Chapter 12 - Ashes and Evidence

Smoke filled the corridor.

Alejandro opened his eyes.

His ears rang.

Elena lay several feet away.

He crawled toward her.

“Elena.”

She coughed.

“I’m okay.”

Vivian was bleeding from a cut above her eyebrow but remained conscious.

Isabel helped Thomas stand.

The surveillance room burned.

Years of evidence disappeared into flames.

Alejandro stared at the fire.

“Crane planned everything.”

Vivian shook her head.

“Not everything.”

She reached inside her dress and pulled out a small silver key.

“I copied the most important files two years ago.”

Elena stared.

“Why?”

“Because I stopped trusting Rafael.”

Vivian looked toward the children’s room.

“And because I knew someday I might need insurance.”

“Where?”

Vivian smiled faintly.

“In the last place Rafael would search.”

Police breached the front doors downstairs.

Alejandro raised his hands when tactical officers entered the upper hallway.

“Do not shoot.”

He identified himself.

An agent stepped forward.

“Mr. Castillo, you are being detained pending investigation into the unlawful confinement of Elena Castillo.”

Elena pushed herself upright.

“He didn’t imprison me.”

The agent looked at her.

“Mrs. Castillo?”

“My husband is innocent.”

“We’ll discuss that separately.”

Alejandro looked at the agent’s badge.

FBI.

That complicated everything.

Vivian whispered.

“Crane owns people in local law enforcement.”

“Federal is harder.”

Alejandro allowed himself to be handcuffed.

“Elena, stay with the children.”

She grabbed his face.

“I lost three years.”

“I’m not losing you now.”

Alejandro was taken downstairs.

Outside, media trucks were already gathering.

Someone had alerted reporters before police arrived.

Headlines were being manufactured in real time.

BILLIONAIRE’S MISSING WIFE FOUND IN SECRET UNDERGROUND ROOMS.

Alejandro understood Crane’s final weapon.

Public opinion.

As agents placed him in a vehicle, he saw Samuel Crane standing beyond the police line.

Holding an umbrella.

Watching.

Their eyes met.

Crane smiled.

Then Vivian appeared at the mansion entrance.

She called out.

“Samuel.”

Crane turned.

Vivian raised the silver key.

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His smile disappeared.

For the first time all night, Samuel Crane looked genuinely afraid.