Chapter 4 : The Traitor Within
The ride back to the mansion was suffocating. Lucía’s mind raced through every maid, every chef, every security guard they had hired over the past seven years. Who could it be?
As soon as they arrived, Rafael called Vargas into the study.
"I want a full background check run again on every single staff member," Rafael ordered, his voice trembling with suppressed rage. "Bank accounts, phone records, family ties. Everything. No one leaves the estate, and no one makes an outside call."
Vargas, a stoic man with a scar over his left eyebrow, nodded sharply. "Understood, Mr. Alcázar. We will lock down communications."
As Vargas turned to leave, Lucía noticed something. A subtle, almost imperceptible hesitation in his step. She watched his hand as he reached for the doorknob; his knuckles were white.
"Vargas," Lucía said softly.
He stopped, turning his head slightly. "Yes, Ms. Márquez?"
"How is your daughter doing? Isabel, right? The one in the private clinic in Switzerland?"
Vargas’s jaw tightened. "She is... improving. Thank you." He quickly exited the room.
Lucía turned to Rafael, her heart pounding against her ribs. "Rafael, how much does Vargas make?"
"A hundred thousand euros a year. Why?"
"The clinic his daughter is in... I looked it up months ago when we were discussing employee benefits. It costs over four hundred thousand euros a year just for the baseline treatments. I assumed you were subsidizing it."
Rafael frowned. "I'm not."
The realization hit them both simultaneously. Vargas. The man in charge of their security, the man who had the codes to every door, the schedules for every patrol, the man who guarded Mateo’s bedroom door.
"Oh my God," Rafael breathed. He lunged for the intercom on his desk. "Security room. This is Alcázar. Detain Vargas immediately."
Static crackled back. Nothing.
"Security room, answer me!"
More static. Then, a voice came through. It wasn't one of the guards. It was Vargas.
"I’m sorry, Mr. Alcázar. I really am. But El Cuervo promised me the money to save my little girl. I can't let her die."
Suddenly, the heavy mahogany doors of the study clicked. The automated lockdown system had been engaged. Rafael ran to the door and pulled the handle. Locked.
"He's trapped us in here!" Rafael yelled, frantically typing his master override code into the keypad by the door. [ACCESS DENIED] flashed in red letters.
Lucía grabbed her phone. "No signal. He's activated the jammer."
A horrific sound echoed through the mansion walls. The sound of shattered glass coming from the second floor. The nursery.
"Mateo!" Rafael screamed, grabbing a heavy brass statue from his desk and smashing it against the reinforced glass of the study doors. It barely made a scratch.
Lucía’s eyes darted around the room. Her gaze landed on the antique air vent near the ceiling. "Rafael! The ventilation shaft! It connects to the old servant corridors."
Without hesitation, Rafael dragged a heavy bookshelf under the vent. He climbed up, using the brass statue to smash the grate inward. He hoisted himself into the narrow, dusty shaft, reaching down to pull Lucía up behind him.
They crawled in total darkness, the metal scraping their hands and knees. They could hear heavy footsteps echoing in the hallways below them.
"Find the boy! Bring him to the extraction point!" a voice yelled.
Rafael pushed forward desperately. They reached the grate overlooking the second-floor hallway. Through the slats, they saw three men dressed in tactical gear kicking down the door to Mateo's nursery.
Lucía felt a scream build in her chest.
They kicked out the grate and dropped into the hallway just as one of the men emerged from the nursery.
But he didn't have Mateo.
"The room is empty!" the man yelled to his accomplices. "The kid isn't here!"
Rafael tackled the man, his fists flying with the fury of a father pushed to the absolute edge. Lucía didn't wait. She knew this house better than anyone. She knew every hiding spot.
She ran toward the master bedroom, sliding under the bed to access the hidden panic room Elena had designed years ago—a feature not on the official blueprints.
She pressed the concealed button. The panel slid open.
Inside, curled into a tight ball and crying silently, was Mateo.
May you like
"Aunt Luz," he sobbed, throwing his arms around her neck.
"I've got you," she whispered fiercely, tears streaming down her face. "I've got you. They will never take you."
