Chapter 14 - SOFIA
The coordinates led to a convent school outside Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Nathan coordinated with local authorities.
Alejandro and Elena went with him.
They expected guards.
Instead they found children playing soccer.
A nun named Sister Margaret met them.
When Elena showed Sofia’s photograph, the woman’s expression changed.
“Who are you?”
Elena answered carefully.
“We’re trying to protect her.”
Sister Margaret looked at Alejandro.
Then back at Elena.
“Come inside.”
Sofia had arrived four years earlier through a private charitable placement.
The sponsor?
Castillo Foundation.
Alejandro closed his eyes.
His own name had financed everything.
“Who brought her?”
“A woman named Victoria Lane.”
Vivian.
Sister Margaret continued.
“She visited twice a year.”
“Did Sofia know her?”
“She called her Aunt Vivian.”
Elena’s stomach turned.
“Where is Sofia?”
Sister Margaret looked toward the playground.
A small girl sat beneath a tree reading.
Dark hair.
Brown eyes.
The shape of Alejandro’s face.
Elena felt him stop breathing beside her.
He whispered.
“Oh my God.”
Sofia looked up.
She saw strangers staring.
Immediately suspicious.
Elena understood that look.
A child who had learned adults often arrived carrying changes.
She approached slowly.
“Hi.”
Sofia closed the book.
“Hi.”
“My name is Elena.”
“I know.”
Elena froze.
“How?”
“Aunt Vivian showed me pictures.”
Alejandro’s jaw tightened.
“What did she say?”
Sofia looked at him.
“She said you stole her husband.”
Elena nearly laughed at the absurdity.
Instead she asked.
“Do you know who he is?”
Sofia nodded.
“My father.”
Alejandro crouched several feet away.
“Who told you?”
“Aunt Vivian.”
“What did she tell you about me?”
Sofia looked down.
“That you didn’t know about me.”
At least that part was true.
“She said one day you would.”
Alejandro’s voice was barely audible.
“I know now.”
Sofia studied him.
“Are you mad?”
“At you?
Never.”
“At Aunt Vivian?”
He glanced at Elena.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“That’s complicated.”
Sofia nodded solemnly.
“Adults say complicated when they don’t want to tell kids things.”
Marco would have liked her.
Elena smiled.
“That is unfortunately true.”
Federal testing later confirmed it.
Sofia was biologically Alejandro’s daughter.
No genetic relation to Elena.
Medical records indicated an anonymous surrogate had carried her.
The surrogate could not be located.
Elena watched Alejandro absorb another impossible fact.
“You okay?”
“No.”
“Good answer.”
He looked at her.
“I don’t know how to feel.”
“You don’t need to decide tonight.”
“She’s my daughter.”
“Yes.”
“I have a daughter.”
“Yes.”
Elena hesitated.
Then said.
“And she needs someone who doesn’t make her feel like a crime.”
Alejandro looked at her.
“You’re extraordinary.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“I know what it feels like when adults make your existence part of their war.”
Alejandro understood.
They brought Sofia to the secure home.
Marco stared at her.
“You’re my sister?”
“Apparently.”
“Cool.”
Sofia shrugged.
“Okay.”
Within twenty minutes they were arguing over a game controller like siblings who had known each other for years.
For a brief evening, the house almost felt normal.
Then Sofia mentioned something.
“Aunt Vivian has another house.”
Nathan looked up.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“What does it look like?”
“Snow.”
“Mountains?”
“Yes.”
“What else?”
“A big clock.
And birds carved over the door.”
Nathan searched properties connected to the network.
Nothing.
Sofia continued.
“There’s a room underground with lots of screens.”
Elena leaned forward.
“What screens?”
“Cameras.”
“Showing what?”
“People.”
Alejandro felt cold.
Sofia named locations.
Castillo mansion.
Company headquarters.
Nathan’s house.
Elena’s old apartment.
Marco’s room.
Alejandro’s office.
Vivian had centralized surveillance somewhere else.
Sofia drew the carved birds.
Two falcons facing each other.
Isabella recognized them.
“Vargas family crest.”
Elena stared.
“Our house in Colorado.”
Isabella nodded.
The Vargas mountain estate had been abandoned since Gabriel’s supposed death.
Federal records listed it as destroyed by wildfire nine years earlier.
But satellite images told another story.
The main structure still stood.
Nathan planned a raid.
Before they could leave, Elena received another message.
This one from Vivian.
A live video.
Gabriel sat tied inside a stone room.
Vivian stepped into frame.
“Hello, sister.”
Elena’s hand tightened around the phone.
Vivian smiled.
“You’ve found Sofia.
Congratulations.”
“What do you want?”
“Come home.”
“That isn’t my home.”
“It was our father’s.”
Gabriel raised his head.
“Elena, don’t—”
Vivian struck him.
“Quiet.”
Elena remained still.
Vivian continued.
“Bring Isabella.”
Isabella froze.
“And Alejandro?”
“No.”
Vivian smiled.
“This is a Vargas family reunion.”
The video ended.
Alejandro immediately said.
“You’re not going.”
Elena looked at him.
He caught himself.
He changed the sentence.
“I desperately do not want you to go.”
That mattered.
Elena took his hand.
“I know.”
Then she looked toward her mother.
“But this started with my family.”
May you like
Isabella nodded.
“And we end it.”
