Chapter 7 - THE WOMAN THEY CAME TO ARREST
The first police siren reached the underground archive before Mateo stopped breathing.
Diego remained beside him.
Smoke rolled across the ceiling.
Water poured from the sprinklers.
And somewhere above them, heavy boots were already entering the mansion.
Ramón pressed two fingers against Mateo’s neck.
Then slowly shook his head.
“He’s gone.”
Marisol stared at the blood spreading across the concrete.
Mateo had helped drug her daughter.
He had planted evidence against her.
He had worked with Paulina and Arturo.
But he had also died trying to reveal something.
That made his final words even more terrifying.
“They are coming for me.”
Marisol’s voice was barely audible.
Diego stood.
“They will not take you.”
Ramón looked toward the stairwell.
“Sir, if the police have a warrant, we cannot simply refuse entry.”
“We can refuse to let corrupt officers control this scene.”
“We do not know whether every officer is corrupt.”
“No.”
Diego looked at Mateo’s body.
“But someone sent them before the fire alarm was triggered.”
Ramón understood immediately.
The police had been waiting.
This was not a response.
It was an operation.
Heavy pounding echoed through the underground door.
“Policía!”
“Open the door!”
Diego turned toward Marisol.
“Listen to me.”
Her face was pale.
“They will find the bottle.”
“They will say I poisoned your father.”
“They will take Valentina away.”
“That will not happen.”
“You cannot promise that.”
“I can promise I will not let you face this alone.”
The steel door opened.
Four armed officers entered through the smoke.
Behind them walked a man in a dark suit.
He was not wearing a uniform.
He did not need one.
Every officer moved around him as though he were the person in charge.
He was in his late fifties.
Silver hair.
Perfectly polished shoes.
Calm eyes.
Diego recognized him.
Comandante Rafael Solís.
Head of the special investigations unit.
A man who had attended Don Esteban’s funeral.
A man who had once called Diego’s father a personal friend.
Solís looked at Mateo’s body.
Then at Marisol.
Then at Diego.
“What happened here?”
Diego stepped between him and Marisol.
“You tell me.”
Solís raised one eyebrow.
“I received an emergency report.”
“From whom?”
“That information is confidential.”
“Then your investigation ends here.”
Solís smiled faintly.
“You may own the house, Señor Villaseñor.”
“You do not own the law.”
Diego stared at him.
“My father used to say the same thing.”
The smile disappeared from Solís’s face.
Two officers moved toward Mateo.
Ramón blocked them.
“No one touches the body until forensic investigators arrive.”
Solís looked at him.
“I have forensic officers upstairs.”
“Officers chosen by whom?”
“Careful.”
“No.”
Ramón’s voice remained firm.
“You be careful.”
Solís turned toward Diego.
“Your security chief seems confused about his position.”
“He knows exactly where he stands.”
“And where is that?”
“Between my family and anyone trying to destroy it.”
Solís looked past Diego.
Marisol stood near the burning archive shelves.
Her apron was wet.
Her face was covered in ash.
She looked exhausted.
She also looked exactly like the desperate suspect someone had designed her to become.
Solís reached into his coat.
He removed a folded document.
“Marisol Ortega?”
She said nothing.
Diego answered for her.
“What do you want?”
“I have a warrant to search her living quarters.”
“Based on what evidence?”
“An anonymous report connecting her to the death of Don Esteban Villaseñor.”
Diego laughed once.
It held no humor.
“Anonymous.”
Solís opened the document.
“The report contains details that were never released to the public.”
“Details planted by the same people who made that report.”
“That will be determined by investigators.”
Diego stepped closer.
“No.”
“It will be determined by investigators who are not connected to my father.”
Solís’s face hardened.
“You are obstructing an active investigation.”
“You entered my property before a crime was reported.”
For the first time, Solís hesitated.
Only for a fraction of a second.
Diego saw it.
Ramón saw it too.
Solís recovered.
“A neighbor reported smoke.”
“The nearest neighbor is half a kilometer away.”
“The gates were damaged.”
“They heard the impact.”
“The gates were damaged nearly an hour ago.”
The silence between them became dangerous.
Then a voice echoed through Ramón’s radio.
“Sir.”
“We found the bottle.”
Marisol closed her eyes.
Diego looked toward the ceiling.
“Where?”
“In your bedroom.”
Ramón answered quietly.
“Inside the lower drawer beside your bed.”
Solís stared at Marisol.
“That is interesting.”
“She has never entered my bedroom.”
Diego’s answer came instantly.
Solís looked at him.
“Can you prove that?”
“I can prove who did.”
Paulina.
Arturo.
Mateo.
Someone inside the house.
Someone wearing a uniform.
Someone standing in the room right now.
Diego looked at Solís.
“Who told you where to search?”
Solís folded the warrant.
“You are not asking the questions.”
“I am now.”
Solís turned toward the officers.
“Bring Ms. Ortega upstairs.”
Two officers moved forward.
Diego blocked them.
“No.”
Marisol touched his arm.
He looked at her.
Her eyes were filled with fear.
But her voice was steady.
“Do not make this worse.”
“They want you separated from Valentina.”
“I know.”
“They want you frightened.”
“I know.”
“They want you to confess to something you did not do.”
Marisol looked toward the stairwell.
“Then I will not confess.”
Diego’s jaw tightened.
