Chapter 5 - The Setup
The next morning, Sofia took Leo to the sunroom to paint.
But as she reached into her bag for the watercolors, she found something else. Wrapped in a small velvet cloth was a diamond necklace. It was Isabella’s—the one Sofia had seen in the forbidden West Wing.
Before Sofia could react, Hector walked into the sunroom, followed by Señora Carmen and two guards.
"Search her bag," Hector ordered abruptly.
"What? No, wait!" Sofia protested, but a guard snatched the bag from her hands, dumping its contents onto the glass table. The diamond necklace clattered against the surface.
Señora Carmen gasped. "That belonged to the late patrona! You thief!"
"I didn't take it!" Sofia yelled, her heart hammering. She looked at Hector, seeing the triumphant smirk on his face. He had planted it. He was removing the threat.
"Lock her in the basement holding cells," Hector ordered the guards. "The boss will deal with her when he returns."
As the guards grabbed Sofia's arms, a piercing, glass-shattering scream erupted through the sunroom.
Leo.
The little boy hurled himself at the guards, biting, kicking, and scratching with absolute ferocity. He grabbed a heavy ceramic vase and smashed it against the floor, picking up a jagged shard of pottery and pointing it directly at Hector.
"Leo, no!" Sofia cried, struggling against the guards. "Put it down, baby!"
But Leo didn't look at Sofia. His feral, hateful eyes were locked entirely on Hector. The boy’s chest heaved, his face red with a rage that terrified fully grown cartel hitmen.
And then, for the first time in 730 days, Leo Navarro spoke.
May you like
His voice was small, raspy from disuse, but filled with absolute poison.
"Bad man," Leo pointed the ceramic shard at Hector. "He killed Mama."
