## CHAPTER 20 — SANTIAGO’S LAST RECORDING
Daniel and I escaped the foundation through the underground parking level.
Every official system was now against us.
My father remained in custody.
Esteban controlled the foundation.
A court order declared Luciana Mateo’s temporary guardian.
By sunrise, she could claim my name, my son, and the trust.
We returned to Room 317 because it was the last place our enemies would expect us to go.
The shelves had been emptied.
Only one tape remained.
It carried Santiago’s name.
Daniel checked the room for devices before playing it.
Santiago appeared on the screen.
He looked younger.
The recording had been made before our marriage.
Beatriz sat beside him.
An unseen woman spoke from behind the camera.
“You will marry Subject B.”
Santiago swallowed.
“What if she refuses?”
“She is searching for her father. Give her the family she wants.”
“And the child?”
“When she produces an heir, Beatriz will take control.”
Santiago looked uncomfortable.
“What happens to her afterward?”
“That depends on whether she becomes useful.”
The unseen woman placed a photograph on the table.
It showed me leaving a coffee shop years before I met Santiago.
My life had been watched long before he entered it.
The video jumped forward.
Santiago now appeared alone.
He looked directly into the camera.
“If she ever finds this, I need her to know something.”
He took a slow breath.
“I knew why Beatriz chose me.”
“I knew the marriage was arranged.”
“I told myself I would take the money and leave.”
His eyes lowered.
“Then controlling her became easier than admitting what I was.”
He confessed to monitoring my calls, isolating me from friends, altering financial documents, and helping Beatriz prepare the custody case.
There was no excuse in his voice.
Only shame.
“I became exactly what they needed me to become.”
He lifted a brass key marked 317.
“But I kept one thing from them.”
Santiago reached beneath the table and held up an original hospital record.
“The twins were not separated by accident.”
“Their mother ordered it.”
My hands went cold.
Santiago continued.
“She believed one daughter would inherit the organization and the other would destroy it.”
“She chose Luciana to remain.”
“She chose Subject B to escape.”
A sound came from outside the room.
Santiago looked toward the door.
“If I am dead when you hear this, find the green house at Camino Verde.”
“Do not trust Sofia.”
“Do not trust Esteban.”
“And whatever your mother tells you, remember this.”
“She did not disappear because Arturo betrayed her.”
“She disappeared because he discovered what she planned to do with the children.”
The door behind Santiago opened.
The man in the gray coat entered.
The recording cut to black.
Daniel removed the tape.
“We need to get to Camino Verde.”
A weak sound came from behind the shelves.
We moved them aside and found a narrow compartment.
Santiago lay inside.
Alive.
Barely.
He opened his eyes when he heard my voice.
“They wanted you to find the recording,” he whispered.
“Where is Mateo?”
“With Luciana.”
“Is he safe?”
“For now.”
“Where is my mother?”
Santiago grabbed my wrist.
“Your mother is not the woman giving the orders.”
“Then who is?”
His breathing became shallow.
“The woman you call Beatriz.”
I shook my head.
“Beatriz was taken.”
“No.”
Santiago struggled to speak.
“The woman in the courthouse was not Beatriz.”
“Who was she?”
He looked toward the doorway.
Before he could answer, the lights went out.
A woman’s voice came from the darkness.
May you like
“It was me.”
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