Chapter 4 - AUNT ROSA'S LOCKED DRAWER
Rosa Montenegro was seventy-two years old.
Elegant.
Sharp-eyed.
And feared by almost everyone who worked in the estate.
She had lived in the east wing for nearly eighteen years.
She also controlled more family history than anyone alive.
Dante entered her sitting room without knocking.
Rosa was seated beside the fireplace.
She looked at him.
“People used to knock.”
“People used to avoid sabotaging my legs.”
She raised one eyebrow.
“So we are skipping courtesy.”
“Tonight, yes.”
Bruno entered behind him.
Isabela stayed outside with Sofia.
Dante looked around.
“Where is the device?”
Rosa sipped tea.
“What device?”
“Sofia saw something in this room resembling the garage detonator.”
Rosa’s expression remained calm.
“You’re taking investigative direction from a four-year-old now?”
“She has been more useful tonight than half the adults in this house.”
Rosa set the cup down.
Dante studied her.
“You knew about Rafael?”
“No.”
“Camila?”
“I never trusted her.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
Rosa’s gaze hardened.
“No.”
Dante nodded to Bruno.
“Search.”
Rosa stood.
“You will not search my private rooms.”
Dante looked at her.
“I own the house.”
“You inherited the building.”
“I inherited everything.”
A strange silence followed.
Rosa smiled faintly.
“That is what your father wanted you to believe.”
Dante’s eyes narrowed.
Bruno stopped searching.
“What does that mean?”
Rosa looked at Dante.
“It means grief made your father careless.”
“Answer clearly.”
“Your father built contingencies.”
Dante remembered Camila’s recordings.
The trust.
The transfer.
“Contingencies for what?”
“For you.”
Bruno found the drawer Sofia had described.
Locked.
He looked at Rosa.
“Key?”
“No.”
Bruno broke the lock.
Inside were photographs.
Documents.
An old revolver.
And a small black remote.
Dante stared at it.
Bruno lifted it carefully.
Rosa sighed.
“That is not what you think.”
“Tonight, everything seems to be exactly what I think.”
“It controls the garden fountain.”
Bruno pressed nothing.
He turned the device over.
“Frequency module.”
Rosa looked irritated.
“Because the fountain is old.”
Dante said nothing.
Bruno removed the battery panel.
A tiny sticker was attached inside.
A manufacturer’s serial number.
He photographed it.
“Run it.”
A guard outside contacted security.
Less than a minute later, the answer came back.
The frequency matched the garage ignition receiver.
Dante stared at Rosa.
For the first time, she lost color.
“That is impossible.”
“Is it?”
“I did not start the fire.”
“Who has access to your room?”
“My maid.”
“Anyone else?”
Rosa hesitated.
Dante noticed.
“Who?”
She looked toward the hall.
“Your uncle.”
Dante stiffened.
“Victor?”
“Yes.”
Victor Montenegro.
His father’s younger brother.
The family member Dante had trusted to run the legitimate operations during his recovery.
Bruno looked at Dante.
“Where is he?”
“Madrid.”
Rosa laughed without humor.
“No.”
Dante turned.
“What?”
“He returned yesterday.”
Nobody had told Dante.
“Why?”
Rosa picked up her tea again.
“He said he wanted to surprise you.”
Dante’s expression darkened.
“Where is he now?”
“I don’t know.”
Bruno’s radio crackled.
“We have movement near the north gate.”
“Who?”
“Black sedan.”
The guards had locked the estate.
No vehicle should have been moving.
Bruno ran toward the corridor.
Dante followed.
At the security room, cameras showed a sedan racing down the private road toward the closed iron gate.
“Stop it.”
Guards deployed a barrier.
The sedan swerved.
Hit a stone planter.
Spun.
Then crashed into a tree.
Armed guards surrounded it.
Bruno watched through the monitor.
The driver’s door opened.
A man stumbled out.
Not Victor.
It was Rafael.
Everyone turned toward the hall.
The therapist was supposed to be under guard.
Dante’s voice became ice.
“How did he get out?”
No one answered.
Then another camera showed the room where Rafael had been held.
One guard lay unconscious.
The second was gone.
Dante stared at the feed.
There was only one explanation.
Rafael had help inside security.
He looked at Bruno.
“How many people can override detention doors?”
Bruno answered slowly.
“Four.”
“Names.”
“You.”
“Yes.”
“Me.”
“Yes.”
“Head of security.”
“Where is he?”
Bruno’s face hardened.
“Missing.”
“And the fourth?”
Bruno looked uncomfortable.
“Victor.”
Dante turned toward the screen.
Rafael was dragged from the crashed car.
Blood ran down his forehead.
He began shouting.
“I’ll talk!”
Dante went down.
Rain had intensified.
Rafael collapsed to his knees.
“I’ll tell you everything.”
“Start with Victor.”
Rafael shook his head wildly.
“It isn’t Victor.”
Dante stared.
“Then who?”
Rafael looked behind Dante.
Toward the mansion.
“The person paying me knew Victor’s access codes.”
“Name.”
“I never knew.”
Dante’s patience snapped.
He grabbed Rafael’s shirt.
“Then give me something useful.”
Rafael’s lips trembled.
“The accident.”
“What about it?”
“I didn’t cause it.”
“I know.”
“But I know who altered the brake system.”
Dante froze.
“Who?”
Rafael looked toward Aunt Rosa’s window.
Then whispered.
“Your dead father’s mechanic.”
Dante slowly released him.
“My father’s mechanic died seventeen years ago.”
Rafael nodded.
May you like
“That’s what you were told.”
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