CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 9
The Trial of Lies
The encrypted message remained on every phone screen.
YOU HAVE THE WRONG WOMAN.
Then another.
THE REAL VIVIAN MORETTI HAS BEEN WAITING FOR YOU SINCE THE BEGINNING.
No one in the war room spoke.
Alejandro slowly placed his phone on the table.
He looked at the woman everyone had called Vivian for the past three years.
She wasn't smiling anymore.
The confidence that had once terrified an entire household had disappeared.
For the first time since her arrest...
She looked like a frightened child.
"I didn't send those messages," she whispered.
Alejandro believed her.
Whoever had sent them wanted only one thing.
Confusion.
Black Rose was changing the rules of the game.
Again.
The following morning, every major news network carried the same headline.
BILLIONAIRE'S MISSING WIFE FOUND ALIVE INSIDE FAMILY ESTATE.
The story spread across the country within hours.
Television crews gathered outside Castillo Estate.
Social media exploded with speculation.
Some believed Elena had been kidnapped.
Others accused Alejandro of hiding her.
Conspiracy theories multiplied by the minute.
The Castillo name, once synonymous with prestige and success, had become the center of the biggest scandal in decades.
At Castillo Corporation headquarters, investors demanded answers.
Board members requested Alejandro's resignation until the investigation ended.
Government agencies opened formal inquiries.
And the courts issued an emergency summons.
Alejandro Castillo was ordered to appear before a special judicial hearing.
"This isn't a trial," his chief attorney explained.
"It's a preliminary inquiry."
Alejandro adjusted the cuffs of his black suit.
"It will become a trial."
The attorney nodded grimly.
"If Black Rose has infiltrated the courts..."
"They'll try to destroy your credibility before you expose theirs."
Outside the courthouse, hundreds of reporters waited behind police barricades.
Flashbulbs exploded as Alejandro's convoy arrived.
Questions were shouted from every direction.
"Mr. Castillo! Did you imprison your own wife?"
"Who is Vivian Moretti?"
"Is Castillo Corporation involved in human trafficking?"
"Did your family fake Elena's disappearance?"
Alejandro answered none of them.
He simply walked through the courthouse doors.
His face unreadable.
Inside Courtroom Seven...
The atmosphere was tense.
Journalists filled every available seat.
Lawyers whispered behind stacks of documents.
At the center of the room sat Judge Helena Vargas, known for her absolute intolerance of corruption.
She struck the gavel.
"This hearing will determine whether sufficient evidence exists to pursue criminal charges related to the disappearance of Elena Castillo."
Her eyes moved toward Alejandro.
"Mr. Castillo..."
"Do you swear to tell the truth?"
"I do."
The government prosecutor stood.
"Your Honor, we intend to prove that Mrs. Elena Castillo was unlawfully detained for three years."
"We also intend to establish that a criminal conspiracy infiltrated Castillo Estate."
He paused.
"However..."
"Our investigation remains incomplete."
The defense attorney immediately rose.
"Your Honor, this hearing is built upon assumptions."
"My client, Ms. Vivian Moretti—"
Alejandro interrupted.
"She isn't Vivian Moretti."
The courtroom erupted in whispers.
Judge Vargas struck the gavel.
"Order."
Alejandro remained standing.
"The woman in custody has admitted her identity was stolen as a child."
The defense attorney smiled.
"Convenient."
"Can you prove it?"
Alejandro looked toward the gallery.
"I can."
The courtroom doors opened.
Samuel Ortega slowly entered.
The elderly groundskeeper walked with the aid of a cane.
His appearance surprised everyone.
Official records declared Samuel Ortega dead nineteen years earlier.
Judge Vargas frowned.
"State your name."
"Samuel Ortega."
"Occupation?"
"Former groundskeeper of Castillo Estate."
The judge looked toward the prosecutor.
"Proceed."
For the next hour...
Samuel told the court everything.
The black vehicles.
