Chapter 2 - THE VOICE OF INÉS RÍOS
No one spoke after Inés appeared on the screen.
The room seemed to shrink around the sound of her voice. Even the guards outside the doorway had fallen silent. Alejandro held the cracked phone like it might burn him, his thumb hovering above the screen, but he did not stop the video.
Inés Ríos looked younger than Valeria expected. Not young in years, but young in the way grief had not yet stolen everything from her face. Her dark hair was pulled back. She wore no jewelry except a thin gold chain around her neck. Behind her, Mateo’s old toys sat on the shelves, exactly where they still sat now.
“Alejandro,” Inés said, “I know you think your enemies are outside these walls. You always have. You built higher gates, hired more men, changed routes, changed cars. But you never understood that the person I fear most walks these halls like family.”
Alejandro’s face hardened.
Doña Socorro whispered, “Santa Madre.”
Inés looked toward the door in the video, as though afraid someone might enter. Then she leaned closer.
“I tried to tell you. You said I was nervous. You said I watched too much, heard too much, imagined too much. But I saw the accounts. I saw the payments. I saw the messages hidden under fake names.”
Alejandro’s breathing grew heavier.
Valeria wanted to look away. This was not her world. These were not her secrets. But Mateo had brought her here. Mateo had chosen her hands to hold while the truth came out.
Inés continued, “If anything happens to me, do not trust Esteban.”
The name hit the room like thunder.
Alejandro lowered the phone.
“No,” he said.
It was not denial.
It was something deeper, more dangerous.
Esteban Ríos was Alejandro’s cousin. More than that, he was his right hand. He handled schedules, properties, lawyers, drivers, private meetings. He had stood beside Alejandro at Inés’s funeral. He had carried Mateo away from the graveside when the boy screamed until his voice disappeared.
Alejandro looked at Doña Socorro. “Where is Esteban?”
“He left this morning, señor,” she said. “He said he had business in Monterrey.”
Alejandro pressed play again.
Inés’s voice returned.
“I don’t know how far this goes. I don’t know who he has paid. But he wants you broken, Alejandro. Not dead. Broken. He knows Mateo is the only piece of your heart no one can replace.”
Mateo whimpered.
Valeria squeezed his hand.
Inés swallowed hard. “There is a copy of everything. I hid it where only Mateo would remember. He was with me when I put it there. He thought it was a game. I told him it was our dragon treasure.”
The video shook as Inés wiped her tears.
Then she smiled, but the smile was heartbreaking.
“My sweet boy, if you are watching this one day, I am sorry. I am so sorry I could not protect you from the things grown-ups bring into a child’s life. None of this was your fault. You were never bad. You were never cursed. You were loved.”
Mateo made a sound so small Valeria barely heard it.
Loved.
Maybe no one had said it to him in a way he could believe for two years.
The video ended.
Alejandro stood motionless.
Then he turned toward the wall and slammed his fist into it.
Not close to anyone. Not at anyone.
Just into the empty plaster beside him.
Doña Socorro flinched.
Valeria placed herself slightly in front of Mateo without thinking.
Alejandro noticed.
For one second, something like shame crossed his face.
“I would never hurt him,” he said quietly.
Valeria did not answer.
Because the truth was not that simple.
A child could be hurt by things no hand ever did.
A silent house.
A father too frightening to approach.
Adults whispering over his head.
Doors locked.
Memories denied.
A dead mother’s name treated like a curse.
Alejandro turned back to the closet. “Dragon treasure.”
Mateo looked toward the shelves.
Valeria followed his gaze. A carved wooden dragon sat above the toy cars. Its mouth was open, painted gold inside.
“May I?” Valeria asked Mateo.
He nodded.
She reached up, took down the dragon, and felt its weight. Something rattled inside. Alejandro stepped closer, but Mateo tightened his grip on Valeria’s skirt.
Alejandro stopped again.
Valeria turned the dragon over. There was a small panel underneath. It took her a minute to pry it loose with her fingernail.
A memory card fell into her palm.
Doña Socorro began to cry.
Alejandro stared at the tiny card.
Then his phone rang.
The sound made everyone jump.
Alejandro looked at the screen.
Esteban.
For a long moment, he did not answer.
Then he lifted the phone to his ear.
“Cousin,” Esteban’s smooth voice said, loud enough in the silent room for Valeria to hear. “I heard the new maid caused some excitement. Is the boy still alive, or did he finally destroy someone important?”
Alejandro’s eyes went dark.
Valeria felt the air change.
It was like standing near a storm just before lightning cracked the sky.
“He spoke,” Alejandro said.
There was silence on the other end.
Only half a second.
But everyone felt it.
Esteban recovered quickly. “That is wonderful news. What did he say?”
Alejandro looked down at Mateo.
Mateo stared at the phone with pure fear.
Alejandro’s voice was calm when he answered.
“He said his mother’s name.”
This time, Esteban said nothing.
Then he laughed softly.
“A sad day can loosen old grief. Be careful, Alejandro. Children invent monsters when adults keep them in the dark.”
Alejandro’s hand tightened around the phone.
“Come home,” he said.
“I am hours away.”
“Then drive fast.”
He ended the call.
Valeria looked at Mateo. The boy had gone pale again.
“What is it?” she whispered.
Mateo touched his own throat.
Then pointed to the closet.
Then to the phone.
Valeria understood nothing.
But Doña Socorro did.
She sank into the chair beside the bed, trembling.
“The voice,” she whispered.
Alejandro turned. “What voice?”
Doña Socorro covered her mouth.
Alejandro stepped toward her. “What voice?”
The old housekeeper looked at Mateo, then at Valeria, and finally at the man she had served for fifteen years.
“At night,” she said, her voice breaking, “someone played recordings from this room.”
Alejandro’s face drained of color.
“What recordings?”
Doña Socorro cried harder.
“Your wife screaming your name.”
Mateo closed both hands over his ears and began to shake.
Valeria pulled him against her immediately.
Alejandro did not move.
The truth had arrived like a blade.
His son had not only been grieving.
Someone had been feeding the nightmare.
May you like
Night after night.
Inside his own house.
