make you my legal heir without triggering a bloodline clause in the syndicate’s charter. I never intended for this to be a real marriage, Efraín. I brought you here to save you.”
Before I could process the nightmare unfolding around me, a sudden, heavy knock echoed off the bedroom door.
Part 3: The Siege“Ma’am,” a voice rumbled from the other side—it was her chief of security, his tone laced with urgency. “The perimeter’s been breached. They know he’s here.”
Celia’s face paled. She swept the keys and the thick envelope into my hands, shoving me toward a heavy tapestry on the north wall. She pulled it aside to reveal a hidden steel door concealed within the stone work.
“Your father—the man you thought was your father—he sold you out to them,” Celia said rapidly, her hands frantic as she keyed a code into a digital keypad. “He was never
