Chapter 2: The First Witness
Alejandro pulled Elena behind him.
“Stay down.”
Emergency lights flickered along the baseboards, casting the hallway in dim red.
The security guards drew their weapons.
Another shot sounded near the main foyer.
Alejandro’s head of security, Mateo Reyes, pressed a finger to his earpiece.
“East entrance breached. One intruder. Possibly more.”
Vivian laughed softly.
“You locked the doors.”
Mateo tightened his grip on her arm.
“Then someone opened one from inside.”
Alejandro looked down the dark hallway.
A traitor was still somewhere in the mansion.
“Get Elena to the safe room,” he ordered.
“No.”
Elena’s answer came quickly.
Alejandro turned.
She was trembling, but her gaze was steady.
“I spent three years being moved from room to room because everyone decided where I should go. I’m not hiding again.”
“Elena, there is someone armed inside this house.”
“And I know why they came.”
She pointed toward the safe.
“They want the ledger.”
Rosa stood near the nursery entrance, pale and shaking.
“The ledger records every guard assigned to the west wing.”
Elena looked at her.
“You knew?”
Rosa lowered her eyes.
“I knew someone was being kept here. Vivian told us it was a mentally unstable relative who might hurt herself.”
“You heard Elena crying,” Alejandro said.
Rosa covered her mouth.
“I was afraid.”
Vivian turned toward her.
“You should still be afraid.”
Mateo shoved Vivian against the wall.
“One more threat and I’ll have you restrained properly.”
A third gunshot rang out.
Then footsteps approached.
A man appeared at the far end of the corridor wearing a black security uniform.
Alejandro recognized him.
Lucas Dane.
One of Mateo’s senior officers.
Lucas held a pistol in one hand.
Blood stained his shirt.
Mateo raised his weapon.
“Drop it.”
Lucas stumbled forward.
“They’re inside.”
“How many?”
“I saw two.”
His knees buckled.
Mateo caught him before he hit the floor.
Lucas pressed a shaking hand to his side.
“One was wearing our uniform.”
Alejandro looked at the men around him.
Everyone suddenly seemed dangerous.
Lucas grabbed Mateo’s jacket.
“They’re not here for Mrs. Castillo.”
His eyes shifted toward Rosa.
“They came for her.”
Rosa froze.
Alejandro stepped between her and the hallway.
“Why would they want Rosa?”
Elena stared at the older maid.
Then understanding crossed her face.
“You were the one who brought me food after midnight.”
Rosa began to cry.
“I changed the medication.”
Vivian went still.
Rosa looked at Alejandro.
“Vivian ordered me to dissolve pills in Elena’s soup. Pills that made her confused and weak.”
Elena’s lips parted.
“I thought I was losing my mind.”
“I replaced them whenever I could,” Rosa said. “I hid the real medication.”
“Where?”
Rosa pointed toward the old nursery ceiling.
“Above the ventilation grate.”
Mateo sent one guard to check.
Within seconds, the guard returned carrying a small plastic bag filled with tablets and handwritten labels.
Alejandro looked at Vivian.
“What were you giving her?”
Vivian said nothing.
Rosa answered.
“One label said memantine. Another said midazolam.”
Alejandro’s blood turned cold.
Drugs that could interfere with memory, awareness, and resistance.
Elena stared at the bottles.
“You wanted me to forget him.”
Vivian’s expression remained empty.
“No. I wanted everyone else to believe you had forgotten yourself.”
A sharp metallic sound came from inside the nursery.
The surveillance camera rotated toward them.
A red light blinked.
Someone was watching.
Then a voice came through the tiny speaker.
May you like
Victor Sanz.
“Alejandro, put the ledger back in the safe.”
