Chapter 6 - The Emergency Call
The emergency operator heard almost four minutes of audio.
Sofia’s voice.
Carmen’s demands.
The sound of pounding against the door.
Javier telling his new wife to cooperate.
When Carmen realized the call had not disconnected, she opened the security latch and shouted for Javier.
He entered immediately.
“What happened?”
“She called the police.”
Javier looked at Sofia.
Her dress was torn. Red marks were forming on her arms. Her eyes contained something he had never seen before.
Recognition.
Not of what Carmen was.
Of what he was.
“We need to leave,” Carmen said.
Javier picked up the scattered documents.
“Security will stop her downstairs.”
Sofia moved toward the door.
Javier blocked her.
“Listen to me,” he said. “This got out of control.”
“You stood outside.”
“I was trying to calm everyone down.”
“You told me to sign.”
“I didn’t know she was hurting you.”
“You heard me begging.”
Javier lowered his voice.
“We can fix this. But you cannot speak to the police while you’re emotional.”
Sofia stared at him.
“You’re afraid of what I’ll say.”
Carmen grabbed Javier’s arm.
“Get the documents.”
That moment saved Sofia.
While both of them looked down at the papers, she ran.
She left the suite barefoot, carrying the remains of her skirt in both hands.
At the end of the hallway, a service door stood open.
A hotel employee pushing a cart looked up in shock.
“Ma’am?”
“Please help me.”
The employee, a middle-aged woman named Teresa, took one look at Sofia and pulled her through the service doorway. She locked it behind them and called hotel security.
But the head of security had received instructions from Carmen’s event coordinator not to involve outsiders in “family matters.”
Teresa did not trust him.
She guided Sofia through a service elevator and into the hotel kitchen, then gave her a coat and led her to a loading exit.
Police vehicles were approaching the hotel’s main entrance.
Sofia panicked.
She knew Carmen employed former officers, attorneys, and political consultants. She did not know whom she could trust.
She called Elena.
Her mother answered on the first ring.
“Sofia? Where are you?”
“Mom, I need you.”
Elena heard her daughter’s voice and stopped asking questions.
She left the reception, took a taxi to the loading entrance, and found Sofia beside a row of delivery trucks.
Elena covered her with the coat and brought her to the apartment.
Once they were inside, Sofia collapsed onto the floor.
Elena called the police again.
Then she made another call.
Alexander was already driving away from the hotel when his phone rang.
He had left early after seeing Javier guide Sofia into the elevator with Carmen. Something about Sofia’s face had disturbed him, but he had told himself to respect her boundaries.
When Elena said, “Alexander, she needs you,” he turned the car around so sharply that another driver sounded his horn.
“What happened?”
“She came home injured.”
His hands tightened around the steering wheel.
“Who?”
“She says Carmen tried to force her to sign away the condo.”
Alexander closed his eyes briefly.
His worst suspicions had become reality.
“I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
Before calling him, Elena had believed Alexander would only come to comfort their daughter.
She did not know he had spent the previous month quietly assisting a federal task force investigating Morales Heritage Group.
He had stopped after Sofia accused him of interfering.
The investigators had not.
Now they had an emergency call, a potential forced property transfer, and a victim willing to speak.
Alexander made one final call while driving.
May you like
“This is Reyes,” he said. “The Morales situation is active. Send the team to Elena’s address.”
Then he pressed the record function on his phone and placed it in his shirt pocket.
