Adriana's POV
Time slowed down.
Detective Chen's finger tightened on the trigger. Marcus grabbed my arm to pull me back. Dominic moved to shield me.
And I did the only thing I could think of.
I kicked the door as hard as I could.
It slammed into Chen's arm. The gun went off, bullet punching into the doorframe inches from my head. I didn't stop—just crashed into her, both of us hitting the floor hard.
"Run!" I screamed at Marcus and Dominic.
But they didn't run. Dominic dove past me, going for Chen's gun. Marcus rushed to Mike, working on the ropes.
Chen was stronger than she looked. She flipped me over, hands going for my throat. I couldn't breathe. Spots danced in my vision.
Then Dominic yanked her off me. They struggled for the gun. It went off again—the bullet hitting the ceiling. Wood rained down on us.
I gasped for air, crawling toward Mike. His face was bruised, one eye swollen shut, but he was conscious.
"Ana," he wheezed. "I'm sorry. She was waiting when I got home. Said she'd kill my daughter if I didn't cooperate."
"It's okay," I lied, my fingers fumbling with the knots. "We're getting you out."
Behind me, Dominic and Chen crashed into furniture. More gunshots. Glass breaking. Marcus finally got the ropes loose and Mike stumbled forward.
"Gun," Mike gasped. "Kitchen. Top drawer."
Marcus ran for it.
Chen slammed Dominic against the wall. He grunted in pain but held onto her wrist, keeping the gun pointed away. They were matched in strength, neither giving an inch.
"Elena has a dozen agents converging on this location right now," Chen snarled. "You're all dead anyway. Might as well make it easy."
"How much is she paying you?" Dominic demanded through gritted teeth.
"Enough to retire at forty." Chen smiled viciously. "More than you'll ever see."
"Was it worth selling your soul?"
"There is no soul in this job. Just survivors and corpses. I choose to survive."
Marcus returned with Mike's gun. He pointed it at Chen with shaking hands. "Let him go!"
Chen laughed. "You won't shoot. I can see it in your eyes. You're not a killer, kid."
She was right. Marcus's hands trembled. His finger hovered over the trigger but wouldn't press.
Chen saw her opening. She twisted hard, using Dominic's own weight against him. He lost his grip on her wrist.
The gun swung toward Marcus.
I didn't think. Just moved.
Grabbed a heavy lamp from the table and swung it with everything I had. It connected with the side of Chen's head with a sickening crack.
She dropped like a stone.
For a moment, we all just stood there, breathing hard, staring at her unconscious body.
"Is she dead?" Marcus whispered.
Dominic checked her pulse. "No. But she won't be out long."
"We need to leave," Mike said. He was leaning against the wall, looking bad. "Now. If what she said is true, this place will be crawling with Elena's people in minutes."
"You can't come with us," I told him gently. "You have a daughter to protect."
"Ana—"
"Mike, please. They'll kill her if you help us. You know they will." I squeezed his hand. "Tell them we forced you. Tell them Chen got here too late. Make them believe you had no choice."
Mike's eyes filled with tears. "Your dad would be so proud of you, kid. So damn proud."
My throat tightened. "I know."
We tied Chen up with the same ropes she'd used on Mike, gagged her with a kitchen towel. Then we ran for the car.
The engine was still warm. Dominic drove fast, no headlights, using the moonlight to navigate the dark country roads.
"Where now?" Marcus asked from the backseat. "We're running out of safe places."
He was right. The safe house was compromised. Mike's cabin was burned. We couldn't go to hotels—Elena probably had people watching credit cards. Couldn't go to friends—anyone we knew would be a target.
We were trapped with nowhere to run.
"I have one more option," Dominic said quietly. "But you're not going to like it."
"At this point, I'll take anything," I said.
"My family has a lake house. Upstate, near the Canadian border. My father bought it twenty years ago. After he died, my mother never went back there. Said it had too many memories."
"Your mother," I said flatly. "The woman working with Elena. You want to go to her property?"
"She doesn't know I still have the key. When my father died, I kept it. Used to go there sometimes when I needed to think. It's remote. No cell service. Off the grid. They won't look for us there."
"Or it's another trap," Marcus pointed out.
"Maybe," Dominic admitted. "But we're out of options."
I thought about it. Every choice felt like walking into quicksand. But staying on the move meant we'd get caught eventually. We needed time to think, to plan, to figure out our next move.
"How far is it?" I asked.
"Three hours."
"Then drive."
We drove in silence. The sky started lightening with early dawn. My body ached everywhere. My arm burned. I was so tired I could barely think straight.
Marcus fell asleep in the backseat, exhausted. Which left just me and Dominic awake.
"Your mother," I said after a long silence. "Did you have any idea?"
"No." His voice was hollow. "She always seemed so... righteous. So dedicated to the law. I thought she was the one person I could trust absolutely."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. You were right all along." He glanced at me. "Five years ago, when you said the corruption went deeper than we knew. When you said we couldn't trust anyone in the system. I thought you were being paranoid. Turns out you were just paying attention."
"Doesn't make me feel better."
"I know."
More silence. Then Dominic said, "I need to ask you something."
"What?"
"The flash drive Hammond gave you. Do you still have it?"
I pulled it from my pocket. I'd been carrying it this whole time, afraid to let it out of my sight.
"Is this what all of this is about?" I held it up. "What's on here that's worth killing so many people?"
"Everything. Bank records. Recordings. Emails. Fifteen years of Elena's entire operation. Everyone she's bribed, every trial she's fixed, every murder she's ordered. With that drive, we can destroy her whole network."
I stared at the tiny piece of plastic in my hand. This small thing had gotten Hammond killed. Had put targets on our backs. Had turned our lives into a nightmare.
"We should destroy it," I said. "Just throw it out the window and disappear. Start over somewhere Elena can't find us."
"We could," Dominic said carefully. "But then Elena wins. And everyone she's hurt—everyone she'll hurt in the future—they'll never get justice."
"I stopped believing in justice five years ago."
"I know. But that doesn't mean it's not worth fighting for."
I wanted to argue. Wanted to tell him justice was a fairy tale people told themselves to feel better about an unfair world.
But I thought about Hammond's face as he died. About Mike beaten and tied up. About all the people Elena had destroyed.
About the prosecutor I used to be, who believed making things right mattered.
"If we do this," I said, "if we actually try to take her down, we'll probably die."
"Probably."
"And you're okay with that?"
Dominic's hands tightened on the wheel. "Five years ago, I chose to save you by destroying you. If I die now trying to actually fix what I broke, at least I'll die doing the right thing for once."
The words hit me harder than I expected.
We drove for another hour in silence. The lake house appeared as the sun rose—a cabin nestled in trees, right on the water. Beautiful. Isolated. Perfect.
Too perfect.
"Something's wrong," Marcus said, waking up. "Look at the cabin."
I looked. And my blood ran cold.
Smoke was rising from the chimney.
Someone was already inside.
"Back up," I said urgently. "Dominic, back up right now."
But before he could move, the cabin door opened.
A woman stepped out onto the porch.
Tall. Elegant. Gray hair pulled back. I'd seen her face on the evidence board in the safe house.
Victoria Cross.
Dominic's mother.
She smiled at us. Not warm. Not loving. Cold as ice.
And behind her, stepping out of the shadows, came Judge Elena Vasquez.
"Hello, darling," Victoria called to Dominic. "We've been waiting for you."