Chapter 7 - The Betrayal Inside the Mansion
Emergency lights flashed red through the corridor.
Alejandro pushed Isabella behind the wall.
“Stay with Elena.”
“No.”
He gave her a look.
She gave him one back.
Then gunfire erupted downstairs.
He swore.
Two guards rushed past.
“East wing!”
Alejandro grabbed Isabella’s hand and pulled her toward a reinforced room.
Halfway there, Thomas appeared from the stairwell.
“Lucia?”
“With Elena.”
“Marco?” Alejandro asked.
Thomas’s face changed.
“Gone.”
Alejandro stopped.
“What?”
“The room is empty.”
Isabella’s stomach dropped.
“You think he let them in.”
Thomas nodded grimly.
They reached the security room.
Camera feeds flickered.
Three masked men moved through the lower floor.
A fourth stood near the gate controls.
Then one screen showed Marco.
Unmasked.
Opening a service door.
Alejandro’s face became stone.
“I knew it.”
Isabella looked closer.
“Wait.”
Marco was limping.
His hands were zip-tied in front of him.
A gun pressed into his back.
“He’s not helping them,” she said.
Alejandro leaned closer.
The masked man behind Marco removed his face covering.
Daniel Mercer.
Thomas swore.
Mercer forced Marco toward the study.
“They’re looking for the recording,” Isabella said.
Alejandro turned.
“Lucia has it.”
Thomas froze.
“No.”
“What?”
“She gave it to me in the car.”
Everyone stared.
“Where is it?”
Thomas reached inside his coat.
Empty.
His face drained.
“I had it.”
Isabella’s mind raced.
“When did you last feel it?”
“Front hall.”
A speaker crackled overhead.
Then Mercer’s voice filled the mansion.
“Mr. Romano.”
Alejandro stared at the ceiling.
“You have something I want.”
Mercer laughed.
“And I have someone you want.”
A camera feed changed.
Lucia appeared.
A gun against her head.
Isabella stopped breathing.
“No.”
Alejandro caught her before she ran.
“Let me go.”
“No.”
“That’s my mother.”
“I know.”
Mercer continued.
“Bring the recorder to the main hall.”
Thomas looked sick.
“I lost it.”
Isabella turned.
“No. Someone took it.”
Elena.
The older woman stood near the rear door.
Too still.
Isabella remembered.
Twenty-two years.
Trusted.
Invisible.
Just like a waitress.
“Elena?” she whispered.
Elena’s face collapsed.
“I’m sorry.”
Alejandro stared at her as if she had shot him.
“What did you do?”
Tears filled Elena’s eyes.
“They have my son.”
Alejandro’s expression changed.
“You told me he was in Italy.”
“He was. Mercer found him.”
Thomas stepped closer.
“Where’s the recorder?”
Elena pulled it from her apron.
“I didn’t give it to them.”
Alejandro exhaled once.
“Good.”
“But they’ll kill him.”
Isabella understood.
Mercer had built everything on leverage.
Family.
Fear.
Secrets.
She walked toward Elena.
“Call him.”
“What?”
“Mercer.”
Alejandro looked at her.
“What are you doing?”
“Changing the trade.”
Minutes later, Isabella entered the main hall holding the recorder.
Alejandro hated the plan.
That was how she knew it might work.
Mercer stood near the staircase with Lucia.
Marco knelt nearby.
Three armed agents covered the room.
“Miss Santos,” Mercer said.
“You really are difficult to kill.”
“People keep trying.”
He smiled.
“The recorder.”
Isabella held it up.
“My mother first.”
“No.”
“Then you don’t get it.”
Mercer pressed the gun harder against Lucia.
“You think I won’t shoot her?”
“I think you need that recording more than you need another body.”
His smile faded.
Good.
She continued.
“You already lost Petrov.”
Mercer’s eyes narrowed.
“He told us everything.”
A lie.
Mostly.
“He told us about Senator Vale.”
That part was true.
Mercer’s expression confirmed it mattered.
“You have no idea what you’re involved in.”
“I’m beginning to.”
Behind Mercer, Marco shifted slightly.
Alejandro watched from the balcony shadow.
Invisible.
Waiting.
Isabella took one step closer.
“Let my mother walk to me.”
Mercer considered.
Then shoved Lucia forward.
She stumbled.
Isabella caught her with one arm.
And tossed the recorder toward Mercer with the other.
He reached for it.
Marco slammed his shoulder into the nearest agent.
Gunfire exploded.
Alejandro’s men opened from the balcony.
Isabella dragged Lucia behind a marble column.
Mercer fired toward the stairs.
Marco kicked a gun away.
Thomas rushed from the hall.
In less than thirty seconds, two agents were down, one surrendered, and Mercer disappeared through the service corridor.
Alejandro chased him.
Isabella followed despite every instruction she had ever received.
They reached the garage.
Mercer climbed into a sedan.
Alejandro fired at the tires.
The car accelerated.
Then another vehicle blocked the exit.
Mercer crashed.
He stumbled out with blood on his forehead.
His gun came up.
Alejandro aimed.
For one second, both men stood beneath the garage lights.
Then Mercer smiled.
“If you kill me, you prove everything I said about you.”
Alejandro’s finger tightened.
Isabella stepped beside him.
“Don’t.”
Mercer laughed.
“Listen to her.”
Alejandro’s eyes stayed on Mercer.
Isabella touched his arm.
“Your father asked you not to start a war without proof.”
His breathing slowed.
Sirens sounded outside.
Not local police.
Thomas had contacted an independent federal inspector general office through an old contact.
Mercer looked toward the sound.
For the first time, he looked afraid.
Alejandro lowered the gun.
“Live with the trial.”
Mercer’s face twisted.
He fired.
Alejandro shoved Isabella aside.
The bullet struck him.
He fell.
Isabella screamed.
Guards fired back.
Mercer dropped.
But she did not look at him.
She was already on her knees beside Alejandro.
Blood spread across his shirt.
“Where?”
“Shoulder.”
“Liar.”
She pressed both hands against the wound.
Blood pushed through her fingers.
“Stay with me.”
Alejandro looked at her.
“Bossy.”
“You are not allowed to be funny right now.”
His eyes fluttered.
“Alejandro!”
She slapped his cheek.
“Stay awake.”
He smiled faintly.
“Now you’ve slapped me twice.”
“Make it three.”
His eyes closed.
And Isabella felt terror unlike anything she had felt all week.
May you like
Not because a protector was dying.
Because the man she had started to love might not open his eyes again.
