Chapter 5: The Promise Elena Made
Chapter 5: The Promise Elena Made
Valeria stared at the note, her hands trembling.
Stop looking... or lose the boy.
For a moment, no one spoke.
The cold breeze blowing through the shattered window carried the scent of fresh lilies into the room.
Doña Socorro covered her mouth.
"No..."
Valeria looked around frantically.
"Mateo!"
There was no answer.
She rushed to the broken window and looked down.
The drop to the courtyard below was nearly twenty feet.
No child could have climbed out safely.
She turned back toward the room.
"He's still inside the mansion."
Doña Socorro nodded.
"The guards would have seen anyone leave."
Within seconds, footsteps thundered down the hallway.
Alejandro burst into the room with four armed security guards close behind.
"What happened?"
His eyes immediately found the broken window.
Then the empty bed.
Finally...
The note in Valeria's hand.
His face turned pale.
"Where is my son?"
"We don't know," Valeria answered honestly.
Alejandro snatched the note and read it.
The muscles in his jaw tightened.
"Seal the property," he ordered.
"No one leaves."
"Search every room."
"Every hallway."
"Every inch of this estate."
The guards rushed out.
Within moments, alarms echoed throughout the mansion.
Massive steel security gates locked automatically.
Floodlights illuminated the grounds.
The entire estate shifted into emergency lockdown.
For nearly an hour, dozens of guards searched the mansion.
Bedrooms.
Storage rooms.
Wine cellar.
Garage.
Gardens.
Nothing.
Alejandro stood in the security control room watching dozens of surveillance monitors.
Every camera had gone offline for exactly seven minutes.
Seven minutes.
Just enough time for someone to move through the mansion unseen.
"When will the recordings be restored?" he demanded.
The head of security swallowed nervously.
"They're gone."
"What?"
"The files from those seven minutes have been erased."
Alejandro slammed his fist onto the desk.
"Impossible."
"Someone accessed the system using a master authorization code."
"There are only three people with that clearance."
The room fell silent.
Alejandro slowly looked at the list on the screen.
Himself.
The head of security.
And...
Ricardo Salazar.
Meanwhile, Valeria searched places the guards ignored.
She remembered how Mateo always sought quiet places when he was frightened.
She checked the library.
The chapel.
The music room.
Nothing.
Finally, she stopped outside the forbidden north wing.
The hallway was empty.
She slowly opened the bedroom door.
Everything inside remained exactly as they had left it.
Except for one thing.
The rocking chair was moving.
Very gently.
Back and forth.
As if someone had just stood up.
"Mateo?"
Silence.
She walked farther inside.
Then she heard it.
A faint tapping sound.
Three taps.
Pause.
Three taps again.
She followed the sound toward the portrait of Elena.
It was coming from behind the wall.
The hidden door.
Valeria carefully pressed the same spot Mateo had shown her the night before.
The panel slid open.
Behind it was a narrow wooden staircase leading downward into darkness.
The tapping continued.
Her heart raced.
She stepped onto the first stair.
The air grew colder.
Dust covered every step.
No one had cleaned this passage in years.
At the bottom, she reached another door.
It wasn't locked.
She pushed it open.
The room beyond was small.
Bare.
No windows.
Old shelves lined the walls.
Boxes filled with family photographs, letters, and children's toys were stacked neatly in one corner.
In the center of the room sat Mateo.
Curled into a ball.
Holding his stuffed rabbit.
The moment he saw Valeria, tears filled his eyes.
She hurried over and knelt beside him.
"There you are."
Mateo threw his arms around her.
She hugged him tightly.
"You're safe."
He pointed upward toward the ceiling.
Then toward the door.
Then quickly shook his head.
Someone had frightened him.
"Did someone bring you here?"
Mateo slowly nodded.
"Who?"
His little face turned pale.
He reached for an old notepad lying on one of the shelves.
With a trembling hand, he drew a simple picture.
A tall man.
A flower.
A smiling face.
Then...
A knife.
Before Valeria could ask another question, she heard footsteps overhead.
Someone was walking inside Elena's bedroom.
Slow.
Careful.
Watching.
Valeria quietly blew out the small lantern she had found on the shelf.
The room disappeared into darkness.
The footsteps stopped directly above them.
Someone remained there for nearly a full minute.
Listening.
Waiting.
Finally...
The footsteps faded away.
Only then did Valeria breathe again.
She led Mateo safely back upstairs through the hidden staircase.
The moment Alejandro saw his son, he rushed forward.
"Mateo!"
He dropped to his knees and embraced the little boy.
For the first time in years...
Mateo didn't pull away.
Instead, he held onto his father.
Alejandro closed his eyes.
Relief washed over his face.
He looked at Valeria.
"Where did you find him?"
She hesitated.
"In the north wing."
Alejandro stiffened.
"You went in there?"
"Yes."
His expression darkened.
"I told everyone never to enter that part of the house."
"I know."
"Then why?"
"Because Mateo took me there."
Alejandro looked down at his son.
The little boy quietly nodded.
Alejandro didn't know what to say.
He simply stood in silence.
Later that night, after Mateo had finally fallen asleep, Alejandro asked Valeria and Doña Socorro to meet him in his private study.
No guards.
No staff.
Just the three of them.
Alejandro poured himself a glass of water but never drank it.
Instead, he stared into the darkness outside the window.
"I've spent two years trying to forget that room."
Doña Socorro gently replied,
"Some promises aren't meant to be forgotten."
Alejandro turned toward her.
"You knew."
She nodded.
"Yes."
"You've been keeping Elena's room exactly as she left it."
"Yes."
"You hid things from me."
Tears filled the elderly woman's eyes.
"I did."
"Why?"
She took a deep breath.
Then spoke the words she had carried in silence for two long years.
"Because Elena asked me to."
The room became perfectly still.
"Three days before she died," Doña Socorro continued, "she came to me crying."
"She said someone close to this family had betrayed her."
Alejandro's breathing slowed.
"She didn't know who."
"But she knew someone inside this house was secretly helping the people who wanted her dead."
Valeria glanced at Alejandro.
His face had gone completely pale.
"Elena made me promise something."
"What promise?" Alejandro whispered.
"If anything happened to her..."
"...I was never to tell you until I found someone she believed you could trust completely."
Alejandro looked stunned.
"And after two years..."
Doña Socorro slowly turned toward Valeria.
"I finally believe I've found that person."
Before anyone could respond, a sharp knock echoed at the study door.
One of the guards entered, visibly shaken.
"Sir..."
Alejandro straightened.
"What is it?"
The guard swallowed hard.
"We found someone in the surveillance room."
"Who?"
"He was dead."
The room fell silent.
The guard's voice dropped to barely a whisper.
"It was the head of security."
"He was murdered less than ten minutes ago."
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"And whoever killed him..."
"...stole every backup recording from the mansion."
