CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 10
The Final Betrayal
The courthouse was in chaos.
Police officers rushed through every corridor.
Emergency lights bathed the marble walls in an eerie red glow.
Witnesses huddled together in fear while detectives searched every exit.
Samuel Ortega had vanished.
Sister Agnes was gone.
The only thing left behind was a single black rose.
Alejandro stared at it for several seconds before slipping it into an evidence bag.
"They planned this from the beginning," he said quietly.
His head of security nodded.
"The hearing wasn't meant to expose them."
"It was meant to reveal everyone who could testify against them."
Alejandro clenched his jaw.
"And now those witnesses are targets."
Back at Castillo Estate, Elena waited anxiously in the library.
The moment Alejandro entered, she knew something had gone terribly wrong.
"You didn't find them."
He shook his head.
"No."
She lowered her eyes.
"They're going to kill them."
"We won't let that happen."
But even as Alejandro spoke, he wasn't certain he believed his own words.
Black Rose always seemed to move one step ahead.
Every clue they uncovered led to another disappearance.
Every victory revealed a deeper betrayal.
It was like chasing shadows.
Late that evening, the forensic team delivered the final batch of files recovered from the underground chamber.
Among them was a damaged external hard drive.
Most of its contents had been destroyed in the explosion.
Except for one folder.
Its title read:
PROJECT SUCCESSION
Alejandro opened it.
Inside were only three files.
Candidate A
Candidate B
Final Selection
He clicked the last file.
A single document appeared.
It contained one sentence.
"Success depends on the loyalty of the Inner Circle."
Below the sentence was a list of six names.
Alejandro slowly read them.
His own name.
Elena Castillo.
Gabriel Castillo.
Vivian Moretti.
Eduardo Alvarez.
...
And one final name.
A name that made him stop breathing.
Victor Castillo.
His father.
"No..."
Alejandro whispered.
His father had died fifteen years earlier.
A respected businessman.
A devoted husband.
The man who had taught him everything about honor.
There had to be a mistake.
Eduardo looked over his shoulder.
The old butler's face drained of color.
"I prayed you would never see that."
Alejandro slowly turned.
"You knew."
Eduardo closed his eyes.
"There were rumors."
"What rumors?"
"That your father belonged to a private society."
"I never believed them."
"I wanted to believe they were lies."
Alejandro stared silently.
"Tell me everything."
Eduardo walked toward the fireplace.
His voice was barely above a whisper.
"Your father wasn't born into wealth."
"You know that."
Alejandro nodded.
"He built the company from almost nothing."
"Yes."
"But he didn't do it alone."
Eduardo hesitated.
"There were investors."
"Powerful people."
"They called themselves..."
"The Circle."
"The Circle?"
"They financed ambitious businessmen."
"In exchange..."
"They demanded absolute loyalty."
Alejandro frowned.
"Loyalty to what?"
Eduardo looked directly into his eyes.
"The bloodline."
Alejandro remembered the words hidden inside the family tree.
The First Daughter carries the Legacy.
He suddenly understood.
Black Rose.
The Circle.
The disappearances.
They weren't separate organizations.
They were connected.
Two sides of the same machine.
Before anyone could speak again, another envelope was delivered.
No return address.
Only Alejandro's name written across the front.
Inside was a single memory card.
The technicians immediately inserted it into a secure computer.
A video began playing.
The date stunned everyone.
Fifteen years earlier.
The night Victor Castillo died.
The footage came from an old security camera inside the Castillo chapel.
Victor stood alone near the altar.
Moments later, another man entered.
His face remained hidden beneath a wide-brimmed hat.
The two argued.
There was no audio.
But Victor appeared furious.
Then...
The mysterious man handed him a document.
Victor read it.
His hands began to shake.
He looked toward the family portrait hanging above the fireplace.
Then he tore the document in half.
The unknown man stepped closer.
He removed a pistol fitted with a suppressor.
One shot.
Victor collapsed.
The killer calmly collected the torn papers.
Before leaving, he looked directly toward the security camera.
Although the image was grainy...
One detail was unmistakable.
A silver ring engraved with a black rose.
The room remained silent long after the video ended.
Alejandro could barely breathe.
His father hadn't died from a heart attack.
He had been murdered.
And someone had hidden the truth for fifteen years.
Just then, the estate physician hurried inside.
"Mr. Castillo!"
"What is it?"
"It's Mrs. Castillo."
Alejandro turned instantly.
Elena had collapsed in the conservatory.
He reached her within seconds.
She was conscious.
But pale.
"I'm fine," she whispered.
"No."
He knelt beside her.
"You're exhausted."
She shook her head weakly.
"It isn't that."
She slowly opened her hand.
Inside was a folded piece of paper.
"I found this in our bedroom."
Alejandro unfolded it.
His heartbeat stopped.
It wasn't a threat.
It wasn't a ransom note.
It was a birth certificate.
Issued twenty-seven years earlier.
Mother:
Lucia Moretti.
Father:
Unknown.
Child:
Vivian Moretti.
Alejandro frowned.
"But Lucia was supposed to be Vivian's sister."
Elena looked at him with frightened eyes.
"She wasn't."
The room fell silent.
Lucia had never been Vivian's sister.
She had been...
Her mother.
Everything Black Rose had taught Isabella—everything they had forced her to believe—had been another carefully constructed lie.
At that moment, the security chief burst through the doors, breathing heavily.
"Sir..."
"What now?"
"We found Gabriel."
Alejandro stood immediately.
"Where?"
The answer chilled everyone in the room.
"In the family mausoleum."
"Alive?"
The security chief swallowed.
"No."
"He was executed."
The room fell silent.
"A black rose was placed on his chest."
"And there was one message."
Alejandro took the folded note.
He unfolded it slowly.
Five words were written in elegant handwriting.
"Traitors deserve no second chance."
Alejandro stared at the message.
Gabriel had betrayed him.
But someone had betrayed Gabriel.
Which meant only one thing.
Gabriel had never been the leader.
He had merely been another pawn.
A disposable one.
As police secured the mausoleum, a call came through on Alejandro's private encrypted phone.
Only three people in the world knew that number.
He answered immediately.
A calm female voice spoke.
"I've been waiting a very long time for this conversation."
Alejandro's eyes narrowed.
"Who are you?"
A brief silence followed.
Then the woman answered.
"My name is Lucia Moretti."
Alejandro froze.
"Impossible."
"I died twenty years ago."
She gave a quiet laugh.
"At least..."
"That's what I wanted everyone to believe."
The line went silent.
Before disconnecting, Lucia spoke one final sentence.
"The game is over, Alejandro."
"Now..."
"Come and meet the woman who started it all."
The call ended.
Alejandro lowered the phone slowly.
Everyone in the room watched him.
He looked at Elena.
Then at the black rose lying inside the evidence bag.
For the first time, the enemy had stopped hiding.
Lucia Moretti was alive.
And she wasn't just connected to Black Rose.
She had built it.
May you like
End of Chapter 10
Coming Next: Chapter 11 – Elena's Revenge, where Alejandro and Elena follow Lucia's invitation to Black Rose's hidden headquarters, uncover the truth about Sofia, and force the woman behind decades of deception to face the family she tried to destroy.
