Chapter 23: The Trap

Rayen 

The blast tore through the eastern wing.

Glass exploded across the master suite as mountain rain poured through the shattered windows. The air filled with smoke, dust, and the bitter smell of burning silk.

Before I could even scream, Lautaro’s arm locked around my waist.

He dragged me beneath the massive mahogany bed, covering my body with his.

Glass struck his back.

“Lautaro!”

“I’m fine. Stay down.”

At the doorway, Aconcagua was thrown against the frame. He stumbled, caught himself, then dropped behind the wall for cover.

“Altiplano hit squads!” he shouted over the ringing in my ears. “They’re in the lower courtyard! They brought heavy weapons!”

My heart pounded.

Mother.

The word wouldn’t leave my mind.

My mother the woman who had cried with me when Aconcagua disappeared, who had held me while I mourned him had ordered this.

She had sent armed men after her own children.

I pushed against Lautaro’s chest.

“Let me up.”

“Stay down!”

Gunfire erupted from below.

Lautaro pulled me closer, shielding my head with one hand while reaching beneath the bed with the other.

A metallic click sounded.

A hidden compartment opened.

He pulled out a tactical radio and tossed it beside us.

“Unit Four, suppress the main foyer,” he ordered into his lapel microphone. His voice remained frighteningly calm. “Seal the sub-basement vaults. Execute perimeter breach protocols.”

I stared at him.

Even now, with his house under attack, he was completely in control.

“Lautaro.”

He glanced at me.

“Why did you let me bring the stiletto?”

His expression didn’t change.

“Why didn’t your guards take it from me at the church?”

I needed an answer.

Everything around me was falling apart, and I couldn’t understand what part of it had been planned.

Lautaro adjusted his sidearm.

Then he looked directly at me.

“You think my security missed a blade hidden beneath your gown?”

My stomach dropped.

“My chief of security noticed it the moment you arrived at the cathedral.”

“You knew?”

“I personally cleared it.”

He reached up and wiped a streak of soot from my cheek.

“I gave the order to let you carry it to the altar.”

“Why?”

The question came out almost as a whisper.

“To humiliate me? To give me false hope before you executed me?”

His jaw tightened.

“Because I never intended to execute you, mi rosa.”

Another explosion shook the walls.

Lautaro’s eyes remained fixed on mine.

“I knew who put that blade in your hands. I knew Beltrán wanted you to attack me.”

I stared at him.

“He wanted your men to kill you in self-defense,” Lautaro continued. “Then he’d have a martyr and a reason to ignite another war.”

My chest tightened.

“So you let me carry a weapon because…”

“Because I wanted you to understand something.”

He leaned closer.

“I would rather let you put a knife against my throat than allow your own family to turn you into a pawn.”

I couldn’t speak.

All this time, I had thought Lautaro had allowed me near him because he trusted his power to control me.

But he had known.

He had known about the blade.

He had known about Beltrán.

And he’d allowed the trap to close around him because he wanted me to see the truth for myself.

Before I could process it, the bedroom doors exploded inward.

The heavy mahogany doors crashed against the floor.

Smoke rolled into the room.

Three armed men in black tactical gear stormed through the opening, rifles raised.

“Clear the Don!” the leader shouted.

Aconcagua moved first.

He launched himself at one of the men, driving him into the wall.

The other two opened fire.

Lautaro twisted immediately, placing his entire body over mine.

Bullets tore through the mattress above our heads.

He fired three times.

One of the mercenaries dropped.

The second stumbled backward, blood spreading across his vest.

Then his hand disappeared inside his tactical gear.

He pulled out a grenade.

“Lautaro!”

The mercenary pulled the pin.

Lautaro grabbed the iron frame of the mahogany bed.

His muscles tensed.

With a violent shove, he overturned the massive bed, sending it crashing onto its side between us and the doorway.

The grenade hit the floor.

“Hold onto me!”

Lautaro’s arm wrapped around my waist.

I clung to him.

The grenade exploded.

The world disappeared into white light.

The blast ripped through the room, tearing apart the remaining floorboards.

I felt the ground vanish beneath me.

For one horrifying second, there was nothing beneath us.

Then we dropped.

“Lautaro!”

His arms tightened around me as debris rained around us.

We fell through smoke, shattered wood, and burning fragments of the bedroom.

I couldn’t tell which way was up.

My body pressed against his as we plunged deeper into darkness.

The air rushed past my ears.

Then I saw it.

Far below us, through the clouds of dust, was a vast black space beneath the estate.

The underground vaults.

Lautaro held me tighter.

And together, tangled in silk, rubble, and darkness, we disappeared into the hidden depths beneath his house.