Chapter 10 - The Baby Behind the Glass
They named her Elena Sofia Aranda.
Valeria chose Elena.
Alejandro chose Sofia, after Tomas's mother.
Gabriel said nothing when he heard the first name.
He simply walked into an empty hallway and cried.
Elena weighed three pounds, eleven ounces.
She was tiny.
Fragile.
Perfect.
For the first several days, Alejandro could only touch his daughter through openings in the incubator.
He had negotiated billion-dollar contracts without trembling.
Now his hands shook every time his finger touched hers.
On the fourth morning, Elena wrapped her tiny hand around his finger.
Alejandro stared at her.
“I know.”
Valeria smiled from her wheelchair.
“Know what?”
“I'm finished.”
“With what?”
“Pretending I'm tough.”
She laughed softly.
It was the first peaceful sound either of them had made in weeks.
The peace lasted twelve minutes.
Detective Bennett entered.
“We found another account.”
Alejandro looked up.
“Victor?”
“Yes.”
The money wasn't going overseas.
It was coming back.
Victor had been paying someone inside Aranda International.
Someone with access to the executive floor.
Someone who had helped alter documents and intercept Alejandro's calls.
Alejandro immediately thought of his assistant.
But he was wrong.
The payments went to Camila's husband.
Daniel.
Camila stared at the evidence.
“No.”
Daniel had supposedly been in New York for the previous two weeks.
He wasn't.
Phone records placed him in San Diego.
Near the mansion.
Near the laboratory.
Near the hospital.
Camila called him.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Then a text arrived.
I'm sorry.
Camila collapsed.
Alejandro caught her.
She looked up at him.
“What did he do?”
They learned the answer that afternoon.
Daniel had been gambling for years.
Victor discovered the debt.
He paid it.
Then owned him.
Daniel intercepted Alejandro's messages from Valeria.
He provided Victor with security schedules.
He arranged access to the laboratory.
And worst of all, he had taken the original photograph of Gabriel leaving the mansion.
The photograph that almost destroyed Alejandro's marriage.
Camila cried until she couldn't speak.
Then she did something nobody expected.
She called Daniel from a different phone.
He answered.
“Hello?”
“It's me.”
Silence.
“Camila?”
“I need you.”
“Where are you?”
“At home.”
Detective Bennett watched her carefully.
Camila continued.
“Alejandro knows everything.”
Daniel cursed.
“He says he's turning you over to police.”
“What did you tell him?”
“That I hate him.”
Another silence.
“I can help you.”
Bennett's eyebrows rose.
Camila looked directly at her.
“Come home.”
Daniel arrived forty minutes later.
Police arrested him in the driveway.
Under interrogation, he broke.
Victor had a second safe house.
Not Arizona.
San Diego.
An abandoned Aranda warehouse near the original Mercer property.
Police surrounded it before midnight.
Victor was inside.
But he had prepared for them.
The warehouse caught fire minutes after officers entered.
Victor escaped through an underground service tunnel.
Again.
But this time he left something behind.
A laptop.
On it was a video.
Victor sat before the camera.
“If you're watching this, Alejandro, then you've probably learned I'm your father.”
Alejandro watched without expression.
“I know Tomas filled your head with sentimental nonsense about loyalty and honor.”
Victor smiled.
“But you are mine.”
Alejandro's jaw tightened.
“You built Aranda International into what it is because you have my blood.”
Gabriel stood beside him.
Victor continued.
“And Gabriel became a doctor because he inherited my intelligence.”
Gabriel muttered, “Delusional bastard.”
Then Victor's expression changed.
“Both of you could have had everything.”
He leaned closer to the camera.
“But Tomas taught you to feel guilty for taking what belongs to you.”
Alejandro stopped the video.
“I've heard enough.”
Bennett shook her head.
“There's another minute.”
“Play it.”
Victor reappeared.
“If Elena survives, the audit begins thirty days after her birth.”
Alejandro's face hardened.
“I won't allow that.”
Victor smiled.
“So here's my offer.”
A bank account appeared on screen.
“Transfer two hundred million dollars. Dissolve the audit. Give Gabriel ten percent of the company.”
Gabriel laughed.
“And?”
Alejandro asked.
Victor's final words answered.
“And I disappear forever.”
The video ended.
Everyone looked at Alejandro.
“What are you going to do?” Camila asked.
Alejandro stared at the blank screen.
“Exactly what he asked.”
Gabriel turned.
“What?”
Alejandro looked at Bennett.
“Can you trace the transfer?”
“If he accesses the receiving account.”
“Then we make him access it.”
Gabriel understood.
“You're setting a trap.”
Alejandro looked through the glass toward his newborn daughter.
“No.”
May you like
His voice became quiet.
“We're ending this.”
