Screaming at the Gates of Hell
Ana ran.
She didn't wait for a car, didn't stop to think. She sprinted through the alley, across traffic, her lungs burning and her face wet with tears, she didn't know long it took her or how she managed to get to Dexter's, but she eventually reached Dexter's estate the one place she never wanted to return to, but has no choice, because it holds the family she has left in captive.
She slammed her fists against the massive iron gate.
"Open the door!" she cried out, her voice raw. "Please! Let me in!"
She screamed louder.
"Dexter! Dexter!! Victor!! You swines! Open the damn door! Please I beg you, open the door..,"
Her fists pounded the door until her knuckles bled. She begged. She sobbed. She wailed until her voice cracked.
But no one came.
No one answered.
She screamed until she had nothing left inside her. And then just when her body gave out and she slumped to her knees, trembling and just when she felt like fainting, a faint metallic click echoed.
The door creaked open.
Without hesitation, Ana forced herself to her feet and bolted inside, her legs moving on instinct. Her heart thudded wildly as she entered the familiar, chilling hallway.
With adrenaline she didn't know she had left, Ana rushed inside, nearly stumbling over her own feet. Her eyes scanned the dim hallway until they landed on Victor, lounging on a velvet chair, sipping wine like it was just another, he was just watching her like a bored executioner.
Her rage exploded.
She rushed toward him, fueled by fury she didn't know she had.
"You think this is funny?" she snarled, rushing toward him. Where is my mom and brother?!" she screamed. "What have you done, you swine?! I am doing everything you asked me to do everything! Why are you people doing this to me?!"
Before Victor could even blink, another voice answered.
A voice she hadn't heard in weeks, but one that haunted her every night.
Smooth. Mocking. Evil.
"Why am I doing this to you?"
Ana froze in place.
That voice turned her blood to ice.
Dexter.
He walked in slowly, like a man returning from a pleasant dinner, his diamond-crusted teeth gleaming under the chandelier light. His laugh echoed through the hall unhinged and menacing.
"You don't know why?" he grinned, stopping just feet from her. "Look at you, little girl. The last time I saw you, you were plump prettier. Now you're just skinny. Pathetic. Fragile. What a poor little thing"
He leaned closer, and his next words struck like daggers.
"But what can I do, I say blame it on your useless, thief of a father."
Ana's jaw clenched. Her glare cut so sharp it could slice flesh.
If looks could kill,she muttered under her breath. "Don't call him that," she snapped. "And don't talk about my father. He's dead. Isn't that enough for you?"
But Dexter only laughed, loud and sharp like shattered glass.
"Enough? Oh no, darling. Such great love between father and daughter," he sneered. "Touching. Since you love him so much, redeem him. Clear his debt. That's all I ever asked. But what did you do?"
"I'm trying!" she cried. "I did nothing wrong!" Ana shouted, her hands trembling. "I'm doing everything you ask of me, I swear it! I've done everything you asked. I got into Lopez's heart. I'm getting close to the codes. What more do you want from me?"
Dexter's smile vanished. "Loyalty. No slips. No hesitation. And yet I hear you almost confessed everything to your rich little boyfriend."
Dexter said as he laughed again.
"But you were going to tell your Prince Charming, weren't you? Selling us out, just like your stupid father. You were going to betray me for a smile and a billionaire's soft bed, huh?"
"No!" she cried, her voice splintering in panic. "I wasn't! I swear I wasn't I just had a slip of tongue, but I was going to lie, I swear! I was going to cover it up. I would never please, for God's sake, where is my family?! Don't do anything to them, please I'm doing everything you asked!"
Dexter took a step closer. His voice dropped, venom thick in every word.
"If we hadn't stepped in, you would have exposed everything."
"That's not true!" she screamed again, her voice unraveling. "Please that's not true,"
He looked down at her with pure disdain.
"Well," he said coldly, "I'm not the reason you're crying like this, I am not the reason why you a flower blossom girl has become this pathetic. You can still go ahead and blame it on that lowly thief of a father of yours."
"My father is not a thief!" she shouted, voice breaking again. "He was framed!"
"Oh? Is that what they told you?" Dexter chuckled.
