The first shot wasn't the loudest.
It was the second.
The one that came after a name was shouted.
After a betrayal.
After the trembling hands of someone who could no longer hold in the secret.
"Helena, get down!"
Julian's shout was lost in the thunder. A body fell. Another ran. The forest became a labyrinth of snapped branches, bloodstained leaves, and the echoes of desperate footsteps.
Helena hit the ground before she felt the pain. Her breathing spasmed. The world tilted.
Who had fired?
Lauren?
Someone else?
Victoria?
⸻
"Julian?" she whispered, crawling through the underbrush, adrenaline clouding every thought.
She found him crouched over Lauren. The woman's face was pale, her lips stained dark red.
"She's alive!" he said. "But I don't know for how long…"
"What happened?" Helena asked. "Tell me—now!"
"I don't know. We were coming out of the basement. She was alone. She pointed a gun. Said we knew too much, that there was no going back. And then… the shot."
Lauren tried to speak. Her lips moved. Barely.
Helena leaned in close to her ear.
"Who was it? Lauren, who—?"
The woman said one word.
Just one.
"Lucía."
And then silence.
⸻
"She called you by your real name?" Julian whispered, pale.
"That doesn't make sense," Helena said, shaking. "Lauren never knew it."
"Are you sure?"
"No… I'm not sure of anything anymore."
⸻
Julian stood, clutching his bleeding arm. The wound wasn't serious, but it had left a mark. A warning.
"Helena, if there's anything else you haven't told me… now's the time."
She looked at him. For the first time, with true fear.
"I wasn't the only one Arturo Santamaría turned into a shadow."
"What are you saying?"
"That I was part of his network too. That I worked for him long before you ever knew who I was. That… maybe… this isn't the first time I've betrayed him."
⸻
A metallic hum interrupted them.
Helena looked up: a drone, black and silent, hovered above them.
Recording.
"They're watching us!" she shouted.
"Who?" Julian asked. "Your contact? Mine? Or someone else?"
⸻
In a dark room, on the other side of the country, someone was watching the feed.
A slender, elegant figure, holding a glass of whiskey.
On screen, Helena and Julian fled through the trees, carrying the pieces of a half-truth.
"Interesting…" murmured a female voice. "So Lucía's back in the game."
A soft laugh. Then:
"Let's see if she finishes the job this time."