Chapter 6 - The Unseen Shadow
Three weeks after Rodrigo’s arrest, the silence of the ranch was shattered. Though the federal agents had cleared the main house, I stayed behind to pack up decades of family belongings before the scheduled liquidation. Mariana was still recovering in a secure medical facility two towns over, but the nightmares hadn't stopped for either of us.
Late on a Tuesday night, while sorting through Rodrigo’s locked study, I found a hidden wall safe behind an old oil painting. Inside lay a leather-bound ledger and a secondary satellite phone.
Before I could touch the ledger, the satellite phone buzzed. A single text message lit up the dark screen.
"The donor's monthly cycle is overdue. Deliver the batch, or the remaining debt comes due in blood."
My breath hitched. Rodrigo hadn't just been selling Mariana's blood plasma to save our ranch years ago—he was trapped in an active, ongoing contract with an underground network far larger than a single wealthy buyer.
Suddenly, the floorboards outside the study creaked.
"Who's there?" I called out, my hand reaching for my late husband's revolver inside the desk drawer.
A tall figure stepped out of the shadows near the doorway, holding a silenced pistol aimed directly at my chest.
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"You should have left the country, Mrs. Mendoza," the man said in a smooth, chilling accent.
"Rodrigo was just a middleman. You just inherited his contract."
