Chapter 3 - Shadows of the Past
By 3:00 AM, the Castillo estate had been converted into a high-level crime scene. Forensics teams in white suits moved quietly through the subterranean corridors, cataloging every inch of the hidden cell.
Meanwhile, Alejandro had moved Elena to the top-floor master suite—a space Vivian had been strictly forbidden from ever entering during her tenure at the estate. He had called in Dr. Sofia Mendez, the chief of medicine at Madrid’s premier private hospital and a trusted family friend, along with two specialized female trauma nurses.
Inside the sprawling bedroom, soft yellow light illuminated the high ceilings. Elena sat on the edge of the massive king-sized bed, wrapped in a plush cashmere robe. She was clean now, her dark hair washed and untangled, but her skin remained dangerously pale, and her eyes darted nervously to every corner of the room whenever a shadow shifted.
Alejandro sat on a small ottoman directly in front of her, holding a cup of warm chamomile tea. He did not touch her without permission, keeping a careful, respectful distance to allow her room to breathe.
"The physical injuries are extensive, Alejandro," Dr. Mendez whispered to him in the adjoining dressing room after examining Elena. "Severe malnutrition, vitamin deficiency, chronic joint inflammation from cold dampness, and localized soft-tissue trauma on her wrists and ankles. But..." Sofia paused, her expression solemn. "...it is the psychological trauma that will take the longest. She has been kept in condition of extreme isolation and psychological terror."
"Can she talk?" Alejandro asked, his knuckles white against his glass.
"She can," Sofia replied. "But her vocal cords are weak from disuse and strain. Do not rush her. Let her speak when she feels safe."
Alejandro walked back into the bedroom and softly sat back on the ottoman. "Elena?" he called gently.
Elena looked up from her tea. Her hands still trembled slightly, but the frantic terror from earlier in the evening had begun to soften into a quiet, profound exhaustion.
"Alejo..." her voice was a hoarse whisper. "It... it was real? She... she is gone?"
"She is in a police cell, my heart," Alejandro said, his tone solid as iron. "She will never touch you again. She will never step foot near you again."
Elena closed her eyes, tears leaking down her hollow cheeks. She swallowed hard, struggling to form words. "Three years ago... the night of the gallery gala..."
Alejandro leaned in, listening intently. "Tell me, Elena. Take all the time you need."
"I was coming home early..." Elena spoke slowly, each word a monument of effort. "I wanted to surprise you for our anniversary... But when I arrived at the gate... Vivian was waiting. She said... she said you were in trouble. That rival investors were coming to ruin you... She told me to come down to the lower cellar to retrieve some old financial ledgers your father had hidden."
A sickening knot tightened in Alejandro’s stomach. Vivian had used Elena’s absolute devotion to her husband as a weapon against her.
"When I went down..." Elena continued, her chest heaving as memories flooded back, "the door locked behind me. Her head of security... a man named Marcus... was there. They took my phone. They took my jewelry. Vivian came down an hour later..."
Elena looked into Alejandro’s eyes, her gaze filled with remembered pain. "She showed me fake news reports... fake videos. She told me you had staged my disappearance to collect insurance money and marry her. She said... she said you knew I was down there... and that you wanted me to die slowly."
"No... God, no..." Alejandro covered his face with his hands, his breath ragged. "Elena, I searched every city in Europe! I nearly destroyed myself looking for you! I never stopped!"
"I know now..." Elena reached out with a trembling hand, her thin fingers lightly touching his wrist. "After the first year... I heard your footsteps above. I heard you shouting my name in the hallway one night... I screamed... I beat my fists against the steel door until my hands bled... but the cellar walls were too thick..."
Alejandro took her small hand and pressed it against his cheek, weeping silently.
"Why did she bring you upstairs today?" he asked, his voice thick with raw emotion.
"Because..." Elena’s eyes narrowed, a flash of cold memory surfacing. "She wanted to break me completely. Yesterday, she came down and told me you were giving up. She said you had agreed to marry her next month. She brought me up today... in a maid's uniform... to force me to serve dinner to you both tonight... to prove that I was nothing more than a servant in my own home."
Alejandro stood up slowly. The air in the room seemed to drop ten degrees.
Vivian hadn't just committed a crime; she had engineered a sick, twisted psychological execution. She wanted Elena to watch her own life being stolen from her, piece by piece, until nothing was left.
At that moment, the bedroom door opened slightly, and Alejandro’s legal counsel, Arthur Vance, stepped in, looking grim.
"Señor Castillo," Arthur whispered. "We have a problem."
Alejandro walked to the hallway, closing the bedroom door softly behind him. "What is it?"
"Vivian’s legal team is already active," Arthur reported, holding a legal document. "Because she held executive power in Moretti Holdings and possessed signed power-of-attorney documents from her late father, her lawyers are claiming that Señorita Moretti was managing a 'private medical containment' for an mentally unstable individual. They are filing for immediate bail at sunrise, citing procedural irregularities in her arrest."
Alejandro’s lips curved into a cold, lethal smile. "They want procedural regularity? Very well. Call the Minister of Justice. Tell him that if Vivian Moretti receives bail tomorrow morning, Castillo Global will liquidate all state treasury bonds and pull our thirty-billion-euro infrastructure investment from the national grid by noon."
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Arthur blinked, stunned by the sheer nuclear scale of the threat. "Alejandro... that could trigger a regional economic crisis."
"Then they better keep Vivian Moretti in a cell," Alejandro said coldly. "And find Marcus—her head of security. I want him in chains before the sun rises."
