The Ambush
835 Words
Chapter 5
The warehouse had the smell of oil, rust, and secrets. Camila was on the cracked concrete of Dock 6 at midnight exactly. Behind her, the river was dark and quiet, moonlight glinting off its oily surface. Wind howled through shattered windows like ghosts passing secrets. But she did not wait. She elbowed through the side door and into darkness.
One overhead light hummed above a table. Rafael stood behind it, shirt sleeves rolled up, cigarette between two fingers. A man who was going to get away with something, and enjoy it.
"You came," he said. "I was wondering if you had the courage."
Camila took a step closer. "You said you had proof. About my wedding." Rafael drew on his cigarette slowly. "To the point. I appreciate that." He slid a folder across the table.
Camila opened it, and froze.
Inside were official-looking documents. Marriage records, contracts, digital timestamps. At first glance, it all seemed normal… until she looked closer.
The signatures didn’t match. Her name was forged.
“This.” she whispered. “This marriage certificate is fake?”
Rafael gave a lazy smile. “Legally? You’re not Mrs. De Luca. Never were.”
She stepped back. Her chest constricted, not from heartbreak, no, not that. That had happened a very long time ago. This was different.
Recognition. Anger. Betrayal.
"You mean Xavier figured out it all? All along"
" ..you were just a shield," Rafael finished. "He wanted your family's business, couldn't have literal marriage ties. So he compromised with a bargain basement version. Genius, isn't it?"
Camila's hand shook around the paper. "Why are you telling me this?" she growled.
Rafael's eyes smouldered. "Because I want Xavier gone as much as you do. But more than that. I want in." "In?" she repeated.
"The Torres empire. You're on the cusp of being free. You'll need protection. Power. Someone who knows how to make it work."
Camila laughed coldly. "So this is a trade."
He took a step closer. "No. It's an offer."
Her heart was racing. "You're crazy."
"I'm realistic. We could both have all of the De Luca properties. You'd have your revenge. I'd have my redemption. And maybe." He pressed his fingertips against the clump of hair to the side of her face, "we'd both find something more."
Camila pushed his fingers away. But before she could speak, the warehouse door burst apart. There were bullets in the air, hard, brutal breaks of violence.
Camila fell on the ground as bullets pinged off steel beams. Rafael instinctively reached for his gun, holding up the table before him as protection.
Outside: screams. Squealing tires, men shouting Italian. Bullets.
And then, silence.
Camila was winded. Her ears were ringing.
"Did you set me up?" she spat at Rafael.
His face contorted in fury. "No. Not mine. This was not my doing." Then who??
Footsteps.
The door creaked once more. Camila raised her head, and her heart nearly failed. Xavier. Bruised. Gun held in his hand. Face scraped from granite. Five of his guards behind him, guns aloft, faces glacial.
Camila came to her feet, her heart racing in her ears.
"You actually thought you could slip out of my hands?" he sneered, voice low.
"I did not slip away," she said. "I walked away."
He laughed, hard and dark. "You stepped into the arms of a traitor." He sneered at Rafael.
"You defied me, Camila," Xavier declared. "Nobody crosses me and lives to enjoy the rest of their days."
"No, you defied me first," she hissed. "You used me. Played games with me. Tried to murder me. And now I realize our wedding was all lies."
Xavier did not bat an eye. "It did what it needed to do."
"That was not marriage. That was deception."
He stepped closer. "It was survival."
"No," she said. "It was cowardice."
Their eyes locked. Her fury faced off against his.
Then Xavier raised his gun and pointed it at Rafael. Before anyone could speak, the shot exploded through the warehouse.
Rafael dropped. Blood spilled across the concrete. Camila screamed.
Xavier turned the gun on her next. “You’re coming home,” he said calmly.
“No,” she breathed. “I’d rather die.”
Another gunshot rang out, but it wasn't Xavier's.
He stepped back, blood running through his shoulder. A second man emerged from the doorway.
Matthew.
Gun in hand. Face cold.
"Back away from her," he commanded.
Camila's heart pounding, Xavier turned to face the second danger.
"I told you," Matthew advanced, "you lost when you underestimated her."
Camila did not back down. She reached out to pick up Rafael's fallen gun. Seized it. Spun around and held it dead centre on her husband.
The man she once loved.
The man who nearly killed her.
Her finger trembled on the trigger.
"Go on," Xavier commanded her, smiling through the pain. "Do it. See if you've really changed."
Blankness.
Camila gazed down the barrel of the gun, breath caught..
And then..
BOOM.
- Writer
