Chapter 8 - THE HOUSE WENT DARK
Gunfire cracked outside.
Valeria grabbed Mateo.
Alejandro drew his weapon.
“Stay behind me.”
Emergency lights flickered red.
One of the guards ran upstairs.
“Main gate is compromised!”
“By who?”
“Men using our own access codes.”
Alejandro looked toward the empty security office.
“Calderón.”
Another burst of gunfire echoed from the courtyard.
“Take Mateo to the panic room.”
Valeria shook her head.
“No.”
Alejandro glared at her.
“This isn’t a discussion.”
“Yes, it is.”
“Valeria—”
“Mateo panics in locked rooms.”
Alejandro stopped.
She was right.
“Then basement safe room.”
“That has one exit.”
“Where do you suggest?”
Mateo suddenly tugged Valeria’s hand.
He pointed toward the north wing.
“No,” Alejandro said.
Mateo pulled harder.
“Door.”
Valeria understood.
“The locked room.”
Alejandro stared at him.
Mateo nodded.
They ran upstairs.
The north hallway was dark.
Alejandro kicked open the damaged wooden door.
Behind it was not a bedroom.
It was a passage.
A narrow staircase disappeared inside the wall.
Alejandro whispered, “I’ve lived here twelve years.”
“And you didn’t know?”
“No.”
Mateo stepped forward.
He knew.
Valeria followed him.
The hidden stairs led beneath the mansion.
At the bottom was a small room.
A mattress.
A chair.
Empty medicine vials.
Children’s drawings covered the wall.
Every picture showed the same thing.
A black car.
A woman.
A man holding something silver.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Alejandro stared at the drawings.
“Mateo was here.”
Valeria felt sick.
“How often?”
Mateo raised both hands.
He didn’t know how to count that high.
Then Alejandro saw the camera.
A small lens in the ceiling.
Someone had been recording everything.
A computer sat behind a cabinet.
Alejandro powered it on.
Dozens of video files appeared.
Mateo screamed.
“Don’t.”
Alejandro froze.
His son was terrified.
Valeria sat beside him.
“You don’t have to watch.”
Mateo looked at his father.
Then, after several seconds, he pressed one video.
The footage began.
Dr. Vega entered the hidden room carrying a syringe.
Rafael followed.
Four-year-old Mateo appeared on screen, younger and smaller.
He was crying for his father.
Rafael crouched in front of him.
“Your papa cannot know what you saw.”
Mateo screamed.
Rafael held up a photograph of Alejandro.
“If you talk, he dies just like Mommy.”
Alejandro made a sound Valeria had never heard from a grown man.
A sound of pure devastation.
He reached toward the monitor.
His hand shook.
Then the screen changed.
Live camera feed.
Someone was standing at the top of the secret stairs.
Rafael.
May you like
He smiled into the camera.
Then locked the door behind him.
