Chapter 10 - THE TUNNEL BENEATH THE ALTAR
Gunfire tore through the chapel.
Diego threw himself over Marisol and Valentina.
Splinters rained from the wooden pew beside them.
Valentina screamed against her mother’s chest.
Marisol covered the child’s ears.
“Do not look.”
“Keep your eyes closed.”
Smoke rolled across the ceiling.
Fire spread along the curtains.
Ramón fired twice toward the balcony.
One of Solís’s men dropped behind the railing.
The others moved out of sight.
“They are coming downstairs!”
Ramón shouted.
Diego looked toward Isabella.
Her wheelchair had become trapped between two fallen benches.
Arturo lay several feet away.
His shoulder was bleeding heavily.
But he was still conscious.
He pointed toward the altar.
“There is a tunnel.”
Diego stared at him.
“What?”
“Behind the cross.”
“It leads to the old monastery.”
Ramón looked at the flames.
“How do we open it?”
Arturo struggled onto one elbow.
“The iron candleholder.”
“Turn it to the left.”
Diego ran toward the altar.
A bullet struck the stone beside his head.
He dropped behind the communion table.
Ramón returned fire.
Marisol crawled toward Paulina.
Paulina’s eyes were open.
Her breathing was shallow.
“Help me.”
The words were barely audible.
Marisol stared at the woman who had drugged her child.
The woman who had humiliated her.
The woman who had tried to throw them into the street.
Then she looked at Valentina.
Her daughter was watching.
Marisol reached for Paulina.
“Can you stand?”
Paulina looked shocked.
“Why?”
“Because Valentina is watching me.”
“She will not learn cruelty from either of us.”
Paulina’s face tightened with shame.
Marisol pulled one of Paulina’s arms over her shoulder.
Together, they moved toward the altar.
Diego grabbed the iron candleholder.
He twisted it.
Nothing happened.
Arturo shouted.
“Push down first!”
Diego pressed it toward the floor.
Then turned.
A deep grinding sound came from behind the altar.
The stone cross shifted.
A narrow opening appeared in the wall.
Cold air rushed from the darkness.
Ramón moved Isabella first.
Her wheelchair could not fit.
He lifted her into his arms.
“Go!”
Marisol guided Valentina into the tunnel.
Then she dragged Paulina behind her.
Diego remained near the entrance.
“Arturo!”
Arturo attempted to stand.
His legs failed.
“Leave me.”
Isabella looked back.
“No.”
Arturo stared at her.
“I do not deserve your mercy.”
“This is not mercy.”
Her voice was cold.
“You will live long enough to testify.”
Ramón returned for him.
Footsteps pounded down the chapel stairs.
Solís’s men were almost there.
Diego fired toward the smoke.
Then helped Ramón drag Arturo into the tunnel.
They closed the stone panel seconds before the armed men reached the altar.
Darkness surrounded them.
Only the light from Ramón’s phone guided the way.
The tunnel was narrow.
Wet stone pressed against their shoulders.
Valentina clung to Marisol.
“Are the bad men coming?”
Marisol kissed her hair.
“No.”
But behind them came the faint grinding sound of stone moving.
They had found the entrance.
Diego looked toward Ramón.
“We need to move faster.”
Paulina stumbled.
Marisol caught her.
Blood darkened the side of Paulina’s coat.
“You cannot keep walking like this.”
Paulina laughed weakly.
“You sound concerned.”
“I am concerned about reaching the other side.”
“Do not mistake that for forgiveness.”
Paulina looked at Valentina.
The little girl refused to look back at her.
Something in Paulina’s face broke.
They reached a fork.
One tunnel continued straight.
The other descended toward the sound of running water.
Arturo spoke through clenched teeth.
“Take the lower passage.”
Ramón looked at him.
“You said the tunnel leads to the monastery.”
“It does.”
“The upper path was sealed years ago.”
Diego shone the light toward the straight corridor.
Fresh footprints marked the dust.
