Chapter 9: Sofia’s Betrayal
Alejandro stood outside the chapel, unable to speak.
Elena watched him carefully.
“What did she say?”
He lowered the phone.
“Sofia helped Vivian access the west wing.”
Vivian’s expression showed no surprise.
Alejandro turned toward her.
“You knew.”
“She came to me when she was twenty-two.”
“Why?”
“Because she discovered our father had left her nothing but ceremonial shares.”
Alejandro shook his head.
“That isn’t true.”
“It is,” Vivian said. “Rafael placed almost all voting power under your control.”
“Sofia thought you knew.”
Alejandro looked toward the dark city below.
He had inherited control because he was the oldest.
He had never questioned the arrangement.
Elena spoke softly.
“Feeling betrayed does not explain what she did to me.”
“No,” Vivian agreed. “Greed explains the rest.”
Mateo prepared the vehicles.
“We should assume Dock Seventeen is a trap.”
“It is,” Alejandro said.
“But Sofia is still my sister.”
Elena moved closer.
“You cannot save someone by pretending they are innocent.”
Alejandro looked at her.
“Are you asking me to give up on her?”
“I’m asking you to see her clearly.”
The words struck deeper than anger.
For three years, Alejandro had seen Elena as a missing wife waiting to be rescued.
He had never imagined the person she had become in order to survive.
Now he was making the same mistake with Sofia.
Seeing the sister he remembered instead of the woman she had chosen to become.
They returned briefly to the mansion to retrieve the real drives.
Rosa waited in the foyer.
Mateo had placed the surviving staff under protection.
When Elena entered, Rosa hurried toward her.
“I found something else.”
She handed Elena a small notebook.
“I kept track of every date Dr. Keller visited.”
Elena flipped through the pages.
One date appeared repeatedly.
The seventeenth of each month.
Beside several entries, Rosa had written the same initials.
S.C.
Sofia Castillo.
Elena closed the notebook.
“She visited the nursery.”
Rosa nodded tearfully.
“Always after midnight.”
Alejandro stared at her.
“You saw her?”
“Once.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I believed she was trying to help Elena.”
Elena’s expression became distant.
“I remember someone sitting beside the bed.”
Alejandro waited.
“She held my hand and told me you had stopped searching.”
Alejandro’s face hardened.
“She said you were going to marry someone else.”
Vivian looked away.
Elena continued.
“I never saw her face clearly. The medication was too strong.”
“But you heard her voice.”
Elena nodded.
“It was Sofia.”
Alejandro turned toward the staircase.
Every photograph of his childhood seemed to watch him.
Sofia on his shoulders.
Sofia asleep against his arm.
Sofia crying at their mother’s funeral.
He had protected her his entire life.
And she had helped destroy his wife.
Elena placed the notebook in his hand.
“You can still love someone and hold them accountable.”
Before Alejandro could answer, the mansion doors opened.
A police officer entered with two detectives.
“We have a warrant for Elena Castillo’s arrest.”
Alejandro stepped forward.
“For what?”
The detective raised a photograph.
It showed Rafael Castillo lying dead in his study.
May you like
Elena stood behind him holding a bloodstained glass.
“For the murder of Rafael Castillo.”
