Chapter 9 - The Choice
Selena ran toward him.
Gunfire thundered through the warehouse.
Federal tactical officers poured through three entrances.
Camilla screamed orders.
Serrano fled toward the loading dock.
None of it mattered.
Dempster lay on the concrete.
Blood spread beneath him.
Selena dropped beside him.
“No. No, no, no.”
His eyes opened.
“Selena.”
She pressed both hands against the wound below his ribs.
“You’re fine.”
“That sounded convincing.”
“Shut up.”
He almost smiled.
“Better.”
“Medic!”
Dempster caught her wrist.
“Camilla?”
“I don’t care.”
“I do.”
“Well, stop.”
Boots pounded nearby.
Matthew arrived and knelt.
His face went pale.
“Demp.”
“Go,” Dempster ordered.
“No.”
“Get Camilla.”
Matthew looked at Selena.
She nodded.
“I’ve got him.”
Matthew ran.
Dempster looked at Selena.
“You came alone.”
“Technically, there were forty armed federal officers outside.”
“You promised me thirty.”
“Inflation.”
He laughed.
Then winced.
“Don’t do that.”
“Make up your mind.”
Paramedics arrived.
They cut open his shirt.
Selena saw the wound.
She stopped pretending not to be terrified.
As they lifted him onto the stretcher, Dempster reached for her hand.
“Ring.”
“What?”
“Still wearing it.”
She looked down.
The enormous emerald-cut diamond glittered beneath warehouse lights.
“You told me it was mine.”
“It is.”
“Then stop worrying about it.”
His eyes held hers.
“That isn’t what I meant.”
The ambulance doors closed.
Dempster underwent emergency surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian.
The bullet had damaged his liver but missed the major vessels.
Doctors called him lucky.
Selena called him an idiot.
She stayed beside his bed for thirty-six hours.
Meanwhile, the empire Camilla had built collapsed.
Victor Serrano was arrested near the waterfront.
Rebecca Kane entered federal custody.
More than twenty officials, executives, and intermediaries were charged.
Camilla disappeared.
That frightened Selena most.
Matthew visited the hospital on the second evening.
“We found her car.”
“Where?”
“Newark Airport.”
“She left?”
“No record of her boarding.”
Selena understood.
“She wants us to think she did.”
Matthew nodded.
Alidoro survived his second shooting.
From his hospital room, he agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
He requested to speak with Selena.
She almost refused.
Then decided she needed to close that door herself.
Alidoro looked smaller in the hospital bed.
Not physically.
Somehow, the power he once had over her was gone.
“I loved you,” he said.
Selena sat silently.
“I know you don’t believe me.”
“I believe you loved having me.”
He flinched.
“That’s fair.”
“You liked my intelligence when it made you look smarter. You liked my body privately and mocked it publicly. You liked my loyalty because you could exploit it.”
“I was horrible to you.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
Selena studied him.
Six months earlier, she would have given anything to hear those words.
Now they seemed surprisingly small.
“I hope you become someone better.”
His eyes filled.
“Could you ever forgive me?”
“Maybe.”
Hope appeared.
Then Selena finished.
“But forgiveness isn’t reconciliation.”
She stood.
“You don’t get me back because you finally understand what you destroyed.”
She left.
Outside, Dempster was waiting in a wheelchair.
Selena stopped.
“You’re supposed to be in bed.”
“I escaped.”
“You have armed guards.”
“They’re poorly trained.”
His guard behind him looked offended.
Selena laughed.
Dempster looked toward Alidoro’s room.
“How was it?”
“Finished.”
One word.
Enough.
He reached for her hand.
She took it.
Then the hospital fire alarm activated.
Dempster’s expression changed.
A nurse hurried down the corridor.
Smoke appeared near the stairwell.
Security surrounded them.
Dempster looked at Selena.
“Something’s wrong.”
The lights died.
Emergency generators activated seconds later.
A woman stood at the end of the corridor.
Elegant.
Silver-haired.
Camilla.
She held a gun.
Dempster tried to rise.
Pain stopped him.
Camilla aimed.
Not at Dempster.
At Selena.
“You destroyed everything my family built.”
Selena stared at her.
“Your family?”
Camilla’s eyes shifted toward Dempster.
“He never told you?”
“Told me what?”
Dempster’s face changed.
“Camilla.”
“Don’t.”
Camilla smiled.
“You still think you’re a Flores, Dempster?”
Silence.
Selena looked at him.
“What is she talking about?”
Camilla’s finger tightened against the trigger.
“You want the final family secret?”
She looked directly at Dempster.
May you like
“Ask your mother who your real father was.”
Then a shot exploded.
