Chapter 6: The Enemy Inside the Mansion
The alarm continued screaming through the Aranda mansion.
Red emergency lights flashed across the walls, turning the elegant hallway into something unfamiliar.
Something dangerous.
Alejandro moved in front of Valeria instinctively.
Two years ago, he would have protected the family name.
Tonight, he protected his wife.
“Stay behind me,” he whispered.
Valeria grabbed his arm.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“I’m not hiding anymore.”
Those words surprised him.
The woman who had spent months afraid to speak was standing beside him now.
Not because she wasn’t scared.
Because she was tired of being scared.
A loud crash echoed from downstairs.
Then footsteps.
Slow.
Confident.
Someone wasn’t breaking into the mansion.
Someone was walking through it like they owned the place.
Alejandro opened the bedroom door slightly.
The hallway was empty.
But on the floor was a single object.
The envelope.
The evidence they had just found.
Someone had taken it.
His heart sank.
“How did they know?”
Valeria looked at him.
“They were listening.”
A cold realization passed between them.
The mansion had always been full of cameras.
Security systems.
Private staff.
Someone inside had access to everything.
Suddenly, Alejandro’s phone vibrated.
A message appeared.
Stop searching. Some truths are more expensive than money.
Alejandro stared at the screen.
Then another message arrived.
A photograph.
It showed Valeria sleeping in the hospital after a medical emergency months earlier.
The photo had been taken from inside her room.
His blood ran cold.
“They were watching her.”
Valeria covered her mouth.
“They were watching our baby.”
Before Alejandro could respond, a voice came from behind them.
“Looking for this?”
They turned.
Marcela stood at the end of the hallway.
Holding the envelope.
She no longer looked like the jealous sister pretending to be concerned.
She looked like someone who had finally stopped pretending.
“You?”
Alejandro’s voice was full of disbelief.
Marcela smiled sadly.
“You always were the easy one to manipulate, Alejandro.”
Valeria stepped forward.
“Why?”
Marcela laughed.
“Because you ruined everything.”
“I never did anything to you.”
“No?”
Marcela walked closer.
“You walked into this family with your innocent smile, and suddenly my brother stopped listening to us.”
Alejandro shook his head.
“That’s what this is about?”
“No.”
Her expression hardened.
“It’s about what happens when someone like you thinks they belong among people like us.”
She held up the envelope.
“You really think this paper can destroy the Arandas?”
Alejandro stared at her.
“No.”
He stepped forward.
“But it can reveal who we really are.”
For the first time, Marcela looked uncertain.
Because she realized something.
Alejandro was no longer afraid of losing the family empire.
He was ready to destroy it.
Then Doña Esther appeared behind Marcela.
And she spoke the words that changed everything.
“Your sister didn’t act alone.”
Alejandro froze.
His mother looked directly at him.
“The person who started this was not Marcela.”
A painful silence followed.
“Who was it?” Alejandro asked.
Doña Esther’s eyes moved toward Valeria.
May you like
And then she answered:
“Your father.”
