Chapter 2 - the red truck
The Valdés estate stood behind high limestone walls on the northern edge of the city.
Camila had once believed the house was the largest building in the world. As a child, she had counted 38 windows from the front lawn before losing track. The courtyard fountains had seemed like rivers, and the olive orchard beyond the rear terrace had felt endless.
Now the estate looked less like a home and more like a fortress.
Daniel slowed the car as they approached the iron gate.
Two security guards stepped from the gatehouse. One checked the vehicle registration while the other examined Camila through the window.
“They knew we were coming,” Daniel said quietly.
“They always make visitors wait.”
“You’re not a visitor.”
“At this house, I am.”
Sofia sat in the back seat wearing a pale yellow dress. She held a cloth rabbit against her chest and watched the guards with wide eyes.
When the gate finally opened, Camila saw a row of black cars parked along the driveway. Octavio’s birthday celebration was still 2 days away, but relatives and business associates had already arrived.
Teresa waited at the top of the front steps.
Her silver hair was arranged perfectly. Her navy dress fell in sharp lines around her, and the pearls at her throat were the same ones she had worn to Camila’s mother’s funeral.
“Camila,” she said.
There was no warmth in her voice.
“Grandmother.”
Teresa’s attention moved immediately to Sofia.
For a moment, something softened in her expression.
Then the front door opened and Mariela stepped outside.
She was dressed in cream trousers and a sleeveless black blouse. Her son, Iker, followed several steps behind her.
“So you actually came,” Mariela said.
“You invited me.”
“I did not.”
Teresa glanced at her.
“The invitation was sent with my approval.”
“That is not what you told me yesterday.”
A silence passed between them.
Daniel removed Sofia’s small suitcase from the car.
“We can find a hotel,” he said.
Octavio’s voice came from inside the doorway.
“No.”
Camila looked up.
Her grandfather seemed smaller than she remembered. He leaned heavily on a dark wooden walking stick, and his face had thinned since his operation. Yet his eyes remained sharp.
“You will stay here,” he said. “This is still your family’s house.”
Camila almost laughed.
The last time she had stood on those steps, Octavio had ordered a driver to take her away.
Before she could reply, Sofia pointed toward Iker.
“Boy.”
Iker smiled nervously.
“Hi.”
He was thin for his age, with dark hair that fell over his forehead. In his hands was a bright red metal truck.
Sofia reached toward it.
“Truck.”
Every adult near the door became still.
Daniel looked at Camila.
The anonymous warning echoed in her mind.
Do not let the child touch the red truck.
Mariela pulled Iker backward.
“Take it inside.”
“But she likes it.”
“I said inside.”
Iker lowered his eyes and obeyed.
Sofia watched the truck disappear through the doorway.
Then she began to cry.
Teresa exhaled impatiently.
“She cannot have everything she wants.”
“She’s 2,” Daniel said.
Mariela turned toward him.
“And you must be Daniel.”
“I am.”
“The man who encouraged Camila to challenge the trust.”
Camila’s attention sharpened.
“What trust?”
Mariela smiled faintly.
“You came here without knowing?”
“Mariela,” Octavio warned.
But the damage was done.
Daniel stepped closer to Camila.
“Someone mentioned the same trust to you?”
“No one had to. Everyone in this family knows why you brought the child.”
Camila felt her anger rising.
“I brought Sofia because Grandmother said Grandfather was ill.”
“And because Sofia turned 2.”
Octavio struck the bottom of his walking stick against the stone.
“That is enough.”
Mariela stopped speaking, but her expression remained triumphant.
Inside the entrance hall, Sofia noticed a large portrait above the staircase.
It showed Camila’s mother, Elena, standing beneath an olive tree. She was holding the red truck.
Not one like it.
The same one.
Camila recognized the dent near the front wheel.
She moved closer to the portrait.
“That truck belonged to my mother.”
Iker appeared at the top of the stairs, still holding it.
“My mother said it was hers.”
Mariela’s smile vanished.
“Go to your room.”
Iker looked at Camila.
“Grandfather gave it to me after the locked room was opened.”
Octavio gripped his walking stick tighter.
“What locked room?” Daniel asked.
No one answered.
Then the lights in the entrance hall flickered.
For less than a second, the security panel beside the front door illuminated.
Daniel saw a warning message on the screen.
COURTYARD CAMERA ARCHIVE ACCESSED.
May you like
He looked toward the staircase.
Someone upstairs was already watching them.
