Chapter 9: The Fire at the Airfield

The explosion threw Alejandro against the tunnel wall.

For several seconds, he could hear nothing.

Only a high ringing in his ears.

Then sound returned all at once.

Metal crashing.

Flames roaring.

Elena coughing beneath him.

He pushed himself up.

“Elena?”

“I’m here.”

“Are you hurt?”

“My shoulder.”

He looked quickly.

No blood.

No visible fracture.

The security team entered the hangar through the torn grate.

Alejandro helped Elena to her feet.

“Stay behind the wall.”

“No.”

“Elena—”

“Teresa is in there.”

Before he could stop her, she moved toward the burning helicopter.

The cockpit windows had shattered.

Flames climbed the rear section.

A figure pounded weakly against the side door.

Rosa.

Two security officers tried to open it.

The metal had warped.

Alejandro grabbed a steel bar from the debris and forced it into the door seam.

“Pull!”

The guards joined him.

The door shifted less than an inch.

Inside, Rosa coughed violently.

Elena climbed onto the landing rail.

“Teresa!”

Rosa looked toward her.

“Elena?”

“Move away from the door.”

“I can’t.”

Elena saw the restraint around Rosa’s ankle.

A steel cable attached to the floor.

“She’s chained.”

Alejandro struck the door with the bar.

Once.

Twice.

The frame bent.

Flames spread toward the fuel line.

The security chief shouted, “We have less than a minute!”

Alejandro drove the bar in again.

The door tore outward.

Heat blasted across them.

Elena climbed inside before anyone could stop her.

“Knife!”

A guard handed her one.

She cut at the strap around Rosa’s ankle.

It was reinforced.

Alejandro entered behind her.

Smoke filled the cabin.

Rosa’s eyes were closing.

“Stay awake,” Elena said.

Rosa looked at her weakly.

“I’m sorry.”

“You can apologize outside.”

The strap would not cut.

Alejandro examined the floor mount.

Four bolts.

He fired twice into the metal bracket.

The cable loosened.

Together, he and Elena dragged Rosa toward the open door.

Security pulled them out seconds before the rear fuel tank ignited.

A second explosion tore through the aircraft.

The force sent all three of them across the wet concrete.

Alejandro rolled onto his back.

Rain struck his face.

Elena lay beside Rosa, shielding her from debris.

For a moment, no one moved.

Then Rosa coughed.

Alive.

Elena laughed once through tears.

Alejandro had not heard that sound in years.

It lasted only a second.

But it was real.

Across the hangar, Vivian screamed.

A section of the roof had collapsed between her and the exit.

Dr. Romero was on the floor.

Sebastian had disappeared.

Alejandro stood and ran through the smoke.

Vivian’s chair had overturned.

One leg was trapped beneath burning debris.

She saw him approaching.

For the first time, there was no arrogance in her face.

Only fear.

“Help me.”

Alejandro stopped several feet away.

The woman before him had kept Elena prisoner for three years.

She had threatened servants.

Stolen money.

Helped erase Lucía.

Part of him wanted to leave her beneath the fire she had helped create.

Vivian saw the hesitation.

“You said you wanted me alive.”

“I do.”

“Then prove you are different.”

Alejandro stared at her.

The challenge was calculated.

Even now.

But it was also true.

He lifted the burning beam with the help of two guards.

They dragged Vivian free.

She cried out as they moved her.

Alejandro knelt beside her.

“Where did Sebastian go?”

Vivian gasped.

“Service exit.”

“Toward the monastery?”

“Yes.”

“How do you know?”

“Because he has the chapel key.”

“What key?”

Vivian clutched his sleeve.

“The crypt beneath the west chapel has two entrances. Isabella controls one.”

“And Sebastian?”

“He built the other.”

Elena approached with Rosa supported between two guards.

Rosa looked at Vivian.

For years, the housekeeper had lowered her head whenever Vivian entered a room.

Now she met her eyes.

Vivian looked away first.

Alejandro noticed.

“Where is Lucía?” he asked Rosa.

“Beneath the chapel.”

“Who is with her?”

“Two women from the school. They believe Isabella is Lucía’s legal guardian.”

“And guards?”

“At least six.”

“What does Isabella want with the ledger?”

Rosa’s expression became grim.

“It isn’t only financial evidence.”

“What else is in it?”

“Sofia recorded every child placed through the Lucerne clinic.”

Alejandro’s chest tightened.

“How many?”

“Thirty-two.”

Elena stared.

Rosa continued.

“Children taken from vulnerable women and placed with powerful families. Politicians. Bankers. Royal households. Industrial dynasties.”

Alejandro looked at Vivian.

“You knew?”

Vivian pressed a hand against her injured leg.

“Not all of it.”

“How much?”

“That the clinic existed.”

“And the children?”

“I knew Isabella used them to build alliances.”

Elena’s expression turned sick.

“Children as contracts.”

Vivian looked at her.

“That is how Isabella saw family.”

Alejandro asked, “Why keep the ledger instead of destroying it?”

“Because it gave her control.”

Rosa answered.

“Every family named in it owed Isabella silence.”

“And Sofia took it.”

“Yes. She planned to expose everything.”

“What happened?”

Vivian closed her eyes.

