The police arrived within twenty minutes.
By then, the children were inside the house.
The gates were locked.
The security team had doubled.
But I couldn't stop looking at the photograph.
Noah was holding Lily's hand.
Their school uniforms were visible.
The angle was deliberate.
Whoever took it had been close enough to hear them talking.
Dawson placed the phone on the table.
“The metadata is gone.”
“Can it be recovered?”
“Maybe.”
“Do it.”
The police officer introduced himself as Inspector Ruiz.
He studied the image.
“This person knew your children's routine.”
“Yes.”
“Has anyone threatened you before?”
“Yes.”
I showed him the messages.
He read them carefully.
“Have you received anything similar in the past?”
“No.”
He looked at Dawson.
“Any connection to the Castillo investigation?”
“Yes.”
Inspector Ruiz nodded.
“Then we need every name.”
I gave him everything.
Margaret.
Daniel.
Gabriel.
Adrian.
Samuel Reed.
The former foundation attorney.
Anyone connected to the old estate.
He wrote them down.
Then he asked,
“Who benefits if the children lose the inheritance?”
I looked at Dawson.
“The answer isn't simple.”
“Why?”
“Because the inheritance is held in protected trusts.”
Inspector Ruiz frowned.
“So nobody can simply take the money.”
“Correct.”
“Then perhaps the goal isn't the money.”
The room went silent.
I thought about the messages.
Stop opening old doors.
You won't get another warning.
“What else could they want?”
Daniel answered from behind us.
“The truth.”
We all turned.
He had arrived without warning.
Inspector Ruiz looked at him.
“Who are you?”
“Daniel Vidal.”
The officer's expression changed.
“Castillo Foundation?”
“Yes.”
Daniel placed a folder on the table.
“I know who is trying to stop you.”
My heart tightened.
“Who?”
“Someone who believes the original inheritance document can destroy them.”
Dawson opened the folder.
Inside was a list.
Names.
Dates.
Payments.
The final name was familiar.
I had seen it before.
Dr. Samuel Reed.
I looked at Daniel.
“He threatened us?”
“No.”
“Then why is his name here?”
“Because he was paid.”
“By whom?”
Daniel pointed to the bottom.
A company name.
It belonged to the Castillo Foundation's former legal counsel.
The same attorney who had died the previous day.
My stomach tightened.
“He paid Samuel?”
“Yes.”
“For what?”
“To create a false medical record.”
Dawson's face hardened.
“What false record?”
Daniel opened another folder.
“This.”
It was an old medical report concerning Adrian.
The diagnosis was real.
But the genetic conclusion had been altered.
I stared.
“So someone changed the report?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To make Margaret believe Adrian's condition came from Eduardo's family.”
“But it didn't.”
“No.”
“It came from Thomas.”
“Yes.”
I looked at Daniel.
“Why would they want her to believe that?”
“Because Margaret would never question the Castillo bloodline if she believed Adrian inherited the condition from Eduardo.”
The deception was more sophisticated than I had realized.
Someone had manipulated not only the birth records but the medical records.
And the person doing it had access to the family's lawyers, doctors, and financial records.
“Who?”
Daniel didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he opened another file.
“This is the original report.”
I read it.
The doctor's handwriting was different.
The diagnosis was the same.
But the genetic note was missing.
A later page had been inserted.
Signed by another physician.
Samuel Reed.
I looked up.
“So Samuel wasn't the original doctor.”
“No.”
“He altered the record?”
“He signed the replacement.”
“Why would he?”
“Money.”
“From the lawyer?”
“Yes.”
Dawson stood.
“Then why did Samuel come to us?”
“Because he became afraid.”
“Of whom?”
Daniel looked at me.
“Margaret.”
I remembered Samuel's warning.
He had said Margaret knew where the original inheritance deed was.
Maybe he had been trying to distance himself from her.
Maybe he had finally realized the people paying him would sacrifice him if necessary.
Inspector Ruiz asked,
“Where is Margaret now?”
