SURVIVE THE FALL AND CLAIM THE BLOOD DEBT

Medical supplies were brought immediately. A combat medic dressed Mateo’s wound while Sofia sat wrapped in a dry military parka, sipping warm soup. Hector knelt beside her, his weathered face etched with furious guilt.

""I abandoned you,"" Hector said quietly. ""After your father died, Julian showed us signed transfer documents. He had your signature authorizing the liquidation of the old guard. We thought you turned on us.""

""He held a knife to my throat while his notary stamped those papers,"" Sofia said, her voice flat, devoid of warmth. ""And then he kept me docile with medication until the ink dried on the merger paperwork. The European syndicate, the Moretti family—they arrive in forty-eight hours, don't they?""

""Yes,"" Hector nodded. ""They are finalizing the distribution rights at Julian's private estate in Coronado. If they sign, Julian becomes untouchable. He’ll control the entire Pacific corridor.""

""He won't sign,"" Sofia said.

""Sofia, you are pregnant, you are exhausted, and Julian has an army of three hundred men guarding that compound,"" Hector warned, his voice cracking with protective concern. ""We have barely twenty fighters left loyal to your father's name.""

Sofia pulled the satellite phone from her pocket and plugged it into Hector's computer terminal on the command desk. ""Julian's empire isn't built on loyalty, Hector. It's built on money. And he forgot that before my father passed, he gave me the master decryption keys to the offshore escrow vaults in Zurich.""

Hector stared at the monitor as Sofia’s fingers flew across the keyboard. Rows of encrypted data began unspooling, turning green.

""With this, we don't just shoot at him,"" Sofia said, a terrifying smile touching her lips. ""We bankrupt him before breakfast. And when a dog like Julian runs out of money, his own wolves eat him.""

Suddenly, the computer screen flickered. A warning siren blared through the mine tunnel. The satellite uplink had been traced.