“You think they will give you that choice?”
Solís spoke from behind him.
“She is not under arrest.”
“Not yet.”
Diego turned.
“What does that mean?”
“It means she will come upstairs for questioning.”
“And if she refuses?”
Solís’s eyes became cold.
“Then she becomes a suspect resisting a lawful investigation.”
Marisol stepped past Diego.
“I will answer questions.”
Diego grabbed her wrist gently.
She looked at him.
“I cannot leave Valentina alone.”
“She will not be alone.”
“I cannot let her wake up and find me gone.”
“I will stay with her.”
Marisol’s eyes filled.
For one second, the chaos disappeared.
She saw the man she had once loved.
The man she had once searched for.
The father of her child.
“Promise me.”
Diego nodded.
“I promise.”
Marisol slowly pulled her wrist free.
She walked toward the officers.
Solís watched her with quiet satisfaction.
Then Ramón’s radio crackled again.
“Sir.”
“There is another problem.”
Diego lifted the radio.
“What?”
“The paternity results are gone.”
Everyone froze.
Diego’s face changed.
“What do you mean gone?”
“The original document has disappeared from the library.”
“Dr. Salazar’s digital copy has been deleted from his system.”
Solís remained completely still.
Too still.
Diego looked at him.
“You knew.”
Solís did not answer.
“You knew about the test.”
“I know nothing about any test.”
“Then why are you not surprised?”
Solís turned toward the stairs.
“Bring the woman.”
Marisol was led from the underground level.
Diego followed.
Ramón stayed close behind.
When they reached the main hall, the mansion no longer looked like a home.
Police officers filled every doorway.
Cabinets had been opened.
Drawers had been emptied.
Servants stood in frightened groups beneath armed supervision.
Valentina was at the top of the staircase.
Teresa held her.
The little girl saw Marisol.
“Mamá!”
Marisol stopped.
Valentina reached toward her.
“Mamá, come here!”
An officer stepped between them.
Marisol’s face broke.
“She is my daughter.”
“You cannot stop me from going to her.”
Solís spoke calmly.
“No one is stopping you.”
“Then move the officer.”
Solís looked toward Valentina.
His eyes rested on the child for too long.
Then he smiled.
“We only need to clarify who is legally responsible for her.”
Diego’s blood turned cold.
“What did you say?”
Solís removed another document from his coat.
“This is an emergency protective order.”
Marisol stared at him.
“No.”
“It authorizes temporary removal of the child from the home.”
“No!”
Valentina began to cry.
“Mamá!”
Marisol tried to run toward the stairs.
Two officers caught her arms.
She struggled.
“Let me go!”
“She is three years old!”
“She is sick!”
Diego crossed the hall in seconds.
He shoved one officer away.
Ramón blocked the second.
Solís raised his voice.
“Stand down!”
No one listened.
Diego reached Marisol.
He pulled her behind him.
“You planned this.”
Solís held up the order.
“The child has been repeatedly exposed to sedatives.”
“By Paulina.”
“According to whom?”
“The recordings.”
“What recordings?”
Ramón lifted the black device.
“This one.”
Solís looked at it.
Then smiled.
“That device was not found during an official search.”
“It may have been altered.”
Diego stepped closer.
“You already know what is on it.”
“I know only that unverified evidence cannot be trusted.”
Valentina screamed from the staircase.
“I want my mamá!”
Marisol tried to reach her again.
The officers tightened their line.
Diego looked around the hall.
The servants.
The police.
The open doors.
The missing paternity test.
The planted bottle.
Everything had been arranged.
Then he noticed one person standing near the back entrance.
Dr. Salazar.
His face was bruised.
His shirt was torn.
And an officer held a weapon against his side.
Diego stared at him.
“What happened?”
Dr. Salazar looked terrified.
“They took my phone.”
“They forced me to open the laboratory account.”
Solís turned slowly.
“That is enough.”
But the doctor continued.
“They deleted the test.”
“They told me to say the sample was contaminated.”
Solís’s face hardened.
Diego looked at the officer beside the doctor.
“Who gave that order?”
The officer’s hand shook.
Then a gunshot echoed outside.
Everyone turned.
The officer beside Dr. Salazar collapsed.
Blood spread across his shoulder.
The shot had come through the open window.
Police shouted.
Servants screamed.
Ramón pulled Diego behind a column.
Marisol dropped to the floor.
Teresa carried Valentina into the upper hallway.
Solís did not duck.
He looked toward the window.
As though he knew the bullet had not been meant for him.
Ramón saw it.
“So did Diego.”
The officer on the floor clutched his shoulder.
He looked toward Diego.
His lips moved.
Diego knelt beside him.
“Who ordered you?”
The officer struggled to breathe.
“Solís…”
The commander turned.
The wounded officer forced out another word.
“…works…”
A second shot struck the marble beside his head.
Ramón dragged him away.
Diego looked toward the far window.
A dark figure disappeared behind the garden wall.
Solís raised his weapon.
“Seal the mansion.”
“No one leaves.”
Then he looked directly at Marisol.
“And arrest her.”
Valentina’s scream echoed from upstairs.
“Mamá!”
Marisol was forced to her knees.
Metal cuffs closed around her wrists.
May you like
And as Diego moved toward her, Solís gave the order that revealed the true purpose of the raid.
“Take the child through the east gate.”
