Pick up the phone

SUCRE

My fingers trembled as they fumbled over my phone’s screen. I could barely breathe. Could this really be him -  the Vice Chancellor?

The phone rang once. Twice. Then, in one a swipe I answered the call pressing the device to my ear. But, there was Silence.

A shiver crawled up my spine.

Then…

“Hello, Sucre,” a voice finally spoke. Deep. Familiar.

It was really the vice chancellor.

I exhaled sharply, gripping the phone tighter. He’s alive. Relief flooded my chest, but it barely settled before a new wave of unease crashed over me.

“I’ve been out of town for a few days,” he continued, his tone calm. Unbothered.

I swallowed hard. “You… you weren’t home?”

“No. I just got back. Why?”

Cold dread pulsed through me. My mind raced back few hours ago standing outside his house. I was certain I saw two shadows on the curtains.

I had seen someone inside. Someone who I thought to be him.

I held my phone tighter. Fingers sweaty. My pulse hammered in my ears. “But… I was at your place,” I whispered. “I saw someone in there.”

He didn’t respond.

The silence stretched too long it made me anxious. Then, finally, his voice returned quieter, slower. “My brother was visiting,” he said. “He’s close friends with Otto. Maybe Otto dropped by.”

My stomach tightened. The phone nearly slipped from my grasp. How did he know there were two people in the house when I only mentioned one?

A chill slipped ran down my spine. Something felt off. Very, very off.

I swallowed hard, forcing my voice to stay steady. But fear tightened its grip, squeezing the air from my lungs.

“How did you know there were two in the house?” The words came out in a shaky whisper.

Silence again. But this time, it was different. Thicker. Heavier. Like he was thinking.

A sharp rustling noise pulsed through the speaker. Then… he shot back.

“Hello… Sucre? I can barely hear you.”

And just like that the call ended.

The screen glowed in my trembling hand, the call log staring back at me. My breath was shallow.

He’d heard me. I knew he had. Then why had the call ended abruptly?

"We have to go now, Sucre," one of Otto’s men barked, shoving me forward with a force that nearly sent me stumbling. I was paralyzed by fear on the inside. This was wrong. All of it. It looked like a setup.

My pulse pounded in my ears as my mind raced for an escape. But where would I run? Luca was still at the hospital, caught up in a battle of his own - fighting for his brother’s life. If I fled now, what would they do to him?

No. I had to face this. Alone.

My footsteps felt  heavier with each step. The cartel’s compound loomed ahead, dark and unwelcoming, a graveyard for those who had outlived their usefulness. My gut twisted violently. If they believed I killed Otto, my fate was sealed.

I was walking straight into the lion’s den. And the door was about to slam shut behind me.

As we stepped onto the premises, my pulse hammered against my ribs. My stomach churned as heavy footsteps echoed behind me, a constant reminder that I had no way out.

I was led straight to the study. Otto’s study.

I didn’t know what to expect, but every nerve in my body screamed that this was the end. My end.

In one swift motion, one of Otto’s men pushed the door open, and it swung wide. What I saw mortified me, I stood frozen in shock.

Otto.

He was not dead. He looked more alive than I was.

I froze.

My breath caught in my throat. My vision blurred at the edges. My entire body locked up, paralyzed by sheer, raw terror.

He sat there, relaxed, almost amused. His sharp eyes looked straight at me like a predator sizing up its prey.

I couldn’t move. I couldn’t think.

I tried to form words, but my throat closed up. My pulse pounded in my ears. Was he free from the effects of the pill Luca slipped into his drink? Did he remember we had sex earlier? Did he know I was working undercover?

With his gaze still locked on mine, he broke the silence, his voice dangerously calm.

“Pick up the phone and tell me what you see.”

He gestured to the sleek device resting on his desk.

I didn’t move.

Was it a video – Our sex tape? Footage of me sneaking through the vice chancellor’s residence?

My stomach twisted. Whatever was on that screen could destroy me.

Slowly, I reached for the phone, my fingers trembling.

And then…

It lit up.

My breath stopped.

A single message flashed across the screen.