PART 6 — THE NIGHT THEY TOOK MY SON
PART 6 — THE NIGHT THEY TOOK MY SON
My heart stopped.
The message remained on the screen.
Five words.
Five words that made every nightmare I had ever imagined become real.
I know where your baby is.
My hand immediately moved to my stomach.
Protecting him.
Even though he was still inside me.
Even though the threat was only words.
Because a mother's fear doesn't wait for proof.
It arrives before danger does.
"Valeria?"
My father noticed my face.
"What happened?"
I didn't answer.
I just handed him my phone.
He read the message.
And the expression on his face changed instantly.
The businessman disappeared.
The powerful man disappeared.
Only a father remained.
"Nobody leaves this house."
His voice was sharp.
Security immediately moved.
Doors locked.
Windows checked.
Phones collected.
But I wasn't listening.
Because one thought kept repeating.
Someone wanted my baby.
Santiago stepped closer.
"Let me see."
I almost pulled away.
Almost.
Because after everything...
Trust was complicated.
But something in his expression stopped me.
He wasn't angry.
He wasn't defensive.
He looked terrified.
Not for himself.
For our child.
He read the message.
Then whispered:
"Whoever sent this..."
A pause.
"They know the next move."
My mother walked toward me.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Like she was afraid I would disappear.
"Valeria."
I looked at her.
The woman who was supposed to be dead.
The woman who left me.
The woman who came back with answers and more pain.
"How many more secrets?"
She closed her eyes.
"I don't know."
That answer hurt.
But it was honest.
And honesty was something everyone had been avoiding.
Then Elena's laptop made a sound.
A notification.
She turned.
Everyone watched.
"What is it?"
She didn't answer.
She clicked.
Her face became pale.
"The message came from inside."
The room froze.
"What do you mean?"
She turned the screen.
"The sender used the mansion's internal security network."
My father's expression changed.
Impossible.
"The system is isolated."
Elena nodded.
"Which means..."
She looked around the room.
"The person who sent it is here."
Silence.
Real silence.
Everyone looked at everyone else.
Nobody trusted anyone.
Not anymore.
My eyes moved across the room.
My father.
My mother.
Santiago.
Beatriz.
The security team.
Elena.
Who?
Who had been playing with my life?
Then the lights came back.
Slowly.
One by one.
The mansion returned.
But something felt different.
Wrong.
My father's head suddenly turned toward the hallway.
"Where is the guard?"
Everyone looked.
The guard who had been standing by the entrance...
Was gone.
The front door was open.
Just slightly.
Cold air entered.
And outside...
A car was leaving.
"Stop that vehicle!"
Security ran.
My father followed.
I tried to move.
But my body stopped me.
Eight months pregnant.
Fear.
Exhaustion.
Everything.
Santiago reached me.
"Stay here."
"No."
I looked at him.
"I am going."
He hesitated.
Then nodded.
Because he finally understood.
I was not the woman they could order around anymore.
Outside, the car disappeared down the road.
The security team returned minutes later.
Empty-handed.
My father looked furious.
"What happened?"
One guard lowered his head.
"The driver knew our routes."
My father froze.
"What?"
"He avoided every camera."
A pause.
"He knew exactly where the blind spots were."
Nobody spoke.
Because that meant one thing.
Someone had studied us.
For a long time.
Then Elena checked the security recordings.
"Wait."
Everyone turned.
"What?"
She rewound the footage.
The screen showed the hallway.
The missing guard.
Walking toward the entrance.
Then someone approached him.
A person wearing a dark coat.
The face hidden.
But the height.
The walk.
The way they moved.
I recognized it.
My blood ran cold.
"No."
My father looked at me.
"What?"
I pointed.
The person on the screen.
"That walk..."
A pause.
"That's..."
I couldn't finish.
Because the person looked exactly like someone from my childhood.
Someone I thought I would never see again.
Elena enhanced the image.
The face slowly became clearer.
Everyone leaned closer.
Then the picture appeared.
A woman.
Older.
But familiar.
My mother gasped.
"No."
My father stepped backward.
Impossible.
Because the woman on the screen...
Was Lucia Salazar.
My mother.
Again.
I looked at my mother standing beside me.
Then at the screen.
Two versions.
Two impossible realities.
My voice barely came out.
"How?"
Nobody answered.
The woman on the recording turned toward the camera.
As if she knew she was being watched.
Then she smiled.
A message appeared.
Written across the screen.
You should have listened to me, Ricardo.
My father froze.
Because the message was directed at him.
Not me.
Not anyone else.
Him.
My mother looked at my father.
"What did you do?"
The question shocked everyone.
My father looked at her.
"What?"
She stepped closer.
"Who did you betray?"
He didn't answer.
Again.
Another silence.
Another secret.
Then Santiago noticed something.
"The baby."
Everyone turned.
"What?"
He pointed at my phone.
The message.
The first one.
I know where your baby is.
He looked at me.
"They didn't say they would take him."
A pause.
"They said they know where he is."
I frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Santiago looked toward the window.
His face changed.
"They already know something."
At that moment...
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
Everyone froze.
My father looked at me.
"Don't answer."
But I did.
Because I needed to know.
I pressed the phone to my ear.
"Hello?"
For several seconds...
Nothing.
Then a voice.
A woman's voice.
Old.
Calm.
Familiar.
A voice I had not heard in fifteen years.
"Valeria."
My blood froze.
Because the voice said:
"I'm sorry."
A pause.
"But your baby was never the target."
I couldn't breathe.
"Then what?"
The woman whispered:
"You were."
The call ended.
The room exploded with movement.
Everyone started talking.
Security.
Lawyers.
Plans.
But I heard only one thing.
You were the target.
Not my baby.
Me.
I looked at my father.
"What did you do?"
He looked devastated.
"I don't know."
For the first time...
My father admitted he had no answer.
And that scared me more than anything.
Then Elena found one last piece of information.
A hidden file.
Recovered from the old estate.
The title:
Operation Valeria.
My name.
My entire life.
Reduced to a file.
A plan.
A strategy.
A controlled experiment.
And the first page contained one sentence:
The child will be born. The mother will disappear.
The room went silent.
Because everyone understood.
The plan was never to steal my baby.
May you like
The plan was to erase me.
Forever.
