Chapter 8 - THE TUNNEL AMBUSH
Elena aimed at the driver.
“Unlock the doors.”
He kept both hands on the wheel.
“You will not shoot through the partition.”
“Test me.”
The black truck reversed toward them.
Sofía looked at the emergency latch beside the rear door.
A red wire had been cut.
“They disabled the release.”
Elena fired once into the lock.
The sound filled the van.
The door remained shut.
The truck struck them.
Sofía fell against the bench.
Elena grabbed her arm before she hit the floor.
The driver opened his door and ran.
Three masked men stepped from the truck.
Elena fired through the side window.
The attackers moved behind the van.
“We have seconds,” she said.
Sofía pulled a metal oxygen wrench from her medical bag.
“You carry that everywhere?”
“I work in a hospital where equipment breaks.”
She jammed it into the damaged rear lock.
Elena kicked the door.
The frame bent.
A hand reached through the gap.
Sofía struck it with the wrench.
The attacker pulled back.
The door opened wide enough for them to crawl through.
A second vehicle appeared at the far end of the tunnel.
Its headlights flashed twice.
Elena raised her weapon.
“Stay behind me.”
The vehicle stopped.
Nicolás stepped out.
Four of his security men spread across the tunnel.
Elena looked at Sofía.
“You told him our route?”
“No.”
Nicolás moved toward them.
“I placed a tracker in her medical bag.”
Sofía stared at him.
“You tracked me.”
“I kept you alive.”
The masked attackers abandoned the truck and ran through a service passage.
Elena aimed after them.
Nicolás caught her arm.
“There are civilians above that exit.”
She lowered the weapon.
Police sirens approached.
This time, Elena had called officers she trusted.
The corrupt driver was captured two streets away.
He had received payment from an account registered to Beatriz.
At the hospital, Beatriz regained consciousness.
She refused to speak until Sofía entered the room.
Her face was bruised from a fall.
Her wrists carried red marks from restraints.
“Adrián knows everything,” Beatriz whispered.
“What does he know?”
“That Luca saw him.”
“That we found the DNA reports.”
“He knows more than that.”
Beatriz looked toward Elena.
“There are microphones in the mansion.”
Nicolás’s expression darkened.
“Where?”
“Inside the nursery ornaments.”
Sofía remembered the gold mobile above Mateo’s crib.
Every strategy.
Every argument.
Every accusation.
Adrián had heard all of it.
“Why did you plant the vial in my bag?” Sofía asked.
Beatriz began crying.
“He had my daughter.”
“Where is she?”
“She is safe now.”
“How do you know?”
“He sent a photograph.”
Elena leaned closer.
“Where is Adrián?”
“I never met him directly.”
“You worked for Leonor.”
“I received instructions through Dr. Montalvo.”
Nicolás’s hands curled into fists.
Beatriz looked at him.
“Your mother wanted Valeria removed.”
Leonor was not in the room.
Even so, everyone felt her presence.
“She believed Mateo’s illness would prove Valeria was unstable,” Beatriz continued.
“Adrián promised the symptoms would be mild.”
Sofía’s voice became sharp.
“Mateo screamed for seven weeks.”
“Leonor wanted to stop after the third day.”
“Why did she not?”
“Adrián showed her the money missing from the family trust.”
Nicolás stepped closer.
“What money?”
“Almost nine hundred million pesos.”
Elena’s eyes narrowed.
“Who took it?”
Beatriz looked at Nicolás.
“The transactions carried your authorization.”
“They were forged.”
“Leonor believed they were real.”
Sofía understood.
Adrián had trapped Leonor inside her own crime.
If she exposed him, he would expose her role in harming Mateo.
If she remained silent, he would continue.
“What was the end of the plan?” Sofía asked.
Beatriz looked at the hospital door.
“He needed Nicolás to sign the final merger papers.”
“And if he refused?”
Beatriz’s breathing quickened.
“Mateo would die before his first birthday.”
Nicolás went completely still.
Sofía leaned closer.
“Where is the proof?”
Beatriz pointed toward Elena’s phone.
“I recorded everything.”
Elena searched Beatriz’s belongings.
No recording was found.
Beatriz closed her eyes.
“It is in Luca’s backpack.”
Nicolás immediately called the mansion.
No one answered.
He called Don Esteban.
The line rang once.
Then disconnected.
A live video appeared on Beatriz’s hospital monitor.
The camera showed the medical wing inside the Velasco mansion.
May you like
The bassinet was empty.
Mateo was gone.
