CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 4
The lawyers arrived within twenty minutes.
The police arrived five minutes after them.
Vivian tried to laugh when the first officer stepped into the hall.
“This is a family matter,” she said.
Alejandro looked at the officer.
“My wife was held in this house against her will.”
Vivian snapped, “That is insane.”
Elena lifted her shaking wrists.
The room went silent.
One of the female officers approached her gently and wrapped a blanket around her shoulders.
“You’re safe now,” the officer said.
Elena looked at Alejandro, like she needed to know if that word still existed.
He nodded.
“You’re safe.”
The search of the east wing lasted two hours.
They found a locked bedroom with no inside key.
A drawer full of Elena’s old letters, never sent.
A shoebox containing her wedding ring.
A file of forged medical evaluations declaring her delusional.
A laptop filled with emails Vivian had sent to private investigators, feeding them fake leads across Europe.
Then they found the financial records.
Vivian had not just hidden Elena.
She had been stealing from the Castillo Foundation for years.
Millions.
Money meant for children’s hospitals had moved through shell accounts, art purchases, fake renovations, and luxury properties in Vivian’s name.
Alejandro’s attorney placed one document in front of him.
“If Elena was declared permanently missing after seven years,” he said, “Vivian would have gained controlling influence over several trust decisions.”
Vivian went pale.
Elena stared at her.
“You did all of this for money?”
Vivian’s face twisted.
“For money?” she hissed. “You walked into this family and became the saint. The wife. The beloved one. I was here first.”
May you like
Alejandro stepped between them.
“No,” he said. “You were trusted first. That was our mistake.”
