Chapter 4 - The Empty BedroomAlejandro searched every room.
The servants were terrified.
No one admitted seeing Valeria leave.
Her shoes remained by the bed.
Her phone was still charging.
Her handbag was untouched.
Her coat was hanging on the chair.
It made no sense.
Rafael followed him down the hall.
“She couldn't have left voluntarily.”
Alejandro opened the nursery.
Empty.
He checked the terrace.
Nothing.
Then he noticed the window.
Open.
The curtains moved in the wind.
There was a rope tied to the balcony railing.
Alejandro grabbed it.
It was wet.
Mud covered the end.
Someone had lowered Valeria from the terrace.
His voice shook.
“Call the police.”
Rafael didn't move.
“What's wrong?”
Rafael stared at the rope.
“We can't.”
“Why?”
“Because the police belong to my mother.”
Alejandro looked at him.
“My mother controls the police?”
“She controls people who control the police.”
Alejandro felt something inside him break.
Then his phone buzzed.
A message.
A photograph of Valeria.
She was sitting in a dark room.
Her hands were tied.
Her face was bruised.
Alejandro's heart stopped.
A second message appeared.
COME ALONE.
Then an address.
The old Aranda textile factory.
Rafael grabbed his shoulder.
“Don't go.”
“My wife is there.”
“It could be a trap.”
“I don't care.”
“It is exactly what they want.”
Alejandro looked at him.
“They?”
Rafael shook his head.
“I've been trying to figure that out for years.”
Alejandro drove to the factory.
The building had been abandoned for a decade.
Broken windows.
Rusting machinery.
Empty loading bays.
He entered alone.
“Valeria!”
His voice echoed.
A light flickered.
Then another.
He followed the sound of footsteps.
A door opened.
Valeria appeared.
She was alive.
But she wasn't alone.
Dr. Mateo Silva stood behind her.
Alejandro raised his fists.
“You.”
Mateo lifted both hands.
“I didn't kidnap your wife.”
“Where were you?”
“Protecting her.”
“From whom?”
Mateo looked toward the shadows.
“From the people who are coming.”
Alejandro frowned.
“What?”
Mateo reached inside his coat and pulled out a small vial.
“This was found in Valeria's blood.”
“I know.”
“No.”
Mateo shook his head.
“You don't know what it is.”
He held it toward the light.
“This substance doesn't just harm a pregnancy.”
Alejandro's stomach tightened.
“What does it do?”
“It makes a woman appear unstable.”
“For what purpose?”
Mateo looked at Valeria.
“To make a judge believe she is mentally unfit to raise a child.”
Alejandro stopped breathing.
Valeria whispered:
“They want to take my baby.”
“Who?”
Mateo finally answered.
“Your mother.”
Alejandro shook his head.
“Why would she want my child?”
Mateo's expression darkened.
“Because your father's will named your unborn child as the heir to the Aranda empire.”
Alejandro stared.
“What?”
“Your father changed the inheritance six years ago.”
Mateo handed him a document.
“Your child inherits everything.”
The room fell silent.
Then Mateo added:
“Unless the child dies.”
Alejandro looked toward Valeria.
And realized that the bruises were only part of the story.
May you like
Someone wasn't trying to destroy his marriage.
They were trying to erase his unborn child.
