Chapter 10: Beneath the West Chapel

The monastery stood on a ridge above the river.

Ancient stone walls.

Narrow towers.

Dark windows reflecting the dying storm.

The main gate remained open.

No guards.

No lights.

No sound except the deep tolling of the bell.

Alejandro stopped the convoy beneath a line of cypress trees.

“Elena stays between the second and third team.”

She looked at him.

“I stay where I choose.”

He exhaled.

“Beside me, then.”

Vivian shifted painfully in the rear seat.

Her injured leg had been wrapped tightly.

A guard sat on either side of her.

Dr. Romero occupied the front passenger seat.

Alejandro turned toward Vivian.

“Show us the second entrance.”

She pointed toward the river.

“There’s a stone path behind the cemetery.”

“The old river path?”

“No. Isabella’s passage is higher.”

“Why are there two?”

“The original crypt entrance was built beneath the chapel. Sebastian added a tunnel from the river after Elena disappeared.”

Elena looked at her.

“He expected to come back.”

Vivian’s expression tightened.

“He always planned for every betrayal.”

Alejandro opened the door.

“So did Isabella.”

They moved through the cemetery in silence.

Rows of worn stone crosses stretched beneath the pale sky.

Some names had faded entirely.

Vivian led them to a tomb carved into the hillside.

No inscription.

Only the split-crown symbol etched into the stone.

The same tattoo worn by the attackers.

Alejandro touched it.

“What does this mean?”

Vivian looked at the mark.

“Isabella’s private order.”

“An organization?”

“A network.”

“How large?”

“I never knew.”

“You commanded people wearing this symbol.”

“They obeyed the family, not me.”

“Which family?”

Vivian looked toward the monastery.

“Hers.”

A guard opened the tomb.

Behind the stone coffin was a concealed iron door.

Vivian entered a six-digit code.

The lock clicked.

Elena watched her.

“You remember it after all these years?”

Vivian’s eyes remained on the keypad.

“It was my birthday.”

The door opened onto a narrow staircase.

Cold air rose from below.

Alejandro entered first.

The tunnel walls were lined with electrical cables and recent surveillance equipment.

This was not an abandoned crypt.

It was an operating facility.

They moved downward.

At the bottom, the passage divided.

Vivian pointed left.

“The chapel.”

Romero frowned.

“And the right?”

“Living quarters.”

“For whom?”

Vivian did not answer.

A soft sound came from the right passage.

A child crying.

Elena moved before anyone could stop her.

Alejandro followed.

The corridor opened into a dormitory.

Twenty small beds.

All empty.

Blankets still warm.

Shoes lined beneath frames.

Children had been there minutes earlier.

Elena picked up a wooden toy from the floor.

“Where did they take them?”

Romero examined a medical tray.

“Sedatives are missing.”

Alejandro turned.

“All the children were drugged?”

“Possibly.”

Vivian looked at the names written above the beds.

Her face changed.

Alejandro noticed.

“What?”

She pointed.

Each bed had a surname.

Vale.

Montrose.

Alden.

Reyes.

Castillo.

Alejandro stared at the last name.

“Which bed belonged to Lucía?”

Vivian moved toward the far corner.

A stuffed rabbit lay on the pillow.

The same rabbit from Isabella’s video.

Elena picked it up.

Beneath the pillow was a folded drawing.

A house.

Three figures.

A woman with dark hair.

A man in a black suit.

A little girl between them.

Above the house, a child had written:

WHEN THEY REMEMBER ME.

Elena pressed the paper to her chest.

“She knew we were alive.”

A speaker crackled overhead.

Isabella’s voice filled the dormitory.

“She knew what I allowed her to know.”

Everyone froze.

Alejandro looked toward the hidden cameras.

“Where is she?”

“Closer than you think.”

“Release the children.”

A soft laugh.

“You still speak as though you own something.”

“I own nothing you can use anymore.”

“That remains to be seen.”

Elena stepped beneath the camera.

“Where is my daughter?”

Isabella was silent for a moment.

“Elena.”

The name was spoken with almost maternal warmth.

“You survived longer than expected.”

Elena’s hands trembled, but she did not step back.

“You failed.”

“No. Vivian failed.”

Vivian looked toward the speaker.

Isabella continued.

“I gave her three years to turn you into someone Lucía would never recognize.”

