Chapter 2 - The Back Staircase
In the darkness, Valeria caught Alejandro’s sleeve.
“Please don’t leave me alone with her.”
He had never heard her sound like that.
“I’m here,” he said.
Daniel switched on his phone flashlight. Its narrow beam caught Esther moving toward the bedroom door.
“Where are you going?” Alejandro asked.
“To check the power.”
“The staff can do that.”
Esther stopped. For a second, her face was bare of the calm confidence she wore through every argument. Then she folded her arms.
Alejandro took out his phone. No signal. He moved to the window and saw the security gate standing open below. A black SUV rolled through it with its headlights off.
“Whose car is that?”
Gabriel came to the window, looked down, and swore.
Alejandro turned to him. “You know?”
“No.”
It was a poor lie.
Behind them, Daniel checked Valeria’s pulse. “We need to leave. Now.”
Alejandro lifted Valeria from the bed. She cried out when her leg brushed the wooden frame.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“Just keep going.”
At the top of the back staircase, she went rigid. Alejandro followed her gaze to a chipped step near the landing. Fresh, pale wood showed beneath the dark finish.
“She fell there?” he asked.
Valeria nodded.
They took the front stairs.
Outside, Daniel’s car stood near the fountain. Both front tires were flat. Alejandro hurried to his own SUV, then remembered his keys were gone from the hook inside.
Gabriel held out his car keys.
Alejandro took them. “Why didn’t you help her?”
Gabriel’s eyes moved to Valeria. “I tried.”
“She said you saw her.”
“I did.”
“And?”
Gabriel’s voice dropped. “Esther said she was only stunned. She told me to stay out of it.”
“You believed her?”
“No.”
The answer hung between them.
Alejandro carried Valeria into Gabriel’s car. Daniel got in beside her. As Alejandro started the engine, Esther stepped onto the porch.
“Where are you taking my grandchild?”
“To the hospital,” he said.
“You’ll make this worse.”
Alejandro pulled away before he said something he could never take back.
Ten minutes later, Valeria caught his eye in the rearview mirror.
“There’s something else,” she said. “The picture you received?”
May you like
“What about it?”
“Your mother arranged for someone to take it.”
