Chapter 6 - The Empty Playroom
Diego’s phone rang as he entered Cuernavaca.
He answered immediately.
Teresa was crying.
“Señor Diego, forgive me. I only left the room for two minutes.”
“What happened?”
“Valentina is missing.”
The world narrowed to a single sentence.
Marisol saw the change in his face.
“What is it?”
Diego could barely speak.
“They took her.”
Marisol grabbed the phone.
“Teresa, where is my daughter?”
“The window was open. Security found a guard unconscious near the garden.”
Marisol’s knees buckled.
Diego caught her.
“We’re turning back,” he told the driver.
Then another call arrived.
Unknown number.
Diego answered on speaker.
Paulina’s voice filled the vehicle.
“Do not return to Mexico City.”
Marisol froze.
“Where is Valentina?” Diego demanded.
“She is safe.”
Marisol screamed, “Let me speak to her!”
A tiny voice came through.
“Mamá?”
Marisol broke.
“Valentina! Are you hurt?”
“I want my rabbit.”
“I have it. I’m coming.”
Paulina returned to the line.
“If you want to see her again, continue to the hotel.”
Diego’s grip tightened around the phone.
“What do you want?”
“The archive.”
“You kidnapped a child.”
“I protected my future.”
“You no longer have a future.”
“That depends on what you find beneath the hotel.”
“What is in the archive?”
“The reason your father chose me.”
The call ended.
Marisol turned on Diego.
“You left her.”
“So did you.”
The words escaped before she could stop them.
Pain crossed both their faces.
Then Marisol closed her eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
“You are right,” Diego said. “I should have stayed.”
“No. They forced us away from her.”
The head of security said, “The fastest way to reach the child may be to follow instructions.”
Marisol wiped her tears.
“Then we go to the hotel.”
The abandoned Hotel Villaseñor stood behind rusted gates on the edge of Cuernavaca.
Its white walls were cracked. Vines climbed across broken balconies. Once, wealthy families had gathered there for weddings and political dinners.
Now the place looked dead.
Diego led the group through the lobby.
Dust covered the marble.
The old reception desk remained in place.
Marisol noticed a symbol carved beneath it—a black crown identical to the attacker’s tattoo.
“The Robles family has been here,” she said.
Diego pushed the desk aside.
Behind it was a steel door.
A numeric keypad glowed faintly.
“What is the code?” the guard asked.
Diego studied the portraits on the wall.
His father’s first hotel had opened on June 17, 1989.
He entered 061789.
The lock clicked.
A staircase descended underground.
At the bottom was a climate-controlled archive filled with metal cabinets, ledgers, cassette tapes, photographs, and sealed boxes.
One wall displayed a family tree.
Diego stepped closer.
His name appeared near the center.
Below it was an empty line marked: Biological heir.
Another branch led to Paulina Robles.
Her name was connected to a handwritten note:
Marriage required before acknowledgment of heir.
Marisol stared.
“They planned your marriage.”
“Long before I met her.”
The guards opened filing cabinets.
Inside were contracts between Alejandro Villaseñor and Octavio Robles, Paulina’s father.
The two families had created secret companies used to transfer public construction funds into private accounts.
One document contained signatures from Rafael, Alejandro, and Octavio.
Another listed Diego as the future legal owner of debts he had never known existed.
“They wanted you to marry Paulina so the companies would merge,” Marisol said.
“And if Valentina is legally recognized, the trust prevents Paulina from gaining control.”
A child’s cry echoed through the speakers.
“Mamá!”
Marisol spun around.
“Valentina!”
A monitor turned on.
Valentina sat in a small room holding her knees.
Paulina stood behind her.
“Open cabinet nineteen,” Paulina said through the speaker.
Diego found it.
Inside was a red folder.
“Burn it,” Paulina ordered.
Diego opened the folder.
The first page was his father’s autopsy report.
Cause of death: induced cardiac failure caused by digitalis poisoning.
Signed by a private physician connected to the Robles family.
Diego’s hands began to shake.
Paulina smiled on the screen.
“Your father discovered Rafael and my father were stealing from him. He planned to expose them.”
“You killed him.”
“I was not involved.”
“You knew.”
“I learned later.”
“Where is Valentina?”
“Burn the folder and every record in the room.”
Marisol moved toward the camera.
“Paulina, she is a child. She has done nothing to you.”
“She took everything from me.”
“She did not take Diego. You never had him.”
Paulina’s face twisted.
“Burn the archive.”
Diego lifted the red folder.
Then he threw it into a security case.
“No.”
Paulina placed one hand on Valentina’s shoulder.
The child flinched.
Marisol’s voice became deadly calm.
“Touch her again, and I will never stop hunting you.”
Paulina leaned toward the camera.
“You have thirty minutes.”
The screen went black.
A timer appeared.
29:59.
May you like
Then smoke began pouring from vents in the ceiling.
---
