Chapter 6 - THE RED BOX
Diego carried Valentina toward the servant wing.
Marisol walked beside him.
Ramón followed with two trusted guards.
No one else was allowed to come.
The corridor near the laundry rooms was narrow and dim.
It smelled of soap, warm fabric, and old stone.
Marisol stopped outside the small room she had shared with Valentina for three years.
The door was slightly open.
She knew she had closed it that morning.
Ramón raised one hand.
The guards moved ahead.
They entered first.
The room had been searched.
The mattress was overturned.
Clothes covered the floor.
A small wooden drawer had been broken apart.
Valentina’s drawings had been torn from the wall.
Marisol stepped inside.
Her face tightened.
“They destroyed everything.”
Diego looked around.
“You said there was no box.”
“There isn’t.”
Valentina lifted her head from his shoulder.
“Under the bed.”
Marisol moved the bedframe.
The floor beneath it looked normal.
Old wooden boards.
Dust near the edges.
Ramón knelt.
He tapped each plank.
One produced a hollow sound.
He looked up.
“There is space underneath.”
Marisol stared at the floor.
“I never knew.”
A guard used a metal tool to lift the board.
Beneath it was a square compartment.
Empty.
Only a torn strip of red leather remained.
Marisol picked it up.
“I have never seen this before.”
Diego looked at Valentina.
“Did the man take the box?”
She nodded.
“He put it in his coat.”
“Was he alone?”
Valentina hesitated.
“No.”
“Who was with him?”
“The kitchen man.”
Marisol looked toward Ramón.
“Mateo.”
Ramón immediately used his radio.
“Find Mateo.”
“No one lets him leave.”
A reply came seconds later.
“Mateo is not in the kitchen.”
“His locker is empty.”
Diego’s eyes hardened.
“Check the staff garage.”
Another voice answered.
“His motorcycle is gone.”
Ramón cursed under his breath.
Marisol stared at the empty compartment.
“Why would someone hide something beneath my floor?”
“To make it look like it belonged to you.”
Diego’s answer was immediate.
She turned toward him.
“The recording said they would prove I killed your father.”
“They are preparing a scapegoat.”
“For four years?”
“Maybe longer.”
Marisol shook her head.
“I was not in the mansion when your father died.”
“Yes, you were.”
She stared at him.
“No.”
“You started working here three years ago.”
“My father died two years ago.”
Marisol went silent.
Diego continued.
“You were here.”
“I was working overnight in the west wing.”
“I never went near his study.”
“But someone could claim you did.”
Marisol looked sick.
Diego handed Valentina to Teresa, who had quietly joined them after being checked by Dr. Salazar.
“Take her to my room.”
“Stay with her.”
“Lock the door.”
Teresa nodded.
Valentina clung to Diego’s shirt.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“I need to find the red box.”
“I want to stay with you.”
Diego’s expression softened.
“You will be safer upstairs.”
Valentina looked toward Marisol.
“Mamá?”
Marisol kissed her forehead.
“Go with Teresa.”
“We will come soon.”
Valentina reluctantly released Diego.
Before leaving, she reached into her pocket.
She pulled out the golden button.
Then placed it in Diego’s palm.
“For luck.”
His throat tightened.
“Thank you.”
Teresa carried her away.
Diego closed his fist around the button.
Then his face hardened again.
“Ramón.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Bring every employee file connected to Mateo.”
“I also want his phone records.”
“We may need a warrant.”
“Then find a judge who cannot be bought.”
Ramón nodded.
Marisol sat on the edge of the overturned bed.
Her strength seemed to leave her all at once.
Diego knelt in front of her.
“Look at me.”
She did not.
“Marisol.”
Her eyes finally rose.
“You should take Valentina and leave.”
Diego stared at her.
“What?”
“This house is not safe.”
“Paulina knows where we are.”
“Arturo knows every entrance.”
“Your staff cannot be trusted.”
“She was safer before you knew.”
The words hurt him.
But he did not defend himself.
“You may be right about the house.”
“I am not right about you?”
“No.”
“You were not safer without me.”
“You were alone.”
“You were threatened.”
“Our daughter was drugged.”
“And I walked past both of you because I did not know.”
Marisol’s eyes filled.
“That was not your fault.”
“Some of it was.”
“You believed the letter.”
“Yes.”
“I believed you had abandoned us.”
“And I believed you had chosen to disappear.”
He looked around the ruined room.
“We were both manipulated.”
Marisol wiped her face.
“By your father.”
“By Paulina.”
“By Arturo.”
“And maybe by someone we still have not seen.”
Ramón entered.
He carried a tablet.
