“Find every breach. Find every contact.”
“Find everyone who knew about the exploit.”
My gaze hardened.
“And when you identify the leak — bring them to me.”
His response was immediate.
“Yes, sir.”
I turned away from him — already shifting from damage control to retaliation planning.
They took my wife.
They terrified my daughter.
They turned my home into a battlefield.
Every step they took inside my walls would cost them.
Every breath they breathed in my territory would be paid for.
They would regret it — deeply.
“I’m coming for you, Vasquez,” I muttered under my breath.
“I’m getting my wife back.” I let the silence stretch.
“Tonight.”
Chapter 16
ELENA
The room had no windows.
It smelled of damp concrete, old blood, and the faint metallic tang of fear—mine, mostly.
The scent clung to the walls like a memory that refused to fade.
I sat on the cold floor, knees pulled tightly to my chest, my back pressed against the rough wall as if it could somehow anchor me.
My sundress—once light and flowing—was now torn at the hem and stained with dirt and dried blood that wasn’t entirely mine. The fabric clung to my skin like a reminder of everything that had already happened.
My wrists and ankles weren’t bound.
No ropes.
No cuffs.
That detail unsettled me more than restraints ever could.
The door was steel-reinforced. The lock electronic. The vents too narrow to crawl through. Even if I managed to break the light or force the hinges, there were guards outside.
This wasn’t carelessness.
It was control.
