Valeria put Alice behind her, but she knew it would be impossible to hide her, there was nowhere to do it. She had heard the gunshot, the screams, and through a crack in the door she had seen Samuel run out of the warehouse engulfed in flames. Miranda had killed him for betraying her, or for believing in some twisted way that he was.

The office door suddenly opened and her gaze met that woman's. She looked furious, on the verge of hysterics. She was pointing a gun at her and breathing heavily, as if she didn't know exactly what she was supposed to do at that moment.

“Move,” she snarled contemptuously, looking at them as if they were insects.

Valeria took Alice's hand and they left the office. At one end was the body of Mr. Jones, in the middle of a pool of blood, and Valeria knew instantly where the bullet that had been heard had gone. Leaning over him, Mrs. Jones kept screaming. It seemed as if all glamour and arrogance had disappeared at the sight of that corpse.

Valeria covered