CHAPTER 4
The nursery felt smaller all of a sudden, as if the walls had quietly moved in closer.
Mrs. Leticia didn’t speak right away.
Her eyes stayed fixed on the monitor, but her hands had gone still—too still, like someone afraid even a small movement would confirm what they were thinking.
Alejandro’s voice cut through the tension.
“Say it.”
That one word made her flinch.
Carmen stepped closer to the cribs, instinctively placing herself between the babies and the doorway, her body blocking sightlines without even thinking about it.
Mrs. Leticia finally exhaled.
“It’s not what you think,” she said weakly.
Alejandro didn’t move. “Then explain the voice.”
A long silence.
Then—
“I didn’t plan it,” she said quickly. “I was approached. They told me I wouldn’t be involved directly. Just schedules. Just access. Just routines.”
Carmen’s throat tightened. “You helped them get close to the children.”
Mrs. Leticia shook her head fast. “No. I protected them. I delayed things. I—”
“Delayed?” Alejandro repeated.
His tone changed slightly. Not louder.
More dangerous.
Mrs. Leticia’s composure finally cracked. “If I didn’t comply, they would have replaced me with someone who wouldn’t protect them at all!”
The room went silent again.
Even the babies had stopped crying for a moment, as if sensing the shift.
Alejandro stared at her for a long time.
Then he turned slightly toward the suited man still standing in the doorway.
“Lock down the building,” he said.
The man nodded immediately and left.
Carmen blinked. “Lock down?”
Alejandro didn’t answer her right away. Instead, he walked to the wall panel beside the nursery door and pressed a hidden code.
A faint mechanical click echoed through the penthouse.
Somewhere far below, systems engaged.
Doors sealed.
Elevators froze.
The building entered controlled lockdown.
Carmen looked at him. “You knew how to do that?”
“I built this building,” he said quietly.
That landed differently than anything else in the room.
Mrs. Leticia stepped back. “Alejandro… listen, I can tell you everything. I can help you identify who’s behind this.”
But Alejandro didn’t look at her anymore.
His eyes had shifted to the crib monitor.
Because it had started playing again.
This time, not audio.
A live feed.
A hallway camera.
Inside the penthouse.
And someone was walking toward the nursery.
Slowly.
Unhurried.
Confident.
Carmen’s breath caught.
Because she recognized the shoes first.
Expensive.
Polished.
Then the silhouette.
Then the posture.
Alejandro’s voice dropped. “That’s impossible.”
The figure stopped right outside the nursery door.
Didn’t knock.
Didn’t hesitate.
And the voice that came through the intercom was calm.
Almost gentle.
“Open the door, Alejandro. We need to finish what we started two years ago.”
Carmen felt her entire body go cold.
Because that voice didn’t belong to Valeria.
It didn’t belong to Mrs. Leticia.
And it wasn’t on any recording.
May you like
It belonged to someone Alejandro had buried from his past.
Someone who was supposed to be dead.
