalated this from a hostile corporate takeover into a full-scale cartel war.
And tomorrow, I was going to bring the entire Escalante empire crashing down upon his head.
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