At 2:27 a.m., my dad called unexpectedly, "Honey... I'm at the police station. Your sister-in-law beat me with a baseball bat. But she told the police I attacked her because I'm mentally ill. Your brother just stood by and let it happen!" When I walked in, the officer turned pale and stammered, "Ma'am, I... I..."

The echoing blast of the shotgun finally faded into a heavy, terrifying silence.

Priscilla racked another shell into the chamber with a loud, metallic clack.

She looked absolutely unhinged, her expensive clothes now covered in thick cave dirt and David's blood.

David groaned in agony on the rocky floor, desperately trying to crawl behind the tire of his Mercedes.

"You greedy, stupid bitch," David hissed through his gritted teeth.

Priscilla laughed, a high-pitched, hysterical sound that sent shivers down my spine.

She pointed the heavy barrel of the shotgun directly at my face.

"Toss the drive over here, Maya, and I might let you live," Priscilla demanded.

I stood perfectly still, rapidly calculating every possible outcome.

If I gave her the drive, she would absolutely murder us to tie up loose ends.

If I shot her, her dying reflex would likely pull the trigger and blow my head off.

"You don't even know how to decrypt the drive, Priscilla," I bluffed confidently.

"It requires my father's biometric scan and a secondary federal passcode."

Priscilla hesitated for a fraction of a second, her eyes darting toward the drive in my hand.

That tiny moment of doubt was exactly what I needed.

I threw the heavy encrypted drive hard against the cavern wall directly behind her.

She instinctively turned her head to look at the metallic clatter.

I instantly fired two precise shots from my service weapon.

The first bullet shattered the heavy wooden stock of her shotgun.

The second bullet grazed her shoulder, spinning her violently to the rocky ground.

I rushed forward and kicked the broken shotgun far out of her reach.

I quickly zip-tied her wrists behind her back using tactical cuffs from my belt.

I turned back to arrest David, but the space behind the Mercedes was completely empty.

He had managed to crawl away into the deeper, uncharted darkness of the mine.

"He's going to activate the explosive charges he planted by the entrance!" Priscilla screamed in sudden terror.

“Which daughter is yours?” should have been a harmless question

The first wineglass shattered at 8:07 p.m

The moment the mafia boss’s wife called me “an illiterate servant,”

"He's going to bury us all alive!"

A massive, deafening rumble suddenly shook the very foundations of the earth.

Chapter 8 - The Mexican Standoff