"Yes!" She said as she wail loudly
Dexter waved her off like a nuisance.
"Cry all you want. You want pity? Go cry to that dead thief you call a father."
"Don't you dare call him that!" she snapped, tears falling freely now. "You don't know him!"
Dexter raised an eyebrow, then gave a cold, bitter chuckle.
"Oh, but I do. You think I'm cruel? Let me tell you a story, little Ana. Because I figured it's time someone told you the truth, the full truth so you understand exactly why your life is a little nightmare, at least so you hear the story from my own end, since you clearly don't know the man who dragged you into this."
He lit a cigar. Inhaled. Exhaled a thick cloud of smoke.
"Once, I was just a programmer. Quiet. Gifted. I had even worked alongside Joseph Lopez himself. Helped design the framework that built the Lopez tech empire
He took a long, deliberate puff of his cigar, then exhaled smoke toward the ceiling.
"I wasn't always like this, not always a monster," he began. "I used to be a good boy. A programmer. I was quite capable because not everyone get to work with the Lopez. And the Joseph Lopez, he was always building tech like no one could ever. And I was happy working with him, my life was cool and smooth, then We were building something revolutionary. But guess what? He fired me. Shut me out. Stole the very tech I helped create, I know all the ideas was his, but I was part of the very first team who helped that idea come to light, but I got nothing in return, no recognition, nothing."
Dexter's voice hardened.
"I tried everything after that. Pitched investors. Called in favors. No one believed in me. I was cut out. Fired. Forgotten. While Joseph built his billion dollar dynasty, I rotted in the shadows. No investors. No future. So I became what the world made of me.
So I went rogue. Into the streets. I became a gangster."
He began pacing slowly, eyes glinting with fury.
"For more than a decade, I ran one of the largest underground cults in the country. Weapons. Drugs. Contracts. I was living like a rat, building my fortune dollar by dirty dollar. I stacked it, hid it. A room full of cash, untouched. I worked for three decades. And just when I was ready to retire, maybe even clean up and go into politics,"
He paused.
"Your stupid father walked into my life."
Ana stared, frozen in disbelief.
"He came to me like a dog. "He begged," Dexter said, voice thick with venom. "Begged me for money to pay your school fees. Said he'd do anything. Swore loyalty. But when it came time to pay it back? Oh, no. He wouldn't sell. Wouldn't traffic. Wouldn't kill. Too good for the job, but not too good to take my dirty money."
His voice rose with anger.
"So I gave him a simple task," Dexter growled "Guard a vault. A room stacked with cash. No crime. No violence. Just watch the room. And what did he do?"
He leaned in close, eyes gleaming.
Ana shook her head, whispering, "No,"
He stepped closer.
"He stole it."
"He loaded my money into a ship. Tried to vanish. My men chased him down. And your precious father? He'd rather die than face me. So he sank the ship."
Dexter's eyes blazed.
"He sank all my money. Everything I worked for. And you think I'll let that slide?"
He leaned in, his breath inches from her face.
"You. Will. Pay. Every single penny your father sank. And if you fail I'll feed your brother, and your entire family to my beasts. I promise you."
Ana collapsed.
She dropped to her knees, her body heaving with sobs.
"Please," she begged, hands pressed flat against the marble floor. "I beg you with everything you hold dear. Don't hurt them. I'll do it. I'll get the codes. I swear on my life."
Her voice cracked into pieces. "My mum my brother they know nothing about what my dad did. Please just give me a little more time. I'll find the vault. I'll get everything you need. Please don't touch them. Don't touch them"
Dexter said nothing.
He exhaled a plume of smoke into the air, unmoved by her breakdown.
Then, Victor stepped forward and whispered something in his ear.
Dexter shrugged.
He gave Ana one last cold glance.
"So be it," he muttered. "Victor, just get my job done."
And he walked out.
Victor remained behind, silent for a long moment. Then he sat down slowly in the chair across from her.
He looked her over, In that moment she was clearly the broken girl on the floor.
And he spoke without a hint of warmth.
"Today is your lucky day, Ana."
She looked up, hope trembling in her eyes.
"And my family?" she whispered.
"They get spared," he said. "Just for Today."