CHAPTER 13 — The Last Lie
Daniel fell several feet before his hand caught the rusted cable.
Pain tore through his shoulder.
Camila lost her grip on his leg and dropped onto a narrow ledge below.
Valdés secured a rope around the remaining support and lowered it.
“Grab it!”
Daniel wrapped the rope around his wrist.
Camila looked up from the ledge.
“Daniel, please.”
For one second, he saw Patricia in her face.
The same fear.
The same desperate belief that regret should erase responsibility.
Daniel lowered the rope.
Camila grabbed it.
Valdés and two officers pulled them both to safety.
The moment Camila reached solid ground, she tried to run.
Patricia stood at the tunnel entrance, one arm bandaged.
She stepped directly into Camila’s path.
Camila raised the knife.
Patricia did not move.
“You ruined my family,” Patricia said.
Camila smiled.
“You opened the door.”
Before Camila could strike, officers tackled her.
Detective Valdés recovered the encrypted drive.
Esteban, Camila, Reyes, and Patricia were all taken into custody.
The immediate danger was over.
But the investigation was only beginning.
The ledger named police officers, government officials, doctors, contractors, and wealthy families who had paid to hide crimes inside Esteban’s secret rooms.
Several missing children were found alive within the following week.
Others had been returned years earlier but had never spoken about what happened.
Leo remained in the hospital while doctors treated his injuries.
One evening, Daniel sat beside him and explained that the bad people had been caught.
“Even Aunt Patty?” Leo asked.
Daniel hesitated.
“Yes.”
Leo looked toward the window.
“She used to cry when she brought food.”
“That doesn’t make what she did right.”
“I know.”
Leo turned back to Daniel.
“But Aunt Patty told me something the last night.”
“What?”
“She said she didn’t choose me.”
Daniel frowned.
“Patricia admitted she helped take you.”
Leo shook his head.
“She said they chose me before she agreed.”
“Who chose you?”
Leo’s eyes filled with fear.
“The man in the photograph.”
“What photograph?”
“The one Aunt Patty kept under my mattress.”
Police searched the underground room again.
Beneath the mattress, they found a faded photograph Daniel had never seen.
It showed Esteban and Camila standing beside Daniel’s father.
On the back was a handwritten date.
The photograph had been taken three days before Daniel’s father died.
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And beside the date, his father had written:
If anything happens to me, protect Leo. He is the only witness.
