From Bride to Scorpion's Heir

From Bride to Scorpion's Heir

Rabbit

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My wedding day was perfect. The Arizona sun, desert blooms, the man of my dreams at the altar. Ethan. My father, Senator Daniel Reynolds, a pillar of the community, walked me down the aisle, his pride evident. It was all a beautiful lie. Just as I reached Ethan, he pulled out a DEA badge. "Senator Daniel Reynolds, you're under arrest." Chaos erupted, a shot rang out, and my father fell, dead. Ethan's cold eyes delivered the final blow: "It was an operation, Ava. Nothing more." My world shattered. I was discarded, questioned, abandoned. The man I loved blocked me, his job done. But the depths of my betrayal didn't stop there. I soon unearthed my mother's secret. Her "hiking accident" was no accident; she was a DEA agent, investigating my father, and killed by his cartel. My life, a cruel charade. How could everything I believed be a lie? My loving father a drug lord? My gentle mother a secret agent? My fiancé, a calculating spy? The injustice burned, fueling a fire hotter than any pain. Now, Ava Reynolds is dead. Ava is no more-only Alma remains. I will turn my pain, my rage, into a weapon. I will infiltrate the heart of the cartel that stole my mother. I will make them pay. Even if it means using the very man who broke me.

Chapter 1 1

My wedding day was perfect.

The Arizona sun, desert blooms, the man of my dreams at the altar.

Ethan.

My father, Senator Daniel Reynolds, a pillar of the community, walked me down the aisle, his pride evident.

It was all a beautiful lie.

Just as I reached Ethan, he pulled out a DEA badge.

"Senator Daniel Reynolds, you're under arrest."

Chaos erupted, a shot rang out, and my father fell, dead.

Ethan's cold eyes delivered the final blow: "It was an operation, Ava. Nothing more."

My world shattered.

I was discarded, questioned, abandoned.

The man I loved blocked me, his job done.

But the depths of my betrayal didn't stop there.

I soon unearthed my mother's secret.

Her "hiking accident" was no accident; she was a DEA agent, investigating my father, and killed by his cartel.

My life, a cruel charade.

How could everything I believed be a lie?

My loving father a drug lord?

My gentle mother a secret agent?

My fiancé, a calculating spy?

The injustice burned, fueling a fire hotter than any pain.

Now, Ava Reynolds is dead.

Ava is no more-only Alma remains.

I will turn my pain, my rage, into a weapon.

I will infiltrate the heart of the cartel that stole my mother.

I will make them pay.

Even if it means using the very man who broke me.

Chapter 1

The music swelled, a sweet melody I'd chosen months ago.

This was it. My wedding day.

Ethan waited at the altar, his smile the one I'd fallen in love with.

My father, Senator Daniel Reynolds, held my arm, his grip firm, proud.

He was a good man, my father. Everyone in Arizona knew it.

The scent of desert blooms, our theme, filled the Scottsdale resort air.

I focused on Ethan, my future, my everything.

My father placed my hand in Ethan's.

Ethan's fingers were cold.

His smile vanished.

He didn't look at me. He looked at my father.

He reached into his jacket.

Not for a ring.

For a badge.

A DEA badge.

"Senator Daniel Reynolds," Ethan's voice was a stranger's, hard and flat.

"You're under arrest."

My breath caught. This was a joke. A terrible, sick joke.

"We know about 'Operation Desert Bloom'," Ethan continued, his eyes like ice.

"And your call sign, 'Scorpion'."

My father's face went white.

"Ethan, what is this?" I whispered, tugging his arm.

He ignored me.

Chaos.

Shouts.

A glint of metal from the crowd.

A loud crack.

Instinct.

I threw myself in front of Ethan.

A searing pain in my shoulder.

I stumbled.

My father lunged, not at Ethan, but maybe for a weapon, or to run.

Another crack.

Louder. Closer.

Ethan's gun was out. Smoking.

My father fell.

His eyes, wide with shock, found mine for a second.

Then nothing.

"No!" I screamed, trying to reach him.

Ethan grabbed my good arm.

"He's gone, Ava." Cold. Professional.

"Take her for questioning," he ordered someone behind me.

Hands pulled me away.

"Our love?" I choked out, staring at the man I was supposed to marry.

"Was any of it real?"

He finally looked at me, his face a mask.

"It was an operation, Ava. Nothing more."

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