CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 5
The Betrayal Inside Castillo Corporation
The words echoed through Alejandro's mind long after the call had ended.
"...the woman currently in your mansion may not be the real Vivian Moretti."
For a moment, he simply stared at the silent phone in his hand.
Nothing made sense anymore.
First, Elena had been imprisoned inside her own home.
Then a secret underground chamber had revealed years of surveillance and forged identities.
Now even the woman responsible for everything might have been living under a stolen name.
Alejandro slowly looked at his head of security.
"Bring her to the library."
"Alive."
"Alone."
Twenty minutes later, the grand library was surrounded by armed security.
The woman everyone knew as Vivian Moretti sat calmly in an antique leather chair.
Her wrists were restrained.
Yet she showed no fear.
Instead...
She smiled.
"You've learned something."
Alejandro remained standing across from her.
"I received an interesting phone call."
"I imagine you did."
"They say you're not Vivian Moretti."
The smile on her face widened.
"What do you think?"
Alejandro studied her carefully.
"You've lied about everything else."
"So why not your name?"
She leaned back.
"Names are just masks."
"Some people wear them better than others."
Before Alejandro could continue, another security officer entered the room.
"Sir."
"The board members have arrived."
Alejandro frowned.
"I didn't summon them."
"They insisted."
"Apparently someone called an emergency meeting."
Alejandro immediately sensed something was wrong.
"Who authorized it?"
The officer hesitated.
"...Gabriel Castillo."
The room fell silent.
Gabriel had disappeared less than an hour earlier.
Yet somehow...
He was still issuing corporate orders.
Castillo Corporation Headquarters
The boardroom on the forty-second floor overlooked the entire city.
Normally, Alejandro occupied the chair at the head of the table.
Tonight...
Someone else was sitting there.
Gabriel Castillo.
He looked perfectly composed.
As if he hadn't just become the prime suspect in a kidnapping conspiracy.
Around him sat several senior executives.
Some looked confused.
Others looked terrified.
Gabriel folded his hands.
"Ladies and gentlemen..."
"I'm afraid Alejandro Castillo is no longer capable of leading this company."
A murmur swept through the room.
The Chief Financial Officer frowned.
"What are you talking about?"
Gabriel sighed dramatically.
"My cousin has suffered severe emotional instability."
"He believes a housemaid is his missing wife."
Several executives exchanged uncertain glances.
"He has frozen company assets without board approval."
"He has detained an innocent woman."
"And now..."
Gabriel paused for effect.
"He intends to destroy Castillo Corporation with his obsession."
Just then...
The boardroom doors burst open.
Alejandro entered.
Every conversation stopped instantly.
Gabriel smiled politely.
"Cousin."
Alejandro ignored him.
He walked directly to the head of the table.
"You seem comfortable in my chair."
Gabriel stood.
"I was protecting the company."
"No."
Alejandro replied calmly.
"You were stealing it."
Silence.
The accusation stunned everyone.
Gabriel laughed softly.
"That's a serious allegation."
Alejandro placed a thick folder onto the conference table.
"It is."
"And unlike yours..."
"Mine comes with evidence."
One by one, photographs were spread across the polished wood.
Bank transfers.
Property deeds.
Corporate invoices.
Shell companies.
The forged authorization for the black van.
Each document carried Gabriel's signature.
The room grew quieter with every page.
The CFO slowly adjusted his glasses.
"Gabriel..."
"What is this?"
Gabriel barely glanced at the evidence.
"Fabrications."
Alejandro smiled faintly.
"I expected that answer."
He pressed a button on the conference room remote.
The large screen lit up.
Surveillance footage from the underground chamber appeared.
The executives watched in stunned silence.
There was Elena.
Wearing a maid's uniform.
Scrubbing the marble floors.
Then Vivian striking her across the face.
Gasps filled the room.
One female director covered her mouth.
"My God..."
Gabriel remained expressionless.
Alejandro noticed.
He wasn't shocked.
He had seen it before.
"So."
Alejandro looked directly at him.
"Would you like to explain why my missing wife spent three years imprisoned inside my own estate?"
Gabriel slowly stood.
His calm demeanor finally cracked.
"You've already decided I'm guilty."
"No."
Alejandro replied.
"The evidence decided."
Gabriel suddenly laughed.
Not nervously.
Confidently.
"You still don't understand."
He looked around the room.
"Do you know why this company became the largest corporation in the country?"
No one answered.
"Because your beloved Alejandro never made decisions alone."
His smile widened.
"Every empire has invisible architects."
He turned back toward Alejandro.
"And you've only found one."
Before anyone could react...
The conference room lights went out.
Darkness swallowed the floor.
Emergency alarms echoed through the building.
Several executives shouted in confusion.
The backup generator activated seconds later.
When the lights returned...
Gabriel was gone.
The window behind his chair stood open.
A climbing rope disappeared over the edge of the skyscraper.
Security teams flooded the building.
Helicopters circled above.
Police sealed every street below.
But Gabriel had vanished.
Again.
Hours later...
Alejandro returned to Castillo Estate exhausted.
Elena was waiting in the conservatory.
She had changed into one of her old dresses.
Though it was slightly loose on her thinner frame, seeing her out of the maid's uniform made Alejandro's heart ache.
She looked more like herself.
But her eyes still carried three years of sorrow.
"Did you find him?"
He shook his head.
"No."
She lowered her gaze.
"He always escapes."
Alejandro looked at her carefully.
"You knew Gabriel."
She nodded slowly.
"He visited me."
Alejandro froze.
"What?"
"Not often."
"But enough."
"When Vivian wanted to remind me there was no hope..."
"...Gabriel would come."
Alejandro sat beside her.
"What did he say?"
Elena stared through the rain-covered glass.
"He always repeated the same sentence."
She closed her eyes.
"'Alejandro only loves the memory of you.'"
"'Eventually...'"
"'He'll choose the future instead.'"
A tear rolled down her cheek.
"I believed him."
Alejandro gently took her hand.
"I never stopped searching."
"I know."
She whispered.
"I know now."
Just then...
Eduardo hurried into the room carrying an old leather ledger.
"Mr. Castillo."
"I found this hidden behind the chapel altar."
Alejandro opened it.
It wasn't a financial record.
It was a household registry.
Every employee who had ever worked at Castillo Estate over the last twenty-five years was listed.
One name had been circled repeatedly in red ink.
Not Gabriel.
Not Vivian.
Not Elena.
The name read:
Lucia Moretti.
Alejandro frowned.
"Who's Lucia?"
Eduardo's face turned pale.
"She was Vivian Moretti's older sister."
"I thought she died twenty years ago."
Alejandro turned another page.
A birth certificate slipped from between the papers.
It belonged to Lucia.
But in the space marked Children, there was a handwritten note.
Female child born in secret. Identity sealed by court order.
The child had no name.
Only one symbol.
A black rose.
The very same symbol engraved on the silver key.
Alejandro slowly looked up.
For the first time...
He began to suspect that the conspiracy against Elena had started decades before she disappeared.
And Vivian...
Whether real or not...
Had merely inherited a plan someone else had begun long ago.
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End of Chapter 5
Coming Next: Chapter 6 – The Prisoner in Her Own Home, where Elena finally reveals the full story of her three years in captivity, while Alejandro uncovers the terrifying organization hidden behind the Black Rose symbol.
