Chapter 3: The Recording No One Knew Existed
Chapter 3: The Recording No One Knew Existed
As investigators searched the house, another officer carried a small cardboard box from the upstairs study.
"What did you find?" Ernesto asked.
"A digital recorder."
Valeria stared.
She had never seen it before.
The investigator pressed Play.
Static filled the room.
Then Ofelia's unmistakable voice echoed through the speakers.
"If she refuses to sign, hit her again."
Julián laughed in the recording.
"She always signs after she cries."
Another voice...
Valeria's.
Barely audible.
"I don't want your money. Just let me leave."
A violent slap cracked through the speaker.
Someone gasped.
Several birthday guests instinctively stepped away from Julián.
The recording continued.
"If your father ever finds out," Valeria whispered through tears.
"He won't," Julián answered confidently.
"She's too ashamed to tell him."
The room became painfully quiet.
Ernesto closed his eyes for one brief second.
Not because he doubted his daughter.
Because hearing her fear was worse than he had imagined.
The investigator stopped the recording.
"This device has been recording automatically for several months."
Valeria suddenly remembered.
Six months earlier, her father had insisted on giving her a decorative clock for the study.
She had never realized...
The recorder had been hidden inside it.
Ernesto looked at her gently.
"I prayed I would never need those recordings."
"I'm sorry that I did."
Tears rolled down Valeria's face.
May you like
For the first time in nearly a year...
She didn't wipe them away.
