Chapter 3: The Godfather
Alejandro stepped into the nursery.
The camera followed him.
“Victor.”
“Alejandro, you are emotional. That makes you dangerous.”
“You kept my wife imprisoned.”
“I kept the foundation alive.”
Elena stood behind Alejandro, her hands gripping the nursery doorframe.
Victor continued calmly.
“Your wife discovered financial irregularities she did not understand. She threatened to expose transactions that protected thousands of employees and billions in charitable assets.”
“The offshore accounts protected no one except you.”
“You have not seen the records.”
“I’ve seen enough.”
“No, son. You’ve seen a room.”
Alejandro’s jaw tightened.
“Don’t call me son.”
A faint pause followed.
Victor had always called him that.
This time, the word sounded like an insult.
“Bring Elena, the ledger, and the drives to Saint Gabriel’s Chapel,” Victor said. “Come alone.”
Alejandro looked directly into the camera.
“You’re in no position to make demands.”
“Am I not?”
A second monitor mounted beneath the camera flickered to life.
The screen showed a hospital room.
Alejandro’s younger sister, Sofia Castillo, lay unconscious in bed.
A man wearing surgical scrubs stood beside her, holding a syringe.
Alejandro stopped breathing.
Sofia had been recovering from an emergency appendectomy across the city.
Victor’s voice remained controlled.
“You have twenty minutes.”
Elena grabbed Alejandro’s arm.
“No.”
Victor continued.
“If security contacts the police, Sofia dies.”
The screen went dark.
Alejandro spun toward Mateo.
“Call the hospital.”
Mateo tried.
No connection.
The mansion’s communication system had been jammed.
Vivian smiled.
“You should listen to him.”
Alejandro walked toward her.
Vivian’s smile weakened as he came closer.
“You knew he would threaten Sofia.”
“I knew Victor always had a contingency.”
“You helped him enter the hospital.”
“I helped build the system that made your family untouchable.”
Alejandro leaned closer.
“You mistook untouchable for unaccountable.”
He turned to Mateo.
“Restore external communications. Send a team to Sofia without using the main network.”
Mateo nodded.
Alejandro looked at Elena.
“You stay here.”
“No.”
“Elena—”
“If you take the real evidence, Victor will kill both of you.”
Alejandro studied her face.
“What are you thinking?”
“The flash drives require a password.”
Vivian’s expression shifted.
Elena saw it.
“You never found the password, did you?”
Vivian remained silent.
Elena reached into the safe and lifted one of the drives.
“You kept me alive because you thought I was the only person who could unlock them.”
Alejandro understood.
“We give Victor copies.”
“We give him empty drives and a copied ledger.”
Mateo looked unconvinced.
“He’ll inspect them.”
“Not before we secure Sofia,” Alejandro said.
Elena removed the black leather ledger and opened it.
Several pages had been cut out.
Alejandro frowned.
“Where are the missing pages?”
Elena looked toward Rosa.
Rosa slowly untied her apron.
From inside the lining, she removed a folded packet of black paper.
“I took them the night Mr. Rafael died.”
Vivian lunged toward her.
Mateo’s guards pulled her back.
“You stupid old woman!”
Rosa flinched.
Then she straightened.
For the first time, she looked Vivian directly in the eye.
“I was frightened for three years.”
Her voice shook.
“But I am not frightened now.”
Mateo’s radio came alive.
“We have contact with Saint Catherine’s Hospital.”
Alejandro grabbed the receiver.
“Status?”
May you like
A strained voice answered.
“Sofia Castillo is missing.”
