Chapter 3 - THE CAMERAS BEHIND THE WALLS
Alejandro returned to the mansion after midnight.
Valentina remained at the hospital under Javier’s protection.
Mónica had locked herself inside the master suite with an attorney.
Alejandro did not approach her.
He went to the basement security room.
The visible system displayed nineteen days of empty screens.
The hidden archive sat behind a steel panel installed after Valentina’s mother, Isabel, received kidnapping threats years earlier.
Only Alejandro and Javier knew it existed.
Isabel had designed the password.
VALENTINA’S BIRTHDAY.
The archive opened.
Alejandro selected the first day after his departure.
The living-room footage showed Mónica smiling during a video call with him.
Valentina sat beside her.
“Tell Daddy you had a wonderful day,” Mónica said.
Valentina looked toward the camera.
“We had a wonderful day.”
The moment the call ended, Mónica’s smile vanished.
She grabbed Valentina’s arm.
“You made me repeat myself twice.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You always are.”
She pulled the child from the sofa and locked her inside a dark storage closet.
Alejandro stopped the video.
His hands shook.
Javier stood behind him without speaking.
Alejandro forced himself to continue.
The next recording showed Mónica removing food from Valentina’s plate because she had spilled water.
Another showed her taking the child’s stuffed bear and placing it inside the glass cabinet.
Another showed her ordering Valentina to stand facing a wall for three hours.
Rosa tried to intervene.
Mónica threatened to report Rosa’s son to immigration authorities.
The threat was meaningless.
Rosa’s son was a Mexican citizen living legally in Texas.
But Mónica relied on fear, not facts.
The recordings grew worse.
Mónica pushed Valentina into a cold shower while she cried.
She forced her to repeat:
“I am difficult.”
“I make Daddy unhappy.”
“I should be grateful Mónica stays.”
Alejandro covered his mouth.
He had been attending meetings in Cancún.
Signing hotel contracts.
Discussing expansion plans.
Each night, Mónica placed Valentina beside her during video calls.
Each night, his daughter said she was fine.
Not because she wanted to deceive him.
Because she had been trained to survive the call.
Then a man appeared in the footage.
Ricardo Salazar.
Mónica’s older brother.
He entered through the garden door carrying a briefcase.
Mónica kissed his cheek.
“She still refuses to say she wants Alejandro gone.”
Ricardo opened the briefcase.
“Then increase the medication.”
“And keep documenting the tantrums.”
Mónica glanced toward the hidden camera without seeing it.
“Once he believes his daughter is unstable, he will sign anything.”
Ricardo placed legal documents on the table.
At the top was a petition requesting permanent guardianship of Valentina.
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Below it was another document.
A transfer of the child’s inheritance.
