Chapter 15 - WHEN THE LIGHTS WENT OUT
The mansion lost power at 11:43 p.m.
Backup generators activated eleven seconds later.
Eleven seconds was enough.
An alarm sounded near the west entrance.
Security rushed toward it.
Then another alarm triggered near the garage.
Tomas immediately understood.
“Distraction.”
Roberto ran upstairs.
“Sofía!”
Her bedroom door was open.
The bed was empty.
Roberto’s heart stopped.
Then a small voice came from the bathroom.
“Daddy?”
He found her crouched beside the tub with María.
Relief nearly dropped him to his knees.
“What happened?”
María was breathing hard.
“Someone opened the bedroom door.”
“The lights went out.”
“I heard footsteps.”
“I pulled Sofía into here.”
Tomas entered seconds later.
“Perimeter breach.”
“Who?”
“Unknown.”
“One camera caught a figure.”
They reviewed the footage.
Black clothes.
Baseball cap.
Face partially hidden.
The person never reached Sofía.
But they left something behind.
A red silk scarf.
Vanessa’s perfume lingered on it.
The same perfume Sofía knew instantly.
“She was here.”
Sofía whispered.
Roberto looked at Tomas.
“How did she get through the gate?”
Tomas pulled system logs.
Someone used an old access code.
A code assigned years earlier.
To Elena.
Roberto stared at the screen.
Vanessa had somehow obtained his dead wife’s security credentials.
Marcus investigated.
The code had been copied from an old household emergency document stored in Sebastian’s office.
Sebastian swore he did not give it to her.
This time Roberto believed him.
Because Vanessa had stolen files from everyone.
She trusted no one.
The failed break-in changed the hearing.
Police provided evidence of an active threat.
Child welfare restrictions were removed.
Sofía would remain with Roberto.
For the first time in days, they had won something.
But victory lasted less than an hour.
Tomas discovered a second intrusion.
Not physical.
Digital.
Someone had entered the company network during the blackout.
Highly confidential files had been copied.
Banking data.
Board communications.
Trust documents.
And a file labeled SUCCESSION.
Vanessa had spent years watching Roberto.
She understood his greatest vulnerability was not money.
It was control.
If she could destabilize the company while criminal accusations surrounded him, she could create chaos large enough to hide inside.
The board called an emergency meeting.
Several directors wanted Roberto to take temporary leave.
He refused.
Then the CFO spoke.
“Roberto, there is something you need to know.”
“What?”
“A transfer request was submitted twenty minutes ago.”
“How much?”
“Six hundred million dollars.”
Roberto stared at him.
“From where?”
“The family investment trust.”
“Who authorized it?”
The CFO turned the laptop.
Two digital signatures appeared.
Vanessa Salazar.
And Roberto Salazar.
Roberto had never signed it.
But the biometric authentication showed his fingerprint.
Somehow Vanessa had duplicated his identity.
The transfer would finalize in six hours.
May you like
And unless Roberto could stop it, Vanessa would disappear with enough money to vanish forever.
---
