Chapter 10 — The Daughter Behind the Glass
The message remained on Alejandro's phone.
BRING ISABELLA TO ME, OR RAFAEL'S DAUGHTER DIES.
No one spoke.
The tunnel seemed to grow colder.
Rafael stood motionless, staring at the photograph of the young woman beside Elena.
His face had lost all color.
Alejandro looked at him.
“Who is she?”
Rafael swallowed.
“Her name is Sofia.”
“Your daughter?”
“Yes.”
“How old?”
“Twenty-two.”
Lucía stepped closer.
“Why didn't you ever tell us?”
Rafael gave a bitter smile.
“Because Elena made sure nobody knew she existed.”
Alejandro stared at the photograph.
Sofia was standing behind a glass wall.
Her hands were tied.
A bruise marked the side of her face.
But she was conscious.
Alive.
Alejandro's voice became cold.
“Where is she?”
Rafael shook his head.
“I don't know.”
“You're lying.”
“I wish I were.”
Mateo zoomed in on the photograph.
“There.”
He pointed toward the reflection in the glass.
A sign.
Only three letters were visible.
VMC.
Alejandro recognized them.
“Valencia Medical Center.”
Rafael looked at him.
“That's Victor's private facility.”
Mateo nodded.
“I can trace the building.”
“Do it.”
Alejandro turned toward Rafael.
“You're coming with us.”
Rafael looked surprised.
“Why?”
“Because your daughter is being held there.”
“And if it's a trap?”
“It is.”
Alejandro's expression hardened.
“But we're going anyway.”
Lucía looked at him.
“You can't trade Isabella for Sofia.”
“I won't.”
Rafael stared.
Alejandro continued.
“We're going to get both.”
Two hours later, the four of them stood across the street from Valencia Medical Center.
The building looked ordinary.
Five floors.
White exterior.
Private parking.
No hospital logo.
No emergency entrance.
No signs indicating patients were treated there.
But the security was excessive.
Cameras on every corner.
Armed guards at the rear entrance.
Black vehicles arriving every fifteen minutes.
Mateo watched through binoculars.
“This isn't a medical center.”
Alejandro nodded.
“It's a prison.”
Lucía held Isabella's hand.
The little girl looked up at her.
“Are we going to save the girl?”
Lucía knelt.
“Yes.”
“Uncle Rafael's daughter?”
“Yes.”
Isabella nodded.
“Then we have to hurry.”
Alejandro smiled faintly.
“You sound like your mother.”
The girl smiled.
“I know.”
Rafael looked at them from a distance.
Something changed in his expression.
For the first time in years, he looked like a father.
Not a conspirator.
Not Elena's son.
Just a frightened man trying to save his child.
Mateo approached.
“I found an entrance.”
“Where?”
“Laundry service tunnel.”
Lucía stared at him.
Alejandro noticed.
“What?”
“I know that tunnel.”
“You've been here?”
Lucía shook her head.
“I don't know.”
She pressed her fingers against her temple.
Then suddenly—
a memory.
A metal door.
A hospital bed.
A newborn crying.
A woman screaming.
And Elena's voice.
“If she remembers, take the baby.”
Lucía gasped.
Alejandro caught her.
“What did you see?”
“My first night here.”
“Here?”
She nodded.
“This place.”
Alejandro's expression changed.
“You were brought here.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
Lucía closed her eyes.
Then whispered:
“They weren't trying to erase my memories.”
Alejandro stared.
“What?”
“They were trying to erase someone else's.”
“Whose?”
Lucía looked at Isabella.
“Yours.”
Alejandro went silent.
“My memories?”
Lucía nodded.
“They couldn't make you forget everything.”
“So they created another story.”
“Yes.”
“A story where I met you seven years ago.”
“Yes.”
“A story where Isabella never existed.”
“Yes.”
Alejandro's eyes hardened.
“Then what really happened after Isabella was born?”
Lucía shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Rafael finally spoke.
“I do.”
Everyone turned.
Rafael looked at Alejandro.
“After Elena took Isabella, she told you Lucía had died.”
Alejandro froze.
“What?”
“She told you Lucía died during childbirth.”
Lucía stared at him.
“And you believed her?”
“I was drugged.”
Rafael nodded.
“You were devastated.”
“What happened to Lucía?”
“Victor kept her alive.”
“Why?”
“Because she had seen the records.”
Alejandro looked at his wife.
“And I?”
“You were taken home.”
Rafael's voice cracked.
“Your mother spent weeks convincing you that your wife had abandoned you.”
Alejandro stared at him.
“But eventually I met Lucía again.”
“No.”
Rafael shook his head.
“You didn't.”
Alejandro frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“The woman you met seven years ago…”
Rafael stopped.
Lucía's eyes widened.
“Who was she?”
Rafael looked directly at Alejandro.
“Someone Elena hired to impersonate you.”
The world seemed to stop.
Alejandro's face went blank.
“You're saying…”
“The woman you believed was Lucía for years wasn't your wife.”
Lucía covered her mouth.
“Then who was she?”
Rafael shook his head.
“We never found out.”
Alejandro felt sick.
His entire marriage.
His memories.
His photographs.
His supposed first meeting with Lucía.
All of it could have been manufactured.
But there was one thing Elena couldn't fake.
His feelings.
He looked at Lucía.
And suddenly understood why seeing her at the hotel had felt like waking from a nightmare.
He had recognized her before his mind did.
Because somewhere beneath the lies—
he had never forgotten her.
They entered through the laundry tunnel.
The first floor was deserted.
Mateo disabled the cameras.
They moved through the building.
Then they heard voices.
Elena.
Victor.
Rafael stopped.
Alejandro raised a hand.
Everyone remained silent.
Through a glass wall, they saw them.
Elena stood beside Sofia.
Victor held a gun.
And on the table was a medical file.
Elena spoke calmly.
“Isabella is the last piece.”
Victor nodded.
“Once she is transferred, the inheritance becomes ours.”
Alejandro's eyes narrowed.
Inheritance.
Not revenge.
Money.
Power.
Victor continued.
“And Alejandro?”
Elena smiled.
“His signature will be enough.”
Lucía's face hardened.
“They're going to force him to transfer the entire company.”
Rafael whispered:
“No.”
Victor suddenly looked toward the camera.
He smiled.
“Come in, Alejandro.”
Everyone froze.
Elena looked directly at the hidden camera.
“I know you're here.”
The door opened.
Alejandro stepped into the room.
Lucía followed.
Mateo remained behind cover.
Rafael entered last.
Elena looked at him.
Her smile disappeared.
“You.”
Rafael stared at her.
“You took my daughter.”
Elena shrugged.
“You should have remembered your place.”
Rafael's voice shook.
“I was your son.”
“You were weak.”
Alejandro stepped forward.
“Where is my father?”
Victor smiled.
“Still alive.”
“And Sofia?”
“Alive.”
“Then let them go.”
Victor laughed.
“You still think you're negotiating.”
He lifted the medical file.
“You don't understand what your father left behind.”
Alejandro stared.
“What?”
Victor opened the file.
“Control of the Montero empire isn't based on ownership.”
He smiled.
“It's based on blood.”
Then Elena placed another document on the table.
A birth certificate.
Alejandro looked at it.
His face changed.
The father listed on Isabella's original birth certificate wasn't Alejandro.
It was—
ESTEBAN MONTERO.
Lucía screamed:
“No!”
Elena smiled.
“Now you understand.”
Alejandro stared at the document.
Then at his father through the glass.
For the first time—
May you like
he wondered if everything he believed about Isabella's birth was another lie.
And Elena knew exactly how to use that doubt.
