Chapter 5 - The House Under the CliffMariana spent the next six hours learning how to disappear.
Gabriel taught her how to turn off her phone.
How to move through public spaces without looking over her shoulder.
How to recognize surveillance vehicles.
How to spot a man pretending not to watch her.
She hated every second.
“I was a lawyer,” she said.
Gabriel handed her a baseball cap.
“You're a dead woman now.”
“I don't want to be.”
“Then stop acting like Mariana Salcedo.”
She stared at him.
“Who should I act like?”
“Someone no one would notice.”
Mariana looked down at her soaked clothes.
“I've spent my entire life being noticed.”
Gabriel almost smiled.
“That was the problem.”
Later, he took her into a basement room.
Three walls were covered with photographs.
Newspaper clippings.
Financial records.
Shipping manifests.
Names.
Dates.
Deaths.
Missing persons.
Mariana stared.
“What's all this?”
“The Salcedos.”
“No.”
She walked closer.
“This is an investigation.”
“Fourteen years old.”
“Who started it?”
Gabriel didn't answer.
Mariana turned toward him.
“You.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because my brother disappeared.”
“Was he working for them?”
“He was their accountant.”
Mariana looked at the files.
“Did he find something?”
“He found a ledger.”
“The same ledger my family is afraid of?”
Gabriel nodded.
“What happened to him?”
“He died.”
Mariana swallowed.
“Then why are you still looking?”
“Because he left one message.”
“What message?”
Gabriel opened a folder.
Inside was a photograph.
A man standing outside a hospital.
On the back, in handwriting:
THE GIRL SURVIVED.
Mariana stared.
“When did he write this?”
“Two days before he died.”
“You knew I existed.”
“I suspected.”
“You followed my family.”
“I followed the money.”
“And eventually me.”
“Yes.”
Mariana looked at Gabriel.
“Why save me?”
He took a long breath.
“Because your brother's ledger said one thing very clearly.”
“What?”
Gabriel handed her a document.
One sentence had been underlined.
IF THEY EVER TRY TO KILL MARIANA, DO NOT SAVE HER ALONE. SAVE THE BOY TOO.
Mariana felt the room go silent.
“What does that mean?”
“I don't know.”
“You've known my name for fourteen years.”
“Yes.”
“And you waited?”
“I needed proof.”
“You could have warned me.”
“I tried.”
Mariana stared.
“What?”
“Three years ago, I sent you a letter.”
Her heart stopped.
“From who?”
“Anonymous.”
She remembered.
A letter had appeared in her office.
One sentence:
Never trust the woman who calls herself your mother.
Mariana had thrown it away.
Gabriel watched her realize it.
“You ignored it.”
“I thought it was a threat.”
“It was.”
He crossed the room.
“Because Isabela knew I'd contacted you.”
Mariana sat down.
Her whole life suddenly felt like a house built over a sinkhole.
Then Mateo appeared in the doorway.
“Mommy?”
Mariana stood immediately.
“Come here.”
He ran into her arms.
He looked tired.
But peaceful.
She kissed his forehead.
“Are you okay?”
Mateo nodded.
Then he looked over her shoulder.
His eyes fixed on a photograph on the wall.
A picture of an old family mansion.
He pointed.
“I know that place.”
Mariana looked at the photograph.
“What?”
“I've seen it in my dreams.”
Gabriel went still.
Mateo walked closer.
“There was a lady.”
“What lady?”
“Her face was sad.”
Mariana knelt.
“What did she look like?”
Mateo pointed at a photograph beside the mansion.
A woman standing beside a black car.
Long dark hair.
Pale face.
Three red dots on her wrist.
Mariana stared.
“Who is she?”
Gabriel didn't answer.
Rosa did.
“Lucía Varela.”
Mariana looked at Mateo.
“How do you know her?”
Mateo frowned.
“She told me to hide.”
“Where?”
“Under the floor.”
Mariana's blood turned cold.
“Where did you see her?”
Mateo looked toward the ceiling.
“On the boat.”
Silence.
Gabriel stepped forward.
“Mateo.”
“What?”
“What did she tell you?”
The child looked frightened.
Then whispered:
“She said…”
He paused.
“She said Grandpa didn't throw Mommy into the sea.”
Mariana's heart stopped.
“What did she say?”
Mateo clutched her hand.
“He pushed her because he thought the sea would wake up.”
Gabriel stared at the boy.
“Wake up what?”
May you like
Mateo looked directly at Mariana.
“The monster underneath.”
