Chapter 4: Sofia’s Secret Friend
Alejandro did not sleep.
He spent the remaining hours before sunrise inside his study, reading Elena’s accident report again and again.
The documents said she had arrived unconscious.
Lucía claimed Elena had spoken.
The hospital records said no unauthorized visitor had entered the trauma unit.
Lucía claimed Valeria had stood outside the treatment room.
The police report said Elena had lost control of her car.
The photograph suggested someone had been following her.
By seven in the morning, Alejandro trusted nothing.
Detective Bell arranged for the old hospital records to be reopened. Daniel began investigating the nanny agency, Victor Calloway, and every staff member who had worked inside the house during the past year.
The laboratory called shortly after breakfast.
The liquid from Valeria’s bottle contained a mixture of prescription sedatives and a concentrated cardiac medication.
In a small dose, it could cause dizziness, nausea, confusion, and unconsciousness.
In a larger dose, it could stop a child’s heart.
Valeria’s claim that she had only intended to make Sofia mildly ill meant nothing.
She had nearly killed her.
Teresa, the missing housekeeper, had still not been found.
Alejandro ordered the estate gates locked and doubled the security around Sofia.
Yet Sofia would not leave her bedroom.
She sat beneath the window holding her stuffed rabbit, refusing breakfast and watching every adult with frightened eyes.
Lucía knelt several feet away.
“You don’t have to eat yet,” she said gently. “But perhaps you can drink some water from a sealed bottle.”
Sofia shook her head.
“What if it has bad drops?”
Alejandro stood in the doorway.
Guilt hit him so hard that he had to grip the frame.
His daughter had trusted the house around her.
Now she believed every cup might contain poison.
Lucía noticed him.
“She asked for you,” she said.
Alejandro entered and sat beside Sofia.
The child climbed into his lap but kept her eyes on the unopened water bottle.
“Daddy?”
“Yes, princess?”
“Are you mad at Lucía?”
He looked toward the nanny.
“I was wrong about her last night.”
“Are you going to make her leave?”
“No.”
Lucía’s face softened, though Alejandro could not yet decide what he felt toward her. Gratitude, anger, suspicion, and dependence existed inside him at the same time.
Sofia leaned against his chest.
“Valeria said Lucía was bad.”
“When did she say that?”
“A lot.”
Alejandro went still.
“What else did Valeria tell you?”
Sofia picked at the ear of her stuffed rabbit.
“That Lucía wanted to take Mommy’s place.”
Lucía looked stunned.
“She told you that?”
Sofia nodded.
“She said I should tell you if Lucía went into rooms she wasn’t supposed to. She said it would be our secret game.”
Alejandro’s jaw tightened.
Valeria had not only been drugging his daughter.
She had been manipulating her.
“What kind of things did she ask you to watch?”
“Lucía’s phone. Her bag. Where she went.”
“Did you ever look inside Lucía’s things?”
Sofia lowered her head.
“I’m sorry.”
Lucía moved closer.
“You don’t have to apologize. You were following instructions from an adult you trusted.”
Sofia’s eyes filled with tears.
“She said if I was a good girl, she would help me talk to Mommy.”
The room went silent.
Alejandro’s heart clenched.
“How?”
“She said Mommy wasn’t gone all the way. She said Mommy could still hear me through the red phone.”
“What red phone?” Alejandro asked.
Sofia pointed toward her dollhouse.
“There.”
Lucía crossed the room and lifted the roof from the large wooden dollhouse. Inside the miniature bedroom was a red toy telephone.
It looked ordinary.
But when Lucía picked it up, the base felt unusually heavy.
She turned it over.
A thin wire ran through a drilled opening beneath the plastic.
Alejandro carried it to his desk and removed the battery compartment.
Inside was a small listening device.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Valeria had placed a microphone in Sofia’s bedroom.
Alejandro called Daniel immediately.
Within twenty minutes, the security team found two more devices. One was hidden inside Sofia’s night-light. Another was taped beneath the reading bench near her window.
Someone had been listening to his child.
Sofia began to cry again.
“I didn’t know it was bad.”
Alejandro held her.
“You didn’t do anything wrong.”
Lucía sat beside them.
“Did Valeria ever ask you questions through the red phone?”
Sofia nodded.
“Sometimes it rang when I was alone.”
The device had a small speaker.
Valeria had not merely listened.
She had spoken to Sofia through it.
“What did the voice ask?” Alejandro said.
Sofia squeezed the rabbit.
“It asked if I remembered the box Mommy gave me.”
Alejandro looked at Lucía.
“What box?”
“I don’t know,” she said.
He turned back to Sofia.
“What box, sweetheart?”
“The music box.”
Alejandro remembered it.
A small silver music box decorated with stars. Elena had given it to Sofia shortly before the accident. After Elena’s death, Sofia refused to let anyone touch it.
“Where is it?”
Sofia pointed toward her closet.
Lucía retrieved the box from behind a stack of blankets.
Alejandro wound the key.
A soft melody played.
It was the same lullaby Elena used to sing when Sofia was a baby.
Nothing about the box seemed unusual until Sofia reached for the small ballerina figure inside.
“Mommy said the star keeps secrets.”
She pressed a tiny silver star in the corner.
A hidden compartment clicked open beneath the velvet lining.
Inside was a folded piece of paper and a narrow metal object.
A memory card.
Alejandro unfolded the paper.
The handwriting was Elena’s.
If anything happens to me, do not trust Victor.
Alejandro read the sentence twice.
His assistant.
The man who controlled his schedule.
The man who had prevented Lucía from speaking to him.
The man who had stood beside him through Elena’s funeral, Sofia’s birthdays, business crises, and countless private moments.
Daniel entered the room just as Alejandro handed him the note.
The security chief’s face darkened.
“I called Mr. Calloway thirty minutes ago,” he said.
“Where is he?”
“He claimed he was on his way.”
“And?”
“His phone is now turned off.”
Alejandro looked at the memory card.
“Can you access this safely?”
Daniel nodded.
“We’ll use an isolated computer.”
They moved into the secure office adjoining the study. Detective Bell joined them through a video call while Daniel inserted the card.
One file appeared.
A twelve-minute audio recording.
The date was two days before Elena’s death.
Daniel pressed play.
At first, there was only static.
Then Elena’s voice filled the room.
“I know what you’ve been doing, Victor.”
A man answered.
“You should be careful with accusations.”
Alejandro recognized the voice immediately.
Victor Calloway.
Elena continued.
“You moved money through the children’s foundation. You used Alejandro’s companies to hide it.”
“You don’t understand the arrangement.”
“I understand enough.”
A second woman spoke.
Calm.
Elegant.
Unmistakable.
Valeria.
“Then you understand why you cannot tell your husband.”
Alejandro closed his eyes.
The recording continued.
Elena threatened to expose them.
Victor warned her that powerful investors were involved.
Then Valeria said something that changed the entire case.
“You should have stayed away from the mountain road.”
The recording ended with a crash, as if Elena had hidden the device.
Nobody spoke.
Detective Bell finally broke the silence.
“This proves conspiracy and financial crimes. It may also show planning connected to Elena’s death.”
Alejandro looked down at his trembling hands.
Valeria had been part of his life before he ever met her.
Victor had been watching him from within his own office.
And Elena had died trying to protect him.
Then Daniel’s phone rang.
He listened for several seconds.
His expression became grave.
“They found Teresa’s car.”
“Where?” Bell asked.
“Near the river.”
“And Teresa?”
May you like
Daniel looked at Alejandro.
“There was blood on the driver’s seat.”
