The City Burned
Sirens screamed through the humid Miami night while helicopters circled overhead like vultures searching for the dead.
Downtown Miami had become a battlefield.
Smoke rose from shattered buildings.
Police barricades stretched for blocks.
News crews crowded behind yellow tape.
Everyone was asking the same question.
Who is El Rey?
Inside the penthouse of a fifty-story tower overlooking Biscayne Bay, a man stood silently before a floor-to-ceiling window.
Watching.
Waiting.
Thinking.
The city belonged to him now.
The ports.
The streets.
The money.
The fear.
All of it.
The expensive black suit fit perfectly.
The diamond Cuban link around his neck reflected the city lights below.
Scars marked his hands.
Evidence of a war that had cost more than money.
More than blood.
More than loyalty.
It had cost family.
Friends.
Love.
The man lifted a glass and stared at his reflection.
Older.
Harder.
Colder.
Nothing like the eighteen-year-old boy who had arrived in Florida years ago carrying nothing but grief and questions.
That boy was gone.
Dead.
Buried beneath betrayal.
Buried beneath violence.
Buried beneath the truth.
A knock sounded at the office door.
Three times.
The signal.
The man never turned around.
"Come in."
The door opened.
A trusted soldier stepped inside.
Nervous.
Sweating.
Afraid.
"They found him."
Silence.
The man continued staring out the window.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, boss."
A pause.
"Gabriel Salazar is alive."
The city lights reflected in the man's eyes.
Then slowly...
Very slowly...
A smile appeared.
Not a happy smile.
Not a warm smile.
The smile of a man who had spent years hunting ghosts.
The smile of a king preparing for war.
The soldier swallowed hard.
Because everyone in the organization knew what came next.
Bodies.
Bullets.
Blood.
The man finally turned around.
And for the first time, the world saw him clearly.
Santiago Dantonio.
El Rey.
The most feared man in Florida.
And he had finally found the man responsible for destroying his family.
"Prepare the jet."
His voice was calm.
Deadly.
Focused.
The soldier nodded.
"Where are we going?"
Santi grabbed his coat.
The smile never left his face.
"To finish what my father started."
Outside, thunder rolled across the Miami skyline.The war was about to begin Again.