Chapter 37 Spiraling Down

• The lamp on Mariana’s desk flickered, casting long shadows across the walls of her apartment. Stacks of documents were scattered across the mahogany surface, half-crumpled reports and digital printouts that once felt like weapons. Now, they were nothing but relics of a war that had taken everything from her. She reached for the USB drive sitting beside her laptop, its presence a taunting reminder of how she had built this entire deception.
• Her fingers hesitated over the keyboard. With a single keystroke, she could erase it all, every piece of information she had gathered on Diego Montero, every secret she had used to manipulate her way into his world. The screen glowed with a final confirmation prompt: Delete All Files?
• Her chest ached as she stared at it. Once, she had been so certain of her mission. Expose Montero Global, take Rodrigo’s deal, bring down the empire built on corruption. But she hadn’t planned for Diego. She hadn’t planned for the way he made her feel, like she was more than a pawn, more than the sum of her betrayals.