“We found something.”
Diego stood.
“What?”
“Mateo’s personnel file is fake.”
“The address does not exist.”
“The identification number belongs to a man who died twelve years ago.”
Marisol looked up.
“Who hired him?”
Ramón scrolled.
“The authorization came from the Villaseñor family office.”
“Signed by Don Esteban.”
Diego frowned.
“My father was already dead.”
Ramón nodded.
“The signature was entered six months after his death.”
Marisol slowly stood.
“So someone was still using his authority.”
“Someone still is.”
Ramón opened another screen.
“Mateo’s staff access card was used thirty minutes ago.”
Diego’s eyes sharpened.
“Where?”
“The underground archive.”
“That section was sealed after my father died.”
“Not anymore.”
A sudden alarm sounded through the mansion.
Red lights began flashing along the corridor.
A mechanical voice filled the air.
“Fire detected in underground level.”
Ramón looked at Diego.
“The archive.”
They ran.
The entrance to the underground level was behind the wine cellar.
Smoke already rolled beneath the steel door.
A guard struggled with the electronic lock.
“It has been disabled from inside.”
Diego grabbed a metal chair.
He smashed the control panel.
Sparks flew.
The lock released.
Ramón pulled the door open.
Black smoke rushed out.
Marisol coughed.
Diego turned toward her.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Marisol.”
“If the box contains something about me, I am coming.”
There was no time to argue.
They covered their mouths with wet cloths.
Then entered.
The underground corridor was filled with smoke.
Sprinklers sprayed water from the ceiling.
At the far end, flames climbed the archive shelves.
A figure moved through the haze.
Mateo.
He carried the red leather box under one arm.
Ramón shouted.
“Stop!”
Mateo turned.
His face was no longer timid.
No longer obedient.
He smiled.
Then he threw a metal canister toward the fire.
The flames exploded outward.
Diego pulled Marisol behind a concrete pillar.
Ramón fired one shot into the ceiling.
“Drop the box!”
Mateo backed toward an emergency passage.
“You are too late.”
Diego stepped through the smoke.
“What is inside it?”
Mateo laughed.
“Your father’s real death certificate.”
Diego stopped.
Mateo raised the box.
“And proof that Marisol was paid to poison him.”
Marisol’s face went pale.
“That is a lie.”
Mateo looked directly at her.
“Then why is your fingerprint on the bottle?”
She stared at him.
“I never touched any bottle.”
“You touched it this morning.”
Marisol’s expression changed.
The cup from the library.
The milk.
The medicine bottle near the tray.
Someone had guided her hand toward the evidence.
Diego understood at the same moment.
“They are framing her now.”
Mateo smiled.
“Not just now.”
“Every step was prepared years ago.”
Ramón moved closer.
Mateo raised a remote control.
His thumb hovered above a red button.
“Another step and this entire level collapses.”
Diego stopped.
Mateo looked at Marisol.
“You should have taken the money.”
“You should have disappeared.”
Marisol stepped out from behind the pillar.
“You watched my daughter suffer.”
Mateo’s smile faded.
“She was never supposed to matter.”
Diego’s eyes darkened.
“She matters more than every person standing here.”
Mateo pressed the button.
Nothing happened.
He stared at the remote.
Ramón smiled faintly.
“The signal jammer.”
Mateo threw the device aside and ran.
Diego chased him through the smoke.
Mateo reached the emergency passage.
He pulled the door open.
A man stood on the other side.
Arturo Cárdenas.
Arturo struck Mateo across the head with the handle of his pistol.
Mateo collapsed.
The red box fell.
Arturo caught it before it touched the floor.
Diego stopped several feet away.
“Give me the box.”
Arturo smiled.
“You still sound like your father.”
“You killed him.”
“No.”
Arturo looked down at Mateo.
“He did.”
Mateo groaned on the floor.
Arturo raised his pistol.
Then shot him once in the chest.
Marisol screamed.
Ramón fired.
Arturo pulled the door shut.
The bullet struck steel.
The emergency lock engaged.
Diego dropped beside Mateo.
Blood spread beneath him.
Mateo coughed.
His eyes found Marisol.
“The bottle.”
“What bottle?”
“The one with your fingerprints.”
“Where is it?”
Mateo struggled to breathe.
“Paulina put it…”
He coughed again.
“…inside Diego’s room.”
Diego leaned closer.
“Why?”
Mateo looked at him.
“Because police are already upstairs.”
Footsteps thundered above them.
Sirens echoed outside the mansion.
Mateo’s final words came out in a whisper.
May you like
“They are not coming for Paulina.”
“They are coming for Marisol.”
