𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 36: 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐒𝐨𝐧 𝐇𝐚𝐬 𝐁𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐀𝐛𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝.

𝐌𝐚𝐟𝐢𝐚’𝐬 𝐍𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐬

☆☆☆𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚’𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐫☆☆☆

☆☆6:56 𝐩𝐦☆☆

The car’s wipers scratch across the windshield like nails, struggling to push aside the drizzle gathering on the glass.

Inside, Breanna clenches the steering wheel at ten and two with fingers and elbow, knuckles pale white against the leather.

Her other hand was on her thigh—fingers brushing against a small, tactical receiver no bigger than a matchbox.

“Goddamn—come on” she breathes, eyes briefly glancing out on the road.

The road stretches dark and slick, the evening gloomy like molten halos through the mist.

Her hand shoots to the dash, pressing the volume toggle up with her thumb.

Static whines in the speaker as it picks a signal—just a low thrum.

“Almost there” she grumbled, her thumb instinctively hitting the dial so it could scan through encrypted channels.

Next, she adjusts the earpiece jammed into her left ear—

Finally she tapped the dash just above the vent where the signal booster is wedged.

The receiver chirps, while the earpiece in her ear flutters with static—volume doubling. Clear.

Grinch’s voice breaks through first.

> “She asked a lot of things—so I told her what she needed to hear.”

“Gotcha,” Breanna murmurs, exhaling hard with a crooked smile.

> “...What did she offer you in return—protection?” Antonio's voice broke through.

Breanna flicks on the Bluetooth, boosts the audio—

Eyes off the road for only three seconds, she reaches for her phone, dragging the wire from the receiver into the auxiliary port, syncing it to record.

The car swerves slightly as her elbow bumps the wheel— the phone slips, facedown on the floorboard.

“Sh*t—” she cussed, correcting the wheel, tires skimming too close to the median.

Straightening the wheel with one hand this time, her other hand blindly reached for the phone back on the floorboard. Nothing.

Frustratedly, she glances down to spot it.

Honking. Bright lights overwhelmed her sight,

She looks up just in time, yanking the wheel.

Seatbelt tightens across her chest as the car jolts—wheels growling in warning as the skip on wet tar. Narrowly missing a delivery truck as it blasts past the intersection.

Killing the engine completely. Silence

Daredevil froze for a beat, apart from the audio still streaming through her ear.

> “You left with a restraining order and came back with murder in your eyes…”

With shaky and sharp breath in her lungs, she presses her head to the steering wheel for a moment—gathering herself. Rain ticking off the roof.

One heartbeat missed could cost lives.

Antonio's calm and icy voice pierced through, and it got Breanna straightening.

The traffic light ahead glows red, which she didn't notice earlier—but her slim black bug-monitor—blinks green.

“I w..en...t to Lu—” the voice dropped lower. Rougher.

The receiver was suddenly dynamic. Signal warping

“No, no, no—don’t do this now—” She taps the console. Slaps it. Kicks at the receiver box and also tries to jolt the antenna.

Buzz.

A message flashes on-screen of her phone, WHERE ARE YOU? from Sophia,

The sting operation unit was supposed to go live, thirty minutes ago—but Breanna was nowhere to be seen.

Hissing, she ignores it. Her mind all vested in restoring the signal.

The green light flickers… then holds, but unexpectedly her phone buzzes again. Ringing out this time.

A red cross header flashes on the screen.

“Tsk—Hospital” she spat, fiddling with thumb over the answer button.

They had been calling her since early that morning.

Knowing fully well that they won't stop if she doesn't pick up.

“Stop pestering me—I said I’ll come pick him up” she spoke first, yanking away the earpiece.

“Ma'am about that..there's a slight problem—can you please come over here?” the nurse muttered, mid-briefing how to disclose the latest development.

“Come on Sister—my schedule is tight,” Breanna whispered, hitting the accelerator. “Just take care of him. I will pay the accumulated overdue when I come by”.

The nurse, tipping on the brim of tension and pressure, voices it out.

“His Nanny took him out for a walk since yester-night—they are yet to be back”.

Breanna freezes for five seconds. The phone's sound, irking her ear.

She snaps back into motion, sharp and alert.

Pulling to a halt under the red light command, she glanced at the phone's screen again— hospital.

“What Nanny?” She spiked in annoyance . “Do you even know who you are talking to?”

“Yes" the nurse cracked out, her knuckles whitening on the phone, it was now or jail.

“I'm afraid Ma'am, but your son seems to have been abducted”.

A shrill honking pierced the air dulling the information.

Breanna turned at impulse, poking her head out of the window to scold the driver, but then she was faced with impatient drivers sprawled endlessly behind her.

“Oldie move you junk—the light is already green” a wiry local in a Highlander snapped at her.

“F*ck ya”. She cussed in response, throwing a middle finger at 𝐡𝐢𝐦.

“Ma'am did you hear what I said—should we report it?” The nurse repeated for certainty.

“Why are you asking me?—do whatever you wish” Breanna snapped impudently. “Just excuse me”

With the click of the phone, she realized that the receiver had died in her hand.

“No…no. Come on, don’t do this to me.” She whined, fumbling with the receiver for about five seconds. But it was already late.

She tucks the receiver beneath the dash vent, her phone?—she tossed it to the passenger seat.

“Bunch of nuisances” she swore one last time, biting her bottom lip—quick.

Grabbing her wheel again—The car lurches forward, tires spinning before gripping back into motion.

Already lost on this, she intends to win there.

Eyes sharp with new intent, She veered off like a possessed woman.

“I can't lose on both ends” repeating in her head.

☆☆𝐄𝐝𝐞𝐧’𝐬 𝐇𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 ☆☆

✦7:20𝐩𝐦✦

Antonio paced slowly toward the edge of the corridor.

“The Bulgarian dame was at the mansion.” Grinch croaked behind him.

He paused, turning “You still sharp enough to oversee logistics from here—like?”

Grinch irked a brow with a sneer. “I’m not dead..yet.”

“Didn’t say you were,” Antonio retorted, lips twitching. “Good to have you active anyway—that way you can run a clean slate on Cardoza.”

Grinch’s grin came slow and crooked. “César Maté’s consigliere? What’s up with him?”

Antonio didn’t answer. Instead, his eyes drifted toward the hospital room behind them, heavy with thought. He finally nodded, voice low.

“He’s scheming a foolproof attack. That guy knows you're hospitalized.”

“Fu*k. That's impossible” Grinch cussed, His gaze narrowing schemingly at Antonio. “His network sure has widened…he definitely knows more than this”

“I suppose—,” Antonio nodded in agreement.

“Okay, I’ll just reroute the shipment through the port in Larksville.”

“¿Por qué allí?{Why there?}” Antonio's brows ticked.