“Isabella found her first.”

Alejandro turned toward her.

“You were there.”

Vivian opened her eyes slowly.

“I was seventeen.”

“What did Isabella do?”

Vivian’s voice became distant.

“She took Sofia to the monastery.”

Rosa looked at her sharply.

“You saw it?”

“I followed them.”

“What happened?”

Vivian swallowed.

“Isabella told Sofia to choose.”

“Choose what?” Alejandro asked.

“Her children or the ledger.”

Elena whispered, “She chose her children.”

Vivian looked at her.

“No.”

Alejandro’s jaw tightened.

“What did she choose?”

Vivian stared toward the burning helicopter.

“She chose the truth.”

Alejandro went still.

“She refused to surrender the ledger,” Vivian said. “She believed exposing Isabella was the only way to keep us safe.”

Her voice cracked almost imperceptibly.

“I thought it meant she loved the ledger more than me.”

Rosa stepped closer.

“She sent me away with the twins.”

Vivian looked at her.

“You left me.”

“Sofia believed Isabella would never hurt you because Isabella needed you.”

“She was wrong.”

“Yes.”

Vivian’s face twisted.

A lifetime of hatred had been built on a decision made in terror.

Alejandro felt no sympathy for what she had done to Elena.

But for the first time, he understood how Isabella had created her.

Not with love.

With abandonment shaped into a weapon.

“What happened to Sofia?” Alejandro asked.

Vivian was silent.

Rosa answered.

“Isabella killed her.”

The rain hissed against the flames.

“How?” Elena asked.

Vivian looked at the ground.

“She sealed her inside the crypt.”

Alejandro’s blood went cold.

“Alive?”

Vivian did not answer.

She did not need to.

Elena covered her mouth.

Alejandro turned toward the monastery in the distance.

His mother had been buried alive beneath the same chapel where his daughter was now being held.

His phone rang.

Team One.

He answered immediately.

“Report.”

The voice on the other end was tense.

“We reached the monastery perimeter. There are no guards.”

Alejandro frowned.

“That’s not possible.”

“We found the main gate open.”

“Do not enter.”

“Sir, there’s something else.”

“What?”

“The school dormitory is empty.”

Elena moved closer.

“All the children?”

“Gone.”

Alejandro’s chest tightened.

“Where?”

“We don’t know.”

A bell suddenly rang through the phone.

Deep.

Slow.

From inside the monastery.

Then a child’s voice echoed faintly in the background.

“Daddy?”

Alejandro stopped breathing.

Lucía.

The connection cut off.

Elena grabbed his arm.

“We have to go now.”

Alejandro turned to the security chief.

“Medical evacuation for Rosa, Vivian, and Romero.”

Vivian shook her head.

“I’m going with you.”

“You can barely stand.”

“I know the crypt.”

“So does Rosa.”

“Rosa knows the old entrance.”

Vivian’s eyes hardened.

“I know Isabella’s.”

Alejandro stared at her.

“Why should I trust you?”

“You shouldn’t.”

Vivian looked at Elena.

“But Isabella just tried to have me killed.”

“That does not erase what you did,” Elena said.

“I know.”

“Do you?”

Vivian held her gaze.

“No apology will repair it.”

Elena’s voice was ice.

“You are right.”

Vivian looked down.

For once, she did not defend herself.

Alejandro made a decision.

“You come under guard.”

Vivian nodded.

Romero tried to stand.

“I should come too.”

Alejandro looked at him.

“You shot Sebastian.”

“He was about to kill us.”

“That does not make you innocent.”

“No.”

Romero’s face was hollow.

“But Lucía may need a doctor.”

Elena stared at him.

“You told me she was dead.”

“I know.”

“You took her from me.”

“I know.”

“And you expect me to trust you with her?”

“No.”

Romero lowered his head.

“I only ask you to use me if she is hurt.”

Elena looked away.

Alejandro told the guards, “Bring him.”

They left the airfield in two armored vehicles.

Rosa remained behind with medics despite protesting.

Before Elena entered the car, Rosa caught her hand.

“Lucía has a scar behind her right ear.”

Elena’s face tightened.

“How?”

“Isabella implanted a tracker when she was six months old.”

Alejandro heard.

“What kind?”

“Medical-grade.”

“Can it be removed?”

“Yes.”

Rosa looked frightened.

“But if Isabella activates it incorrectly, it can release a sedative.”

Elena’s grip tightened.

“She drugged my child?”

“To control her movements.”

Alejandro felt his rage return.

Cold.

Focused.

Deadly.

Rosa continued.

“There is something else Lucía knows.”

“What?”

“Sofia’s song.”

Alejandro frowned.

“What song?”

Rosa looked at him.

“The lullaby Sofia sang to you and Sebastian.”

“How would Lucía know it?”

“I taught her.”

“Why?”

“So she would recognize family even if every name around her was a lie.”

Rosa pulled Elena closer.

“If Lucía is afraid of you, sing the first line.”

Elena’s eyes filled.

“What is it?”

Rosa whispered the words into her ear.

Elena nodded.

Then she and Alejandro entered the vehicle.

As they drove toward the monastery, the storm finally began to break.

A thin line of gray appeared along the horizon.

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