Alejandro looked at Vivian.

Elena said, “She recognized me before she ever saw me.”

“Children recognize stories, not people.”

“Then why are you hiding her?”

Isabella’s voice sharpened.

“Because she belongs to this family.”

“She belongs to herself.”

The speaker went silent.

Alejandro almost smiled.

Elena had found the first weakness.

Isabella did not understand love without ownership.

A door opened at the end of the dormitory.

Sebastian stepped through.

Blood stained one side of his coat where Romero had shot him.

He held a pistol in his right hand.

Behind him stood six armed men marked with the split crown.

Security raised their weapons.

Sebastian smiled.

“Everyone lower your guns.”

“No,” Alejandro said.

Sebastian lifted a small remote.

Romero’s face changed.

“What is that?”

“The children are wearing medical trackers.”

Elena went pale.

Sebastian looked directly at her.

“One button releases a sedative.”

Rosa’s warning.

Sebastian continued.

“Two buttons release something stronger.”

Alejandro’s voice turned quiet.

“If you harm them—”

“What? You’ll destroy the empire?”

Sebastian laughed.

“You already tried.”

He looked at Elena.

“The ledger.”

“We don’t have it,” she said.

Sebastian’s smile vanished.

“You brought the memory card.”

“Yes.”

“That is not the ledger.”

“No.”

“Where is it?”

Elena held up the red box.

Sebastian’s eyes sharpened.

She opened it.

Only the bracelet and medallion were inside.

“The ledger was never in the mansion,” Elena said.

Sebastian stared.

“You lied to Isabella.”

“No.”

Elena’s expression hardened.

“She lied to all of us.”

A second door opened behind Sebastian.

Isabella Castillo entered.

She wore a black coat and carried a silver cane.

Her hair was white now.

Her posture remained perfect.

Alejandro stared at the woman whose funeral he had attended.

She looked older.

But not frail.

Her eyes were exactly as he remembered.

Cold.

Assessing.

Disappointed by emotion.

“Alejandro,” she said.

He did not answer.

Isabella looked at Elena.

“Show him.”

Elena went still.

Alejandro turned toward her.

“Show me what?”

Isabella smiled.

“The reason your wife survived three years.”

Elena’s face drained.

“Elena?” Alejandro asked.

Isabella tapped her cane against the floor.

“She did not endure because she was stronger than Vivian.”

Vivian looked at her.

Isabella continued.

“She endured because she made a bargain.”

Alejandro looked at Elena.

“What bargain?”

Elena’s breathing changed.

Sebastian watched with satisfaction.

Isabella stepped closer.

“Tell him.”

Elena’s eyes filled with shame.

Alejandro lowered his voice.

“You don’t have to answer her.”

“Yes,” Elena whispered.

“I do.”

She looked at him.

“The ledger was hidden in three parts.”

Alejandro waited.

“One part was on the memory card.”

“And the others?”

“One was given to Teresa.”

“Where is the third?”

Elena closed her eyes.

“I gave it to Isabella.”

Alejandro stared.

“When?”

“The first night after Lucía was born.”

Isabella smiled.

Elena continued.

“She told me she would keep Lucía alive if I gave her the names connected to the clinic.”

Alejandro’s face tightened.

“You gave them to her?”

“I gave her false names.”

Sebastian’s expression changed.

Isabella’s smile disappeared.

Elena looked at her.

“You never checked.”

Isabella struck the floor with her cane.

The dormitory doors locked.

Red lights flashed.

Sebastian looked toward her.

“What did she do?”

Isabella’s voice turned cold.

“Elena gave me a decoy.”

Alejandro looked at his wife.

For three years, she had hidden not only her memories but the one secret Isabella still needed.

“Where is the real third part?” he asked.

Elena turned toward the stuffed rabbit in her hands.

She tore open the seam.

Inside was a thin strip of microfilm.

Sebastian raised his weapon.

Alejandro moved in front of Elena.

But before Sebastian could fire, Vivian stepped between them.

The gunshot thundered through the dormitory.

Vivian jerked backward.

Blood spread across her shoulder.

She collapsed into Alejandro’s arms.

Everyone froze.

Vivian looked up at him, shocked by what she had done.

Then she whispered:

“Now we’re even.”

Alejandro lowered her to the floor.

“No.”

His voice was cold.

“We are not.”

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Security opened fire.

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