Chapter 9 - The Blackout

Darkness swallowed Castillo Manor.

Elena heard Sofia screaming inside.

She ran.

Alejandro followed.

Emergency lights flickered on several seconds later.

Rafael had disappeared.

So had three security guards.

Vivian remained outside, breathing heavily.

Alejandro turned toward her.

“Where will he go?”

“I don’t know.”

“You’ve worked with him for years.”

Vivian laughed bitterly.

“You still think Rafael tells anyone everything?”

Inside the mansion, Thomas secured the children in Alejandro’s private office.

It had a reinforced door and independent phone line.

The line was dead.

Dr. Vega opened the waterproof pouch.

Inside were medical records.

Photographs.

Copies of passports.

Bank transfers.

Video files.

And several handwritten notes.

Elena recognized her own handwriting.

“What are those?”

Isabel looked ashamed.

“Statements you wrote during treatment.”

Elena opened one.

Alejandro wants my children.

Another read.

If I return home, he will kill me.

Elena covered her mouth.

“I believed that.”

“They conditioned you.”

Isabel explained that the clinic repeatedly administered sedatives while Vivian supplied false evidence.

They manipulated sleep.

Isolated Elena.

Repeated fabricated stories.

Whenever Elena questioned the narrative, Rafael threatened the unborn twins.

Alejandro sat beside his wife.

“I should have found you.”

Elena looked at him.

“You were searching the world.”

“They made me believe the one place I could never return was home.”

Vivian stood near the doorway.

“That was the point.”

Alejandro turned.

“How did you hide her from investigators?”

“Money.”

“Fake passports.”

“Private medical facilities.”

“People who prefer cash to questions.”

Vivian paused.

“And because Rafael knew exactly who you hired.”

Alejandro frowned.

“What does that mean?”

“One of your investigators worked for us.”

Alejandro thought of dozens of names.

Then one stood out.

Daniel Mercer.

The investigator who had handled Elena’s case from the first month.

The man Alejandro trusted most.

Vivian nodded.

“Daniel gave Rafael every lead.”

Alejandro felt sick.

Three years of searches had been manipulated from inside.

Then Thomas found something in the files.

“Alejandro.”

He handed him a photograph.

It showed Elena unconscious in a hospital bed.

Vivian stood beside her.

Rafael stood near the window.

And in the background was a third man.

Alejandro recognized him instantly.

His father’s longtime attorney.

Samuel Crane.

The man currently controlling the Castillo family trust.

Alejandro looked at Vivian.

“He’s involved?”

Vivian’s face changed.

“Rafael never told me Crane was at the clinic.”

A new realization spread through the room.

Rafael was not running the conspiracy.

Someone above him was.

Then the mansion intercom crackled.

Samuel Crane’s voice came through the speakers.

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“Good evening, Alejandro.”

“I believe it’s finally time we discuss your inheritance.”