Chapter 3 3

I watched the wedding dress hang in the closet with a cigarette against my lips, and I was tempted.

Very tempted.

It was an hour to the wedding, and I was seated in the comfort of my study, watching the dress like a newly found game I had yet to figure out. But what if I already had?

I picked up the scissors and tilted my head while walking toward the dress, and a wicked grin spread across my face.

I began the work of Leonardo da Vinci, just with a dress, a pair of scissors, and a bit of red paint I had wasting in the back. Good thing I hadn't thrown it away.

"Oh my God!" I turned to look at the woman who brought the dress.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" I looked at my satisfied work. She looked like she had seen a ghost from her past life.

"That's worth $400,000! What is wrong with you?!" She walked to the dress and held it out before turning to me. "You are an ungrateful woman, and I'm certain it's because your father did not put a leash on..."

I slapped her across the face with the scissors, and she fell to the ground.

"You talk too much, Mira," I looked down at her. Her body shook. "Here." I tossed a cheque at her. "Fill it up with any amount and feed your family. I don't want to see you working with Javier ever again or anyone in this society. Do you understand?"

She looked at the blank cheque like she had finally seen the gold she'd been mining for. I glanced at the clock before slipping into the dress I now named Ruins.

I pushed my feet into a pair of black-heeled boots and left my hair in a ponytail before painting my lips deep red, just like the devil.

"Your blood is staining my floor," I frowned at her, and she immediately began to wipe it clean.

"Get out." She ran out, and I picked up my gun to strap upon my thigh.

I glanced up. I had ten minutes left. My phone buzzed.

"You might need to come down to the station." The hair on my nape stood. Without thinking, I grabbed my badge and drove to the station as fast as I could.

My mind raced as Kamal sent in a document on the possible person behind the agency. Turns out, there is an agency after all.

My boots clicked against the floor as I walked with my phone in my hand and a Bluetooth in my ear.

"Jenny, report."

"A woman called 911 out of the blue, reporting how she had witnessed a man kill an entire family last night by 4 a.m. She followed him without calling the police and overheard this..."

She played a recording on her phone.

"All of them are dead, but I'm afraid the police are fast on our tail. Albert was caught and killed by Boss because he foolishly left a handprint, hold on..."

There was sudden silence, then a gunshot. The recording stopped.

"Is she alive?" I looked at her, then turned to Kamal, who had little to no information on Javier's identity nothing on the murder map or the laptop.

"As of two hours ago, yes, she is alive."

"Keep her household under protection while I get married to my proposed husband." They both turned to look at me.

"What?" Kamal questioned. Then he realized what I was wearing. "You've got to be kidding me?"

"Does it look like I'm joking? Get back to work. I'll be back soon."

I was walking out when a phone call reached my ear, and I stopped in my tracks.

"Stop searching, Isabela Jimenez." A chill went down my spine, and I held on to the phone, listening. "You're digging your own grave."

"It's a good thing I love the feel of soil." I hung up and handed the phone to Jack.

"Find the voice." I headed out and drove to the church.

Was I late? Yes.

Was it considered bad luck? Yes.

Would my mother be acting up? Yes.

Would I care? Absolutely not.

Just like I assumed, everyone was waiting for the bride herself. Papa's smile fell from his face when he saw what I was wearing.

Oh, how I love being able to turn heads.

Sometimes for the wrong reasons.

"What are you wearing?" he growled. "I will not stand for your stupid behavior..."

"Hush! Do your job and walk me, or I'll do it myself. And your ego? Gone with the wind."

I gave him a bored look, and he grabbed my hand tightly and pulled me, gently yet roughly.

"If you mess this up with your stupid attitude, Dolores will be at the receiving end. Your sister is to marry a good man. If you ruin that, I'll smother you."

I laughed into the silent church. All eyes were on me and my dress.

"'Good' is not what you find in a man," I paused, digging my heel into his foot. I leaned in.

"Be nice, Papa, or I'll show the world just how bad of a decision the almighty Alvaro Jimenez has made."

His hand softened against my arm, and we continued to walk.

He cared too much about his reputation far more than his family.

I stepped upon the altar and suddenly became too aware of the man standing silently beside me.

The sermon, the vow, and everything else went by fast except...

"You may now kiss the bride."

I finally turned to meet his eyes. They were so dark, they could be mistaken for the night sky. And in a split second, a gunshot rang in the hall, and everything went into chaos.

So much for a wedding.

"Mario, take her to the car!" Javier yelled.

I smacked Mario with the back of my hand so hard and pulled the trigger on his head.

"You send one more person to get me into a car, and I will blow your head up!" He glared at me.

"Do not be stupid, I have no time for you games..."

"And I thought you were a made man." I pushed him out of the way and shot straight into the eye of a sniper upstairs. "Get in the car, Javier, and let me do my job."

I pulled my phone and picked up the second gun from the floor.