Chapter 9 - The House Had Another Secret
Roberto doubled security.
Nobody entered the mansion without clearance.
Sofía hated the change.
“There are too many footsteps.”
Roberto sat beside her at the piano.
“You can hear that?”
“I hear everything.”
She smiled faintly.
“That’s why Vanessa hated when I listened.”
Roberto’s heart tightened.
“What do you mean?”
“She said listening was rude.”
“Did she talk to people here?”
“Sometimes.”
“Who?”
Sofía tilted her head.
“A man.”
“When?”
“At night.”
Roberto tried to keep his voice steady.
“What did he sound like?”
“Like he had rocks in his throat.”
“Did you know his name?”
“No.”
“But Vanessa called him Gabe once.”
Gabriel.
Roberto immediately called Mateo.
Security records showed no visits from Gabriel.
Then Sofía added.
“He didn’t use the front door.”
Everyone stopped.
“What door did he use?”
“The one downstairs.”
Roberto frowned.
“There is no downstairs entrance.”
Sofía shook her head.
“Yes.”
“I heard Vanessa open it.”
María looked confused.
Roberto had lived in the mansion for twelve years.
There was a wine cellar.
Utility rooms.
A gym.
No exterior basement entrance.
Mateo pulled up the original architectural plans.
A sealed service tunnel had once connected the mansion to an old carriage house.
It had supposedly been closed during renovation.
They found the entrance behind built-in shelving in the wine cellar.
The lock was new.
Inside the tunnel were footprints.
Cigarette butts.
And a small folding table.
On it sat a disposable phone charger.
Gabriel had been entering Roberto’s house without using the security system.
Possibly for years.
At the end of the tunnel, investigators found a storage room.
Inside were boxes.
Documents.
Copies of Roberto’s financial statements.
Sofía’s medical records.
Elena’s foundation files.
Photographs of María.
Photographs of Roberto.
Photographs of Sofía.
Roberto felt sick.
Then Mateo opened one final box.
Inside were several bottles of Sofía’s prescribed medication.
Most were unopened.
Beside them were bottles containing the sedative Vanessa had been giving her.
Maya whispered.
“She was replacing the medicine.”
Roberto looked at the quantities.
“How long?”
Dr. Keller calculated quickly.
“Possibly six months.”
Sofía had been sleeping more during that period.
Struggling at lessons.
Losing confidence moving independently.
Vanessa had blamed it on trauma.
Roberto had believed her.
Then investigators found something else.
A handwritten evaluation.
It described Sofía as increasingly incapable of self-care.
The document was prepared for a future guardianship hearing.
The author was not a doctor.
It was Vanessa.
At the bottom, she had written.
Within twelve months, Roberto will accept that institutional care may be necessary.
Roberto stared at the sentence until the words blurred.
She had intended to remove Sofía from her own home.
Then control the trust.
Mateo’s radio crackled.
“Sir.”
“Someone just triggered the alarm at Sofía’s therapy center.”
Roberto looked toward the hallway.
Sofía was supposed to have therapy there tomorrow.
Maya’s expression changed.
“Someone is checking the building.”
Roberto’s phone buzzed.
A message from an unknown number appeared.
You should have let my sister handle the girl.
May you like
Gabriel had finally made contact.
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