Chapter 2: The Architect of Agony
Vivian swallowed hard, shrinking back into the velvet chair. "Alejandro, listen to me… it’s a misunderstanding! The girl is disobedient. She needed discipline, I was only trying to—"
"Silence!" Alejandro roared, the sound echoing like thunder through the grand hall.
He dropped to his knees, ignoring the soapy water soaking his tailored suit, and pulled his sobbing daughter into his chest. Mia buried her face in his neck, her tiny hands gripping his shirt as if she was afraid he was a hallucination that would disappear.
Elena rushed over, falling to the floor beside them, wrapping her arms around both her husband and her child. For the first time in three years, the Castillo family was together.
Alejandro looked at his wife over his daughter's shoulder. "How did she do this, Elena? How did she hide you in my own home?"
Elena wiped her tears, her voice shaking but finally finding its strength. "Three years ago, Vivian’s men intercepted our car. She locked us in the abandoned east wing’s basement—the one you never use. She bribed the estate manager and the head of security. She told the staff we were illegal immigrants working off a massive debt, and that if anyone spoke to us, they would be deported."
Elena looked up at Vivian, her eyes narrowing with a mother's fury. "She forged divorce papers, Alejandro. She told me you had ordered our deaths, and that if we ever tried to leave the east wing, your men would kill Mia. We only cleaned the main house when she knew you were in Europe."
Alejandro slowly stood up. The realization that his own security, his own staff, had been bought with his own money to torture his family was a betrayal that demanded absolute destruction.
He looked at the nervous servants standing in the hall. "Where is Marcus?" he asked coldly.
May you like
"The Head of Security fled out the back door the moment you walked in, sir," a loyal butler whispered fearfully.
"Find him," Alejandro commanded into his phone. "And make sure he never works, breathes, or sleeps in peace again."
