Page 188 of Embriagado

“Yes.”

I held her stare, truly held it, and what I saw in her scared eyes was… hope.

I rose to my feet.

“Follow me,” I said, watching as she fumbled to stand up. Frankly, those high heels she wore seemed painful to walk in, but bad shoes were the least of her problems right now. If anything, she had no idea how lucky she was that out of all the people she could have bumped into tonight, it was him she came across.

My dumb hero.

I stopped before the office door and turned to face her. “From now on, you don’t utter a word, is that clear?”

Looking at me with her big doe eyes, she nodded.

I slowly opened the door and made sure the hall was clear before stepping out, with her behind me. We began to walk quietly toward one of the hotel’s emergency exits leading to the staff parking lot. It was an escape route that I knew no one would use, at least not now, and it was exactly what I needed to sneak her out of this hell.

“Be careful here,” I said as we had to walk down stairs leading to the parking lot. Offering her my hand, she took it, slowly going down with those high silver heels she wore.

Mom used to wear those.

She stumbled, but moving fast, I steadied her before she could trip over. Her breath caught for a second, but then she flipped her long hair back and glanced at me, a hint of a smile on her lips.

“Thank yo⁠—”

She didn’t even manage to complete the word when her head violently jerked to the side with the force of the gunshot, blood spurting out the other side. Her hand slipped from mine as she collapsed, and I stared at her lifeless body dropping to the ground. I held still, eyes locked on where she’d just stood and my cheek stained with her blood spatter, before I looked up at the man who’d shot her.

“Here I thought I spotted some strays…” Alejandro said as he slowly stepped out of the shadows, the light gradually moving over his body until his ugly face was revealed. “Turns out it was just a little white rat.”

I gritted my teeth, staring at him with pure contempt.

“I was told some whore snuck into our party. Good thing I came for a checkup, huh?” he said, tossing me the gun he’d just used.

Catching it, I noticed it was my gun.

“How did you…”

“I took it from your office earlier.” He then reached for his pocket before pulling something out. “I also took this crap.”

My eyes widened upon seeing the fox keychain.

“I hope you don’t mind.” He chuckled. “I thought my niece would love it.”

Swallowing hard, I tried to stay calm.

“I’ve already paid this month’s payment, with extra. So why are you here?”

“Clearly to do what you didn’t.” He dropped his smile. “Now, clean this up before someone sees her.”

He hopped over her body on his way to the stairs and began climbing them when he stopped and glanced at me. “And once you’re done, make sure to send me a redhead upstairs, okay?” He scratched his stubbled jaw. “You know what, make it two.”

I dragged my teeth along my lip, trying to think it through, but only one thing came to my mind.

“Is he here?”

“Who? My uncle?”

I nodded when he snorted.

“If he were, you’d be the one lying there.”