Chapter 6: The First Betrayal
Chapter 6: The First Betrayal
Silence swallowed Alejandro's study.
No one moved.
No one spoke.
The guard stood frozen in the doorway, his face drained of color.
Alejandro was the first to react.
"Take me there."
"Yes, sir."
He turned to Valeria.
"Stay with Mateo."
Before she could answer, Doña Socorro placed a gentle hand on Alejandro's arm.
"You shouldn't go alone."
Alejandro's expression hardened.
"Whoever did this is still inside my house."
"Exactly," she replied.
For a brief moment, the room fell quiet again.
Then Alejandro looked at two of his most trusted guards.
"You're with me."
Within seconds, they disappeared down the hallway.
The surveillance room sat beneath the west wing of the mansion.
Its reinforced steel door had been forced open from the inside.
Alejandro stepped in.
The room smelled of burnt electronics and gunpowder.
Every monitor had been smashed.
Hard drives lay scattered across the floor.
The main server cabinet had been ripped open.
Near the center of the room lay the body of Martín Ortega, the head of security.
He had worked for the Ríos family for nearly fifteen years.
He was loyal.
Disciplined.
A former army captain who had once taken a bullet protecting Alejandro.
Now he lay motionless beside his desk.
There was no sign of a struggle.
No overturned furniture.
No defensive wounds.
Only a small, clean gunshot wound behind his right ear.
Execution style.
Alejandro slowly knelt beside him.
His jaw tightened.
"This wasn't personal."
One of the guards nodded.
"The killer knew exactly what he was doing."
Alejandro noticed something in Martín's left hand.
A torn piece of paper.
He carefully unfolded it.
Only three words remained.
...don't trust...
The rest had been ripped away.
Meanwhile, upstairs, Valeria sat beside Mateo's bed.
The little boy had finally fallen asleep.
His breathing was calm for the first time since she had met him.
She quietly reached into her apron and removed Elena's journal.
Only two pages remained.
She read them again.
Every word.
Every sentence.
Then something caught her attention.
The second page ended strangely.
The final sentence simply stopped.
The evidence is hidden where he always...
Nothing else.
The page had been torn.
Valeria frowned.
She turned the journal upside down.
A tiny folded slip of paper slipped from the spine and landed on the blanket.
She unfolded it carefully.
It wasn't part of the journal.
It was a receipt.
Faded.
Nearly unreadable.
The date was three days before Elena's death.
The location:
San Gabriel Bookstore.
On the back, written in Elena's handwriting, were four words.
Trust the old gardener.
Valeria stared at the note.
Esteban.
Before she could think further, someone knocked softly on the bedroom door.
She quickly hid everything.
"Come in."
It was one of the younger maids.
"Miss Gómez?"
"Yes?"
"Mr. Ríos asked me to bring you this."
She handed Valeria a small envelope.
Inside was a simple note.
Meet me in the library. Alone.
No signature.
Valeria frowned.
Alejandro wouldn't send such a vague message.
She looked up.
"Who gave this to you?"
"I... I don't know."
"You didn't see him?"
The maid shook her head.
"It was already waiting at the servants' desk."
Valeria smiled politely.
"Thank you."
As soon as the girl left, Valeria examined the handwriting.
It wasn't Alejandro's.
Instead of going directly to the library, Valeria stopped by Doña Socorro's room.
The elderly housekeeper immediately noticed the note.
"You weren't supposed to receive this."
"You've seen this handwriting before?"
Doña Socorro nodded slowly.
"It belongs to Elena."
Valeria looked confused.
"That's impossible."
"It isn't Elena's actual handwriting."
"What do you mean?"
"Years ago, Elena and I created a simple code."
The old woman pointed to one tiny detail.
"The letter 'M.'"
Valeria looked closely.
Instead of ending with a straight line, it curved slightly inward.
"So?"
"So Elena only wrote that way when she believed someone else might read her messages."
"You think this is another code?"
"I do."
Valeria turned the note over.
Nothing.
Blank.
Doña Socorro walked to a cabinet and removed a small candle.
She carefully held the paper above the warmth.
Slowly...
Faint brown letters began appearing between the original words.
Invisible ink.
Valeria read the hidden message.
Library. Second shelf. Red dictionary. Before sunrise.
Both women exchanged astonished looks.
"This was meant for someone."
Valeria whispered,
"For me."
The mansion was silent just before dawn.
Most of the staff had gone to bed after the night's chaos.
Valeria quietly entered the library.
Rows of towering bookshelves stretched from floor to ceiling.
She counted.
First shelf.
Second shelf.
There.
A large red dictionary.
She carefully pulled it forward.
Click.
A hidden compartment opened inside the shelf.
Resting within it was a small velvet pouch.
She opened it.
Inside lay an old brass key.
Along with a folded note.
This one was unquestionably written by Elena.
If you've reached this point, someone I trusted has already betrayed us. Don't tell Alejandro until you know who. He loves too deeply to see clearly. The key opens the place where I hid the truth. But never go there alone.
Valeria's pulse quickened.
Before she could read further—
A floorboard creaked behind her.
She spun around.
No one.
The library was empty.
Or so it seemed.
Then...
She noticed something reflected in the library window.
Someone was standing behind the bookshelf.
Watching her.
Only the reflection was visible.
A tall figure dressed entirely in black.
The moment Valeria turned toward the aisle—
The figure disappeared.
She rushed forward.
Nothing.
Only silence.
But on the polished wooden floor...
Fresh muddy footprints led toward a side exit that opened into the garden.
Valeria hurried to the doorway just in time to see a shadow disappear into the darkness.
She started to follow.
Then froze.
The brass key in her hand suddenly felt warm.
She looked down.
Tiny engraved letters surrounded its handle.
Greenhouse.
At that exact moment, the mansion's grandfather clock struck five.
From somewhere outside...
A single gunshot shattered the morning silence.
May you like
Then came a scream.
It was Esteban.
