Chapter 1 Smoke And Silence

• The smell of blood never really leaves you.
• Even after thirteen years, Valentina Cruz could still recall it, metallic and thick, like rusting chains dragged across concrete. It clung to her childhood like a curse, hidden in the folds of memory that no amount of scrubbing could wash clean.
• She had been ten years old when her parents were gunned down in front of her.
• It was supposed to be a quiet Sunday. Her mother was humming in the kitchen, her father laughing over something he saw in the paper. And then glass shattering. Doors kicked in. Screams. Muffled shots. Blood on the white tiles. Her mother’s fingers twitching. Her father’s eyes wide open, staring at nothing.
• The men wore masks. But she had seen the tattoos. The scorpion. The red eye.
• The mark of the Cordero cartel.
• And so she ran. A neighbor smuggled her out. Her aunt, Lucía, took her across the border into Guatemala. From there, she disappeared. Changed her name. Changed her life. But she never forgot. Not one second of it.
• Now, she was back.
• Valentina Cruz was gone. In her place stood Eva Delgado, photographer, writer, and nobody. She wore her new name like armor and dressed her grief in lipstick and heels.
• She stood now in the heart of Zacatecas, Mexico, staring at the looming villa that sat atop the hillside like a king over his throne. La Fortaleza. The fortress of the Cordero's.
• Her chest burned. She had to remind herself to breathe.
• A guard checked her ID with sharp eyes and an even sharper rifle. “Eva Delgado,” he muttered. “You’re here for the interview.”
• “Yes,” she said smoothly. “Rafael Cordero agreed to thirty minutes.”
• The man snorted. “If he’s in the mood.”
• He wasn’t just a king. He was a ghost. A myth. The youngest cartel boss in Mexican history. When his father died some say poisoned, some say burned Rafael had stepped into the shadows without blinking.
• No one really knew him. Not personally. No woman had ever lasted long. No one spoke to him without reason. He was violence dressed in Armani.
• And today, she would meet him.
• The villa was colder than she expected, stone walls, tall ceilings, shadows dancing like secrets.
• “Wait here,” a man ordered.
• She stood in a silent hallway, the weight of her lies pressing against her ribs. Her hidden recorder was strapped beneath her bra. Her lipstick tube held a micro camera. Her questions were rehearsed. Her smile, practiced.
• But nothing could have prepared her for what walked in.
• Rafael Cordero.
• He didn’t enter the room. He took it.
• Tall, broad shoulders, black shirt rolled to the elbows, veins along his forearms like cords of steel. His eyes were a violent shade of dark gold like fire caught in shadows. His jaw was sharp, his mouth unreadable.
• He didn’t smile.
• “You’re late,” he said.
• Valentina raised her chin. “You didn’t give me a time.”
• He looked at her like she was an equation he didn’t trust. “I don’t usually allow interviews.”
• “Then I must be special.”
• That earned her a flicker of something, maybe amusement, maybe danger. She couldn’t tell.
• He walked past her and sat on a leather chair. His silence was unnerving.
• “Ask your questions,” he said.
• She swallowed. “Tell me about the weight of legacy. What it’s like… stepping into your father’s empire.”
• He looked at her then, eyes narrowing. “My father was a bastard. I don’t mourn him. You can write that down.”
• Click. Recorder on.
• She kept her voice calm, professional. But inside her chest, her heart was beating war drums. The man in front of her had blood on his hands, her family’s blood.
• She just had to be patient.
• She would earn his trust. She would slip past the layers of caution and secrets.
• And when the time was right, she would burn his world to the ground.
• She kept her voice calm, professional. But inside her chest, her heart was beating war drums. The man in front of her had blood on his hands—her family’s blood.
• She just had to be patient.
• She would earn his trust. She would slip past the layers of caution and secrets.
• And when the time was right, she would burn his world to the ground.