The baby.
The kidnapping.
The underground chamber.
The threats that kept him silent for two decades.
When he finished...
Many spectators were in tears.
Even several journalists had stopped taking notes.
The courtroom had become completely silent.
Then the defense attorney slowly stood.
"You've told a heartbreaking story."
Samuel nodded.
"But stories are not evidence."
He placed an official document before the judge.
"According to government records..."
He smiled coldly.
"Samuel Ortega died in a boating accident nineteen years ago."
A murmur spread through the courtroom.
The attorney continued.
"If this man is legally dead..."
"Then who exactly has been testifying today?"
Samuel's face turned pale.
Alejandro realized the trap immediately.
Black Rose had erased Samuel's identity years ago.
Legally...
He no longer existed.
The judge frowned.
"Do you possess identification?"
Samuel hesitated.
"No."
The defense attorney smiled again.
"No passport."
"No birth certificate."
"No employment record."
He turned toward the judge.
"Your Honor..."
"The witness cannot legally establish his own identity."
His testimony should be excluded.
The room filled with whispers.
Alejandro's attorney leaned closer.
"They planned this."
"I know."
Just as Judge Vargas prepared to rule...
A woman's voice echoed from the rear of the courtroom.
"I can identify him."
Everyone turned.
An elderly nun wearing a gray habit slowly walked down the center aisle.
Her hands shook with age.
But her eyes remained steady.
Judge Vargas frowned.
"Identify yourself."
"Sister Agnes."
"I served at Saint Raphael Orphanage for thirty-eight years."
The false Vivian gasped.
Saint Raphael.
The orphanage where Black Rose had recruited children.
Sister Agnes looked directly at Samuel.
"I remember him."
"He repaired our chapel roof every spring."
She then turned toward the woman known as Vivian.
"And I remember her too."
The courtroom became utterly silent.
"You know this woman?"
Sister Agnes nodded.
"Yes."
"What is her name?"
The old nun closed her eyes for a moment.
Then spoke softly.
"Her real name..."
"...is Isabella."
The woman everyone had called Vivian burst into tears.
"No..."
Sister Agnes smiled sadly.
"Yes."
"You were Isabella."
"You were only six years old when they took you."
The woman covered her face.
For years she had believed her past was gone forever.
Now...
Someone had given it back.
The judge leaned forward.
"Sister Agnes..."
"Can you prove your statement?"
Without a word, the nun handed the bailiff a worn leather ledger.
The orphanage register.
Every child admitted over four decades.
The pages were yellow with age.
One entry had been partially burned.
But it remained readable.
Child No. 47
Name: Isabella
Transferred by court order.
Receiving organization: Black Rose Foundation.
The courtroom exploded.
Journalists rushed to photograph the document.
The defense attorney's confidence vanished.
For the first time...
Black Rose had left a paper trail.
But before Judge Vargas could continue—
The courthouse lights suddenly failed.
Darkness swallowed the courtroom.
People screamed.
Emergency lights flashed red.
Gunshots echoed somewhere in the corridor.
Security officers shouted orders.
When the backup power returned thirty seconds later...
The witness stand was empty.
Samuel Ortega had disappeared.
So had Sister Agnes.
The courtroom doors hung open.
One court officer lay unconscious on the floor.
Alejandro rushed into the hallway.
A single black rose rested on the marble tiles.
Beneath it...
A handwritten note.
He picked it up.
Only one sentence was written.
"The trial was never about the truth."
"It was about finding the witnesses."
Alejandro's blood ran cold.
The hearing had been a trap.
Not for him.
For everyone who knew the past.
And somewhere outside the courthouse...
Black Rose had just begun silencing them.
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End of Chapter 9
Coming Next: Chapter 10 – The Final Betrayal, where Alejandro discovers that the person orchestrating the attacks has been standing beside him since the very first day of Elena's disappearance—and the real leader of Black Rose finally makes a move.
