Chapter 14: The Last Locked Door
Elena turned slowly.
Dr. Keller stood in the doorway of Alejandro’s study.
He held a syringe in one hand and a pistol in the other.
The mansion had been emptied except for a small security team.
Most of the guards had been sent to the airfield.
Keller smiled.
“You always were the difficult patient.”
Elena kept the phone open.
Alejandro could hear everything from the hangar.
“Why come back here?”
“Because one file was not on the drives.”
“What file?”
“Your medical records.”
Elena’s stomach tightened.
Keller stepped closer.
“You still don’t remember the first week after Vivian took you.”
“I remember enough.”
“No. You remember what your mind allowed you to survive.”
He pointed toward the west wing.
“The answer is still in the nursery.”
Alejandro’s voice came faintly through the phone.
“Elena, keep him talking.”
Keller heard it.
He fired at the phone.
The bullet shattered the device.
Elena ran.
She did not head toward the front entrance.
She ran toward the west wing.
Keller followed.
The nursery remained sealed as a crime scene, but the damaged lock no longer functioned.
Elena entered and looked around.
Narrow bed.
Tiny sink.
Carved wall.
Hidden camera.
Keller stepped inside.
“Where is the file?”
“You tell me.”
He raised the gun.
“Rafael hid it before he died.”
Elena remembered Rafael tracing the nursery wall during his final visit.
Not the carved words.
The wooden molding beneath them.
She knelt and pulled away a loose strip.
A thin folder slid out.
Keller moved toward it.
Elena opened the folder first.
The medical report inside was dated three years earlier.
PATIENT: ELENA CASTILLO
Pregnancy confirmed.
Approximately eight weeks.
Elena stopped breathing.
Keller watched her face.
“You were pregnant when they took you.”
Her hands began to shake.
“What happened to my baby?”
Keller said nothing.
Elena stood.
“What happened?”
“Vivian did not know at first.”
“And when she found out?”
“She wanted the pregnancy terminated.”
Elena’s face crumpled.
Keller continued coldly.
“Rafael intervened.”
Hope and terror collided inside her.
“The baby survived?”
Keller smiled.
“A daughter.”
Elena nearly collapsed.
“Where is she?”
“Rafael arranged a private birth under another name. He believed he could return the child to you after exposing Victor.”
“Where is my daughter?”
Keller extended his hand.
“Give me the report.”
Elena held it against her chest.
“Tell me.”
“She was placed with a foundation foster family.”
“Name.”
Keller aimed the gun.
“The report.”
A voice came from the hallway.
“Her name is Lucia.”
Keller spun around.
Vivian stood at the door beside two federal agents.
She wore restraints and a protective vest.
Keller fired.
One agent returned fire.
The bullet struck Keller’s leg.
He fell.
Mateo rushed in seconds later, followed by Alejandro.
Alejandro went directly to Elena.
She handed him the report.
His eyes moved across the page.
Then he looked at Vivian.
“You knew?”
Vivian lowered her head.
“I found out after the birth.”
“Where is Lucia?”
“Rafael placed her with a couple named Daniel and Grace Harper.”
Elena clutched Alejandro’s jacket.
“How old is she?”
“Two years and four months,” Vivian said.
Alejandro’s voice broke.
“Our daughter is alive.”
Keller laughed from the floor.
Everyone looked at him.
“You think Rafael saved her?”
Blood spread beneath his leg.
“He hid the child under a false identity. When the foundation records were released, that identity was exposed.”
Elena’s face went white.
May you like
Keller smiled.
“Someone collected Lucia from the Harpers this morning.”
