Chapter 11 - The Black Envelope
The heavy black envelope felt like a piece of solid ice in my trembling hands.
The beautiful, sunny afternoon instantly turned cold as I stared at the photograph of me and Leo.
The red crosshairs drawn over my chest were a chilling promise of imminent death.
Ricardo snatched the photograph from my hands, his jaw clenching so hard I thought his teeth would shatter.
He did not scream, and he did not panic.
Instead, a terrifying, familiar darkness completely overtook his handsome face.
He turned to Dante and issued a string of rapid, lethal commands.
Within seconds, the entire estate went into a complete, impenetrable lockdown.
Heavy steel shutters descended over the massive windows, and dozens of heavily armed guards swarmed the manicured lawns.
I pulled Leo tightly against my chest, covering his eyes so he would not see the sudden chaos.
"Who is my father, Ricardo?" I whispered, my voice shaking uncontrollably.
"Why is the Commission completely powerless against him?"
Ricardo carefully escorted us back inside the heavily fortified mansion.
He locked us safely inside the master bedroom and pulled out his encrypted satellite phone.
He dialed my grandfather, the head of the Commission, and put the call on speaker.
The old man answered immediately, his usually commanding voice sounding incredibly weary.
Ricardo explained the photograph and the terrifying message written in red ink.
A long, heavy silence filled the secure bedroom.
"I prayed this day would never come," my grandfather finally whispered over the phone.
"I spent twenty years trying to erase that monster's existence from our world."
I leaned closer to the phone, my heart pounding violently against my ribs.
"Who is he?" I demanded, needing to know the identity of the man hunting us.
"His name is Alejandro Vargas," my grandfather replied softly.
"He is the most ruthless cartel warlord the southern hemisphere has ever seen."
"Your mother did not just run away from the mafia, Clara."
"She ran away to protect you from a man who wanted to turn you into a weapon."
The room started to spin as the devastating truth finally hit me.
My biological father was not just a criminal.
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He was an international warlord who commanded an army of killers.
And now, he had finally found his missing daughter.
