Chapter 10 - The Price of Elena
Valeria stared at the live video feed from her hospital bed.
Adriana had connected the San Jerónimo laptop to a secure call.
Sebastián stood in the underground room with the rescued women.
Lucía remained beside him.
On the screen, Octavio moved behind Elena’s chair.
Elena’s hands were bound.
A strip of medical tape covered her mouth.
Andrés sat several feet away, blood darkening the collar of his shirt from a cut near his temple.
Rebeca stood between them.
She was not restrained.
“Let Elena go,” Valeria said.
Octavio smiled.
“You still give orders as though you were invited into this family.”
“You lost.”
“Did I?”
The camera showed the empty San Jerónimo rooms.
“You found nine witnesses.”
“There were forty-two.”
Adriana leaned toward the microphone.
“What do you want?”
“Safe passage.”
“Immunity.”
“And legal recognition of Mateo Gabriel Alcázar as the firstborn heir.”
Andrés lifted his head.
“No.”
Octavio struck the back of his chair.
“You no longer make decisions.”
Sebastián stepped closer to the laptop.
“You’re using him.”
“I am restoring what your grandfather stole.”
“You do not care about Andrés.”
“His name is Mateo.”
Andrés looked toward the camera.
“My name is Andrés Herrera.”
Octavio’s expression hardened.
“That name belongs to a dead doctor.”
“It belongs to the man who raised me.”
Sebastián watched his brother with a mixture of admiration and shame.
Andrés had been denied wealth and status.
Yet he understood identity better than anyone born inside the Alcázar mansion.
Octavio turned toward Rebeca.
“Tell them.”
Rebeca remained silent.
“Tell them who the firstborn is.”
“Andrés was born first,” she said.
“And who controls the trust?”
“The firstborn surviving son.”
Octavio looked pleased.
“Once the transfer is complete, Andrés will appoint me as managing trustee.”
“No, I won’t,” Andrés said.
Octavio smiled.
“You signed the documents.”
“Under threat.”
“Courts have accepted worse.”
Adriana looked at Sebastián.
“He needs the original trust registry.”
Sebastián remembered the black leather folder.
Octavio had brought it to the hospital, but it disappeared during the blackout.
“Where is the registry?” Sebastián asked.
Octavio lifted the folder into view.
“Here.”
Valeria studied the screen.
Octavio was confident.
Too confident.
Behind him, a narrow window showed darkness.
A church bell sounded faintly in the distance.
Three slow chimes.
Lucía heard it.
She looked toward Adriana.
“The abandoned San Rafael monastery.”
Adriana muted the call.
“How do you know?”
“I grew up near Santiago.”
“San Rafael rings three times at nine every night.”
“The monastery has been closed for years.”
Sebastián looked at the clock.
Nine o’clock.
Octavio was less than twenty minutes away.
Adriana sent the location to the tactical team.
Then she restored the sound.
“We need proof Elena is alive,” she said.
Octavio removed the tape from Elena’s mouth.
Elena gasped.
Valeria covered her own mouth.
Eight years separated the sisters.
But the first word Elena spoke belonged to the past.
“Vale.”
It was the childhood name only Elena used.
Valeria began crying.
“I’m here.”
“They took him.”
“I know.”
“My baby.”
“We will find him.”
Elena shook her head violently.
“No.”
Her eyes moved toward Rebeca.
“She knows.”
Valeria’s expression changed.
“Knows what?”
Rebeca looked away.
Octavio gripped Elena’s shoulder.
“Enough.”
Elena fought against the ropes.
“Ask her who raised my son.”
Valeria stared at Rebeca through the screen.
“Where is Elena’s child?”
Rebeca’s face had become unreadable.
Octavio smiled.
“You have been holding him.”
Valeria looked down at Mateo in confusion.
Then she understood that Octavio did not mean her newborn.
He meant someone connected to her life.
Someone she knew.
“Who?” Valeria demanded.
Octavio leaned toward the camera.
“Your sister gave birth to a son eight years ago.”
“The birth record was altered.”
“The child was placed inside the Alcázar household.”
Sebastián went still.
“No child was raised at the mansion.”
“Not in the main house.”
Octavio looked at Lucía.
“In the staff residence.”
Lucía’s face lost all color.
“No.”
Octavio’s smile widened.
“Your daughter Camila is not your biological daughter.”
The underground room fell silent.
Lucía stepped back from the laptop.
“That is a lie.”
“You were told the mother died.”
“She did.”
“You never saw a body.”
Lucía shook her head.
“Camila is sixteen.”
“Her records say sixteen.”
“She is eight years older than Elena’s son.”
“Records can be changed.”
Lucía’s breathing became uneven.
“My child was born sixteen years ago.”
Octavio looked almost amused.
“Your child died sixteen years ago.”
“Camila was given to you eight years later.”
Lucía stared at the screen.
Memories rearranged themselves.
Camila had been eight when Lucía first brought her to the staff residence.
Rebeca claimed the girl was a distant relative who had lost her parents.
Lucía eventually became her legal guardian.
She had never questioned the documents.
Camila had been small for her age.
Quiet.
Terrified of doctors.
Octavio turned to Rebeca.
“You placed Elena’s child with Lucía because Gabriel wanted the boy protected.”
Rebeca closed her eyes.
Lucía whispered.
“Camila is a boy?”
“Camila was born male,” Octavio said.
“Dr. Zamora began hormone treatments and created a female identity.”
“He wanted the child impossible to trace through birth records.”
Rage changed Lucía’s face.
“Where is Camila?”
Octavio pointed toward the camera.
“That is the price.”
“Give me the Alcázar trust.”
“Give me safe passage.”
“And I will tell you where the child is.”
Rebeca suddenly moved.
She grabbed the black folder from Octavio’s hand and threw it toward Andrés.
Octavio spun around.
Andrés kicked the folder beneath his chair.
Elena screamed.
A gunshot exploded through the speakers.
The video feed went black.
Valeria shouted her sister’s name.
At the San Rafael monastery, the tactical team was still seven minutes away.
May you like
Seven minutes could be enough to destroy an entire family.
It could also be enough for someone inside the room to change sides.
