"Are you SURE I can't punch him in the face?" Elena asks Angel while still glaring at the man in front of them "Yes" he replies "What if I just break his nose a little?"
In the arid heart of California, amidst the shadows of Santo Padre, Elena Ramir...
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Something inside her knows something is wrong.
She opens the front door, a vague sense of dread creeping into her thoughts. The darkness of the entryway is only broken by a faint light coming from the kitchen. "Sofia? Marco?" she calls out, her voice shaking, but the house stays silent, a silence so thick it feels almost tangible.
She walks towards the light, her heart pounding in her chest. The hallway seems to stretch on forever. Finally, she reaches the kitchen, and her world collapses in an instant.
Hanging on the wall, like gruesome trophies, are the bodies of her daughter Sofia and her husband Marco. Blood trickles down the walls, forming scarlet streams. Sofia's lifeless eyes stare at her, filled with eternal horror. Marco, her love, hangs beside her, his head tilted at an unnatural angle.
Elena feels a scream rising in her throat, but the sound is choked, as if the terror itself has stolen her voice. Her knees give way, and she crumples to the floor.
She hears a noise behind her, a sinister whisper. She spins around and sees a figure emerging from the shadows, a man with his face covered by a mask. Cold, merciless eyes. "You should've stayed out of our business, Ramirez," he says, his voice icy, and then a gunshot rings out.
Elena wakes up with a muffled scream, her heart racing. Cold sweat sticks her hair to her forehead, and it takes her a moment to realize she's in her bed, in her room. Her hand immediately touches the scar of that bullet right next to the heart. The terror of the nightmare is still vivid, the images of Sofia and Marco hanging on the wall seared into her mind. Her breathing is labored, the pain in her chest unbearable.
Her bedside clock reads 4 AM. She sits up in bed, trying to calm herself. But she knows she can never forget. She knows her mistake unleashed something dark, something that can't easily be buried. And the rational part of her knows she will never be free from it.
****
She's been awake for over an hour now, so she decides to go for a run. Maybe running for a couple of hours will help clear her head, or at least that's what she hopes.
She gets dressed, grabs her phone, earphones, keys, and heads out.
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