Daniel shook his head.
“We don't know.”
“Then find her.”
Daniel looked at me.
“We're trying.”
The investigation moved quickly.
Within forty-eight hours, police traced the vehicle seen near the children's school.
It belonged to a security company.
The company had been hired under a false name.
But the payment came from an account connected to the old foundation lawyer.
He had died.
Someone else was using his network.
That someone had access to his records.
We returned to the old Castillo estate.
This time, the police came with us.
The hidden room had already been searched.
But Daniel noticed something.
The fireplace.
He knelt beside it.
“There.”
A small metal tube had been hidden behind a loose brick.
Inside was a rolled piece of paper.
Dawson opened it.
It was a map.
The old estate.
A marked location beneath the eastern wing.
Inspector Ruiz looked at Daniel.
“What's there?”
“Nothing.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Daniel's expression changed.
“Not anymore.”
We followed the map.
The eastern wing had been sealed for decades.
A hidden staircase led beneath the house.
The air smelled of earth.
At the bottom was a locked iron door.
Dawson tried the key from Adrian.
It opened.
Inside was a storage room.
Boxes covered the floor.
One was marked 1988.
Another 1990.
Another 1995.
The final box had no date.
It had only one word.
CHILDREN.
I felt my stomach drop.
Dawson opened it.
Inside were school records.
Photographs.
Medical forms.
Addresses.
Not just Noah and Lily.
Adrian's entire childhood.
Margaret had kept everything.
But beneath the records was another envelope.
This one belonged to Thomas.
I opened it.
The letter was addressed to Adrian.
Thomas had written it before his death.
He knew Adrian was his son.
He had tried to contact Eduardo.
But the letter had never been delivered.
It contained one sentence that made me cry.
“I did not abandon you.”
Adrian had believed that lie his entire life.
Margaret had allowed him to.
I folded the letter.
Then found another page.
Thomas had named the person who framed him.
The name was the same as the foundation lawyer.
He had been working with Eduardo's business partner.
But there was a second name.
Margaret.
I stared at it.
She had not merely hidden the truth.
She had helped create the lie.
Daniel sat down.
“She was afraid Thomas would take Adrian.”
“Did she frame him?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To make sure he couldn't return.”
I closed my eyes.
That explained the financial investigation.
The false accusations.
The disappearance.
The altered records.
Margaret had built an entire system to keep Adrian where she wanted him.
Then she had turned him against me.
She had taught him that family meant obedience.
And he had carried that lesson into our marriage.
Inspector Ruiz took the documents.
“These will matter.”
“They matter to Adrian.”
“Yes.”
I looked at the letter.
“I want him to have it.”
We called him.
He arrived the next day.
I gave him Thomas's letter.
He read it standing beside the old fireplace.
His hands shook.
“He knew?”
“Yes.”
“He tried to find me.”
“Yes.”
Adrian sat down.
For several minutes, he couldn't speak.
Then he said,
“I hated him.”
“You didn't know him.”
“I hated the person I thought he was.”
I said nothing.
He wiped his face.
“Can I keep this?”
“Yes.”
He folded the letter carefully.
Then he looked at Daniel.
“You were supposed to be my brother.”
Daniel smiled sadly.
“I still can be.”
Adrian nodded.
Neither embraced.
Not yet.
But they shook hands.
Sometimes that was enough.
That evening, Inspector Ruiz called.
“We found Margaret.”
My heart tightened.
“Where?”
“She surrendered.”
“To whom?”
“To federal investigators.”
“Why?”
He paused.
“She says she wants to confess.”
I looked at Dawson.
“What does she want?”
Inspector Ruiz answered.
“To speak with you.”
Click Here to continue read next: PART11: Margaret Finally Agreed to Tell the Truth, but Her Confession Revealed One Final Betrayal That Could Not Be Undone
Five Minutes After He Gave Away Our Children, I Realized the Signature He Barely Read Had Already Changed All of Our Futures
Part 10 of 16
