Chapter 4 - the message inside the toy
Daniel tried the door twice before accepting that it had been secured from the outside.
“There’s no signal,” Camila said, checking her phone.
“The concrete walls are blocking it.”
“What about Sofia?”
“The monitor showed her sleeping. She was alone.”
“That was minutes ago.”
Daniel returned to the electrical panels.
“Help me find a manual release.”
Camila searched the walls while fighting the urge to panic. She could imagine Sofia waking in an unfamiliar room and calling for her. She could imagine Mariela entering before they returned.
The thought made her pull harder at every cabinet door.
Behind a row of cables, Daniel found a ventilation opening large enough to reach through. On the other side was a latch connected to the staircase door.
He pushed a metal rod through the opening.
The latch shifted.
Before he could try again, footsteps sounded above them.
The lock clicked.
Octavio opened the door.
He stared at them from the top of the stairs.
“What are you doing here?”
“Watching a recording of my mother,” Camila replied.
Octavio slowly descended.
He saw Elena’s frozen image on the monitor and closed his eyes.
“You were never meant to find this room.”
“Someone left a note in my music box.”
“Then someone is moving faster than I expected.”
Daniel stepped between Octavio and the equipment.
“Who installed the camera in our bedroom?”
“I did not know that camera was active.”
“That is not an answer.”
Octavio leaned on his walking stick.
“The original system was installed by Elena. She believed someone was stealing documents from the family archive.”
“Who?”
“She never told me.”
“She died the next day,” Camila said.
Octavio’s silence was enough.
“You think her death was connected.”
“I think your mother discovered something dangerous.”
“And you let me believe she died in an ordinary accident.”
“I wanted you outside this house.”
“You threw me away.”
“I sent you away before the same people could reach you.”
Camila stared at him.
For years, she had imagined Octavio apologizing. She had imagined feeling relief when he admitted he had made a mistake.
Instead, she felt only anger.
“You could have told me.”
“You were 19.”
“I was her daughter.”
“And you were reckless. You would have confronted everyone in the house.”
“I’m confronting them now.”
“Yes,” Octavio replied. “That is why I am afraid.”
Daniel returned to the video.
“Elena said the truck had to be given to Camila before the trust changed hands.”
Octavio nodded.
“The truck contains something.”
“What?”
“I don’t know. It disappeared after her death.”
“Until it was found in the locked room,” Camila said.
“It was not found. It was placed there 3 weeks ago.”
Daniel looked at him.
“By whom?”
“We don’t know.”
Octavio led them upstairs.
Sofia was still asleep when they entered the bedroom. Teresa sat beside the bed, her hands folded in her lap.
“You left her alone,” she said.
“We were locked in the room beneath the stairs,” Camila replied.
Teresa’s expression changed.
“You found it.”
“You knew?”
“I knew Elena built a private recording system. I did not know Octavio kept it.”
Octavio remained near the doorway.
“We need the truck.”
Teresa looked toward him.
“You promised not to involve the children.”
“They were involved before Camila arrived.”
At sunrise, Octavio summoned Iker to the library.
The boy carried the red truck with both hands.
Mariela stood behind him.
“No,” she said. “It belongs to him.”
Octavio ignored her.
“Iker, may I borrow the truck?”
The boy looked at Camila.
“You can give it to Sofia.”
Mariela seized his shoulder.
“He said borrow, not give.”
Iker pulled away from her and placed the truck on the carpet.
Sofia toddled toward it.
Camila lifted her before she could touch it.
The anonymous warning still frightened her.
Daniel put on a pair of gloves and examined the toy. Beneath the rear axle was a tiny circular compartment.
Inside was a memory card.
Mariela took a step backward.
Daniel noticed.
“You knew something was inside.”
“No.”
“You looked at the compartment before I opened it.”
“I was watching your hands.”
The memory card contained only one file.
It was a photograph of a legal document.
Across the top were the words:
VALDÉS LEGACY TRUST
ACTIVATION CONDITION: THE SECOND BIRTHDAY OF ELENA VALDÉS’S FIRST GRANDCHILD.
At the bottom was a handwritten instruction.
May you like
At 4:15 on the day of Octavio’s birthday celebration, ownership of the controlling shares would pass to Sofia.
Unless Camila was removed from the estate first.
