CHAPTER 7 — The File Everyone Was Willing to Kill For
CHAPTER 7 — The File Everyone Was Willing to Kill For
The steel handle turned slowly.
Every guard in the room raised a weapon.
Nora stood frozen, clutching the worn leather folder against her chest.
Then—
Boom!
The office door exploded inward.
Smoke filled the room.
Gunfire erupted.
Emilio shoved Nora behind a reinforced concrete pillar.
"Stay down!"
His security team returned fire, forcing the attackers back into the hallway.
"Take the emergency tunnel!" one guard shouted.
"There isn't time!"
"There has to be!"
Emilio grabbed Nora by the arm.
"Listen to me."
She stared at him, trembling.
"Inside that folder is every name your mother died protecting."
"Judges."
"Politicians."
"Businessmen."
"People who built their fortunes by buying justice."
"They've spent twenty-seven years hunting that evidence."
"And now they know you have it."
Another explosion shook the building.
Concrete dust rained from the ceiling.
The lights flickered.
"They're coming!"
One of Emilio's guards slammed the hidden emergency door open.
"Boss! Move!"
Emilio looked at Nora.
"Go."
"What about you?"
"I'll slow them down."
"I'm not leaving you!"
His expression softened.
"Your mother once refused to leave me behind."
A faint smile crossed his face.
"It nearly got us both killed."
He gently pushed her toward the tunnel.
"Don't repeat her mistake."
Tears filled Nora's eyes.
Before she could answer, Phoebe's voice echoed from farther down the tunnel.
"Nora!"
The little girl had been brought to the warehouse earlier after visiting her grandfather, never expecting to be caught in an ambush.
She ran straight into Nora's arms.
"I was scared."
"I know."
Nora hugged her tightly.
Then she looked back one last time.
Emilio stood alone in the office doorway.
A father.
A son.
A man who had spent his entire life feared...
Finally choosing to stand between danger and someone else.
The emergency door slammed shut.
The tunnel plunged into darkness.
Forty minutes later...
The warehouse burned.
News helicopters circled overhead.
Television stations reported that Emilio Carver had died in the explosion.
The city believed it.
May you like
So did the people hunting Nora.
Exactly as Emilio intended.
