Chapter 1: The Fatal Choice

Mexico is a land of contrasts and dangers, where even the apparent tranquility of Baja California is deceptive. In the suburbs of Tijuana, a region which, although far from the “Golden Triangle” (historic drug‑producing area in Sinaloa, Durango and Chihuahua), nonetheless suffers the corrosive influence of the cartels. These criminal organizations extend their grip far beyond the borders, distributing fentanyl, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine on the American market, and weaving their supply networks all the way to Asia and South America.

In the middle of this precarious reality lived the Ramírez family. The father, approaching fifty, modestly provided for his family thanks to a small cargo transport van. The mother, for her part, kept the house and supplemented the family income by giving a few traditional herbal treatments to heal the neighbors’ ailments, sparing them the cost of a medical consultation.

The couple had two daughters with divergent destinies. Dolores, 21 years old, a young woman without profession or ambition, desperately seeking to escape poverty, offering the generosity of her body for a few Pesos.

Gloria, the eldest at 24, was a tall young woman (1.78 m), endowed with spectacular beauty, enhanced by long jet‑black hair and two green eyes of striking depth. Her luck had been to follow a secretary training course until her father’s financial means no longer allowed him to pay for her studies. Her temporary secretary jobs often ended abruptly because of her physical and sensual beauty, leading her employers to often offer her substantial bonuses in exchange for a few services, satisfying their wildest fantasies.

Her last employer, after the hardware store closed, loved to make her walk on her knees, her neck wrapped in a rope, up to the chair in his office. After sitting down, he tipped her over his thighs, lifted her skirt while lowering her panties, and gave her a spanking, finishing under the desk in an endless fellatio.

Diego, her father, had been solicited several times to transport various materials on behalf of the Cartel. Carlos, his intermediary, one day proposed that he immerse himself a little more in the activities offered by the Cartel by accepting the transport of their finished products, considerably increasing his income.

He was warned of the unfortunate consequences that could occur to his family as well as to himself if he betrayed the trust placed in him.

After several missions successfully completed, his van was subjected to a road inspection carried out by a police patrol. The merchandise was seized and Diego was taken to the central police station for questioning, knowing full well that his fate was now heading without the slightest doubt toward imprisonment for a number of years, unless he revealed the identity and details of those who entrusted him with this job. Despite the commissioner’s assurance of offering him protection in exchange for his information, he could not ignore the presence of moles infiltrated by the Cartel throughout all the police services of the country. After concluding a deal with the commissioner, he was released and took back his merchandise in order to deliver it as he had been ordered.

A few days later, while Gloria by chance was spending the night at one of her suitors’ homes, masked and armed men stormed their house and then kidnapped Diego, his wife and their daughter Dolores in a van toward an unknown destination.

The morning visit was from Carlos, his contact within the organization, the one through whom everything had begun.

I warned you of the consequences if you betrayed the organization said Carlos.

But I betrayed no one replied Diego.

Our merchandise was seized, men arrested, and we have our witnesses confirming your betrayal.

Carlos signaled to the two armed men at his side to blindfold them and gag all three. They made them get into a van which drove for several long kilometers.

Upon arrival, they were unloaded at the edge of the lagoon, the blindfold removed from their eyes, and all three boarded a small boat accompanied by the three men. A fourth remained on the shore holding a video camera in his hands.

Nearby, the boat was surrounded by large and dangerous predators, whose only motionless, bulging eyes, like macabre sentinels, pierced the mirror of the water. Two of the attackers subdued the young girl, her screams quickly muffled by a gag. Without warning, they threw her overboard. Her body disappeared instantly, leaving on the surface only water reddened by blood.

The mother was the second victim to be thrown into the water. Powerless, Diego, the father, was seized with a fit of furious madness in the face of the horror of the spectacle, before being in turn thrown to the crocodiles that surrounded the boat. In a few moments, the violence ceased.

The water became calm again, keeping only a few scarlet traces as the sole testimony of the tragedy. The scene had been filmed as a deterrent for any member of the Cartel who might have had the idea of flirting with betrayal.

Gloria, returning at dawn, was surprised to find the house deserted, not yet knowing that she had miraculously escaped the tragedy that had taken place there. Later in the evening, a neighbor confided to Gloria what he had seen. Awakened by the noise in the middle of the night, he had discreetly observed the scene from behind his window.

Gloria already suspected that the kidnapping was linked to her father’s affairs and knew that the outcome would be fatal.

She waited until the next day and went to the central police station. She met the same inspector who had questioned her father a few days earlier. The Cartel, in its tradition, very often sent a copy of their films in order to sensitize the police services as well as their moles operating within this administration.

The inspector immediately made the connection between Diego, her father, and the film copy they had received that very morning at the station. He informed Dolores of the details of the execution, tears running down her soft and silky cheeks. The images of her family haunted her thoughts. Her sister, her devoted mother, her hardworking father… Faced with this tragedy, fear faded to give way to icy determination. Gloria, at the cost of her life if necessary, would now live only to avenge their massacre.