Chapter 13 - the woman who used elena’s name
Lucía agreed to meet at an abandoned chapel outside San Aurelio.
Diego refused to go alone.
Marisol remained with Valentina at a secure house arranged by Judge Méndez. Ricardo and two investigators accompanied Diego.
The chapel stood beyond a field of dry grass. Its windows were broken, and the bell tower leaned slightly toward the road.
A woman waited inside.
She was older than Elena would have been, with silver in her dark hair and the same gray-green eyes that had moved through the Alvarado family for generations.
Diego stopped several feet away.
“Lucía?”
The woman studied him.
“You have Elena’s posture.”
“She raised me.”
“She stole you.”
Ricardo stepped forward.
“Elena protected him.”
Lucía’s expression sharpened.
“You would say that.”
Diego held up the photograph from the bank box.
“My mother wrote that you returned.”
“Your aunt wrote many things.”
“My mother.”
Lucía looked away.
For a moment, grief replaced anger.
“Yes. She was your mother in every way that mattered.”
“Are you my biological mother?”
Lucía nodded.
“Why did you leave?”
“I did not leave willingly.”
She explained that the Alvarado patriarch had sent her to a private institution after discovering her pregnancy. Elena helped her escape long enough to give birth, then took Diego to protect him.
Lucía was told the baby had died.
Years later, she discovered the truth but remained away because Elena warned that returning would place Diego in danger.
“Why contact Paulina?” Diego asked.
“I did not contact Paulina. She found me.”
“Her phone contains messages from your account.”
“My account was copied.”
“The message before the fire came from you.”
“I sent a message, but it did not say to burn the east wing.”
“What did it say?”
“Begin clearing the east wing.”
Diego stared at her.
“The difference is not comforting.”
“Elena’s archive was compromised. I instructed someone to remove the remaining buttons before Paulina found them.”
“Who?”
Lucía hesitated.
“Nicolás.”
Ricardo inhaled sharply.
Diego stepped closer.
“My brother is alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where is he?”
“I do not know now.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“He stopped answering after the fire.”
“Was he inside the mansion?”
“He entered through the service passage. He placed Button 2 behind the curtains because he believed Diego’s security team would recover it.”
“The fire started where he placed it.”
“He did not start the fire.”
“Then who did?”
Lucía looked toward the investigators.
“One of Sebastián’s men followed him.”
Diego struggled to separate truth from another carefully designed lie.
“Why did Elena fake her death?”
Lucía’s eyes shifted.
“I did not say she did.”
“The photograph shows her boarding a plane.”
“It shows a woman wearing Elena’s coat.”
“Was it you?”
Lucía did not answer.
Diego understood.
“You pretended to be her.”
“Only when necessary.”
“Did you call Marisol?”
“Yes.”
Marisol had been right about the voice sounding like Elena. The sisters had nearly identical tones.
“Why tell her to wait three years?”
“Because the trust rules changed when the child turned three. Valentina became a direct beneficiary protected from guardianship reassignment.”
“Couldn’t you tell us that?”
“Every communication channel around you was controlled.”
“You also ordered Ricardo to switch the DNA sample.”
“I was protecting the connection to my records.”
“By allowing Paulina to cast doubt on my daughter?”
“I did not know a second report would be released.”
Diego looked at her with disappointment rather than anger.
“You used the same justification as everyone else. You decided we could survive another lie.”
Lucía’s face tightened.
“Elena said you would understand.”
“Elena is dead.”
Lucía’s eyes filled with something unreadable.
“Are you certain?”
Before Diego could respond, a gunshot cracked outside the chapel.
The investigators drew their weapons.
The shot had struck the front tire of Diego’s car.
A second shot shattered a chapel window.
Everyone moved behind the stone walls.
Ricardo pushed Lucía toward the rear exit.
A black vehicle disappeared beyond the trees.
No one was injured.
Near the broken window, investigators found a small metal cylinder.
Inside was Button 3.
May you like
A note had been wrapped around it.
Stop searching for Elena, or the next warning reaches the child.