Someone had used it recently.
“You lied.”
Arturo’s face tightened.
“The upper route leads to Octavio’s storage rooms.”
Paulina stopped.
“My father has rooms here?”
Arturo looked at her.
“He has rooms everywhere.”
Diego stared down the dark passage.
“The original trust.”
“The birth certificate.”
Paulina’s eyes sharpened.
“They could be there.”
Ramón looked behind them.
“We do not have time.”
Footsteps echoed from the tunnel entrance.
Solís’s men were coming.
Diego made the decision.
“Marisol, take Valentina and my mother through the lower passage.”
Marisol shook her head.
“No.”
“You need to get Valentina out.”
“And you?”
“I will find the documents.”
“You may not come back.”
Diego took her face gently between his hands.
“I lost four years with both of you.”
“I will not lose the rest.”
Marisol’s eyes filled.
“That is not a promise you can control.”
“No.”
“But I can control what I do next.”
Valentina reached toward him.
“Papá.”
Diego knelt.
She wrapped both arms around his neck.
“Come with us.”
He closed his eyes.
“I will.”
“You promise?”
“I promise I will try with everything I have.”
Valentina pulled away.
Then placed the golden button into his palm again.
“You need more luck.”
Diego closed his fingers around it.
Ramón looked toward Marisol.
“Take my spare radio.”
“It may work once you reach the surface.”
Marisol accepted it.
Then she supported Isabella toward the lower tunnel.
Paulina remained where she was.
Diego looked at her.
“Go with them.”
“No.”
“You can barely stand.”
“My father hid my life in those rooms.”
“I am coming.”
Marisol turned.
“You saved Valentina once.”
“Do not make her watch you throw that away.”
Paulina looked at the child.
Then at the upper passage.
“I need to know who I was.”
Isabella spoke from the darkness.
“Your name was Elena.”
Paulina went still.
Isabella’s voice broke.
“Elena Isabel Serrano.”
“I chose it before you were born.”
Paulina stared at her biological mother.
For the first time, she had no sharp answer.
No insult.
No weapon.
Only a question.
“Did you want me?”
Isabella began to cry.
“Every day of my life.”
Paulina’s lips trembled.
Then gunfire struck the wall behind them.
The men had reached the fork.
Diego pushed Paulina toward Marisol.
“Go!”
Ramón fired into the darkness.
Diego and Ramón ran into the upper passage.
Marisol took Valentina and Isabella downward.
Paulina followed them.
But after ten steps, she stopped.
She looked back.
Then quietly turned around.
Marisol noticed.
“Paulina!”
Paulina disappeared into the upper tunnel.
The darkness swallowed her.
Marisol could not follow.
Valentina was in her arms.
Isabella could barely walk.
The footsteps behind them were getting closer.
Marisol continued toward the water.
Ahead, a pale light appeared.
They emerged beneath the ruins of the monastery.
Moonlight entered through a collapsed roof.
A shallow underground river crossed the chamber.
An old metal door stood on the opposite side.
Marisol moved toward it.
Then the radio in her hand crackled.
A man’s voice came through.
Calm.
Older.
Powerful.
“Marisol Ortega.”
She froze.
“Who is this?”
“You already know.”
Octavio Robles.
Paulina’s adoptive father.
The architect behind the entire conspiracy.
Marisol held Valentina tighter.
“Where is Diego?”
Octavio laughed softly.
“He is walking into the room where his father died.”
Isabella looked at the radio.
Her face filled with terror.
“No.”
Marisol stared at her.
“What?”
Isabella pointed toward the metal door.
“That is not an exit.”
“What is it?”
Isabella’s voice became a whisper.
“It is where Octavio kept my daughter.”
The lock clicked.
The door slowly opened.
A tall man stood on the other side.
His hair was silver.
His suit was immaculate.
And in his hand was the original Villaseñor trust.
Octavio Robles smiled at Valentina.
May you like
“There she is.”
“The little girl who inherited an empire.”
