Chapter 14 - THE ROOM WITH NO EXIT
Sofía grabbed Adrián’s wrist.
The remote fell.
Nicolás kicked it beneath the desk.
Elena’s officers entered through both doors.
“Do not move.”
Dr. Montalvo raised his hands.
Adrián laughed.
“You have no idea what that button activated.”
Sofía picked up the remote with a cloth.
“What did you do?”
“I sent a signal.”
“To what?”
“Ask Teresa.”
Nicolás seized Adrián by the jacket.
“If anything happens to my son—”
“You will kill me?”
Adrián leaned closer.
“Then every accusation against you becomes true.”
Elena pulled Nicolás away.
Sofía called Valeria.
No answer.
She called Teresa.
No answer.
The medical sensor showed Mateo’s heart rate rising.
“Send officers to Teresa’s house.”
“They are already moving,” Elena said.
Adrián looked pleased.
Sofía studied the remote.
It was not powerful enough to activate a device across the city.
“It did not send a signal to Mateo.”
Adrián’s smile weakened.
“It sent one here.”
A clicking sound came from inside the nursery wall.
Sofía smelled lavender.
Chemical mist sprayed from the air vents.
The same industrial preservative.
Adrián had expected Mateo to be inside the bassinet.
“Seal the vents,” Sofía shouted.
Officers covered them with cotton sheets.
Montalvo began coughing.
Adrián moved toward the window.
Nicolás blocked him.
“You built the final attack inside my son’s nursery.”
“I improved your mother’s design.”
Leonor entered from the corridor.
She had heard everything through Elena’s monitor.
Adrián stared at her.
“You should have stayed quiet.”
Leonor looked at the chemical mist.
“I stayed quiet while Mateo screamed.”
She faced Elena.
“I ordered the first applications.”
Montalvo shouted.
“Do not say another word.”
Leonor continued.
“I wanted Valeria declared unfit.”
“I approved a treatment I knew had not been authorized.”
“I threatened Teresa.”
“I silenced Beatriz.”
Her voice began to shake.
“And when Adrián changed the chemical, I suspected him.”
Nicolás stared at her.
“You suspected?”
“I saw the blue bottle.”
Valeria’s recorded image appeared on Elena’s tablet.
She and Mateo were safe inside an armored police vehicle.
The red signal had come from the nursery wall, not the baby’s sensor.
Sofía released the breath she had been holding.
Adrián saw the screen.
For the first time, real panic entered his eyes.
Montalvo stepped toward Elena.
“I will testify.”
Adrián turned on him.
“You will do nothing.”
“I have copies of everything.”
Adrián struck him.
Officers restrained both men.
Montalvo shouted over them.
“Adrián paid me to falsify Nicolás’s father’s medication records.”
Nicolás went still.
Elena moved closer.
“Did Adrián cause his death?”
Montalvo looked at Adrián.
Then at the cameras.
“Yes.”
Adrián’s face emptied.
“He changed the dosage,” Montalvo continued.
“I signed the heart attack report.”
Leonor made a sound like the air had been pulled from her body.
She had helped the man who killed her husband.
Adrián pulled a small glass capsule from his sleeve.
Sofía saw it.
“He has something.”
An officer grabbed his arm.
The capsule broke against Adrián’s palm.
A sharp chemical scent filled the room.
Sofía pulled Nicolás backward.
“Do not touch him.”
Adrián’s skin began reddening where the liquid spread.
He looked at his own hand.
For seven weeks, he had watched Mateo’s pain from a distance.
Now terror entered his face at the first burn.
“Help me.”
Sofía stared at him.
“You told yourself a baby’s screams were only useful noise.”
“Help me.”
She opened her medical bag.
Nicolás looked at her.
“You would treat him?”
“I am a nurse.”
She flushed Adrián’s hand with water.
“I do not decide who deserves care.”
Elena placed him in restraints.
“You will have a long time to learn the difference.”
Police led Adrián and Montalvo away.
Leonor remained in the nursery.
She looked at the empty bassinet.
“Will Mateo ever know what I did?”
Valeria appeared in the doorway carrying him.
Her expression was cold.
“He will know the truth when he is old enough.”
Leonor began crying.
“May I see him?”
Valeria stepped back.
“No.”
Mateo suddenly coughed.
Once.
Then again.
Sofía reached for him.
His skin felt hot.
Dr. Marín checked his temperature.
Her face became tense.
“The damaged skin may have allowed an infection.”
Valeria held Mateo tighter.
“Is he in danger?”
May you like
Dr. Marín looked at the rising number on the thermometer.
“Yes.”
