Chapter 2 - Behind the Wall
The panel looked decorative.
Carved wood.
Gold trim.
Perfectly matched to the nursery.
Nicolás had lived in the mansion his entire life.
He had never noticed the seam.
Sofía ran her fingers along it.
“Someone opened this recently.”
Leonor scoffed.
“You are a nurse, not a detective.”
Sofía ignored her.
Nicolás called security.
Don Esteban arrived with the estate engineer.
They removed the panel.
Behind it was a narrow service cavity.
Wires.
Old ventilation ducts.
And a small metal box.
Nicolás’s security chief, Rafael Ortega, opened it.
Inside:
Two prepaid phones.
Three tiny cameras.
A USB drive.
And four identical bottles of the same fabric treatment.
Valeria sat down.
“Oh God.”
Sofía looked at the bottles.
One had Mateo’s initials written underneath.
M.V.
Another had no label.
Another read:
S.R.
Sofía frowned.
“My initials.”
Nicolás looked at her.
“You were not supposed to be here until yesterday.”
“I know.”
Rafael turned toward the staff.
“Who knew she was coming?”
Nicolás answered:
“My mother.”
Leonor’s face hardened.
“And Valeria.”
Valeria shook her head.
“I told no one.”
Then Don Esteban said:
“I knew.”
Everyone turned.
“The hospital called the house line.”
That meant the information could have spread through the entire staff.
Rafael checked the prepaid phones.
One had only three contacts.
A pharmacy.
A private medical office.
And a number saved as M.
The second had dozens of photographs.
Mateo sleeping.
Valeria crying.
Nicolás leaving for meetings.
Sofía entering the gate that morning.
The final photo had been taken ten minutes earlier.
Sofía holding Mateo.
From inside the nursery.
Valeria looked around.
“We were being watched.”
Nicolás’s expression became something darker than anger.
“Lock the estate.”
Rafael nodded.
“No one leaves.”
Then Sofía opened the USB drive on a secure laptop.
Folders.
MEDICAL.
TRUST.
SECURITY.
NANNY.
The nanny folder was empty.
The trust folder was password protected.
The medical folder opened.
Mateo’s hospital reports.
All fifteen specialists.
But someone had added notes beneath each report.
Reaction weaker outside home.
Return symptoms after treated textiles.
Continue environmental exposure.
Sofía stared.
“Someone knew.”
Nicolás leaned closer.
“What?”
“Someone knew exactly what was causing this.”
Valeria whispered:
“And kept doing it.”
Then they opened a document titled PHASE THREE.
Only one sentence.
IF THE NURSE IDENTIFIES THE TEXTILES, MOVE TO DELIVERY SYSTEM B.
Sofía felt cold.
Nicolás read it twice.
“What is delivery system B?”
Before anyone answered, Mateo started crying again.
Sofía rushed to him.
No silk.
No treated clothes.
Still crying.
She checked his skin.
A red line appeared along his neck.
New.
She smelled the air.
Lavender.
Very faint.
Then she looked at the ventilation vent above the crib.
“Turn off the air.”
Rafael killed the nursery system.
The smell weakened.
Sofía looked at Nicolás.
May you like
“Delivery system B is the ventilation.”
And someone had just activated it while the entire estate was locked down.
