Chapter 4 - LOCKER 317“Someone at my wedding tried to kill my mother?”
Elena could barely recognize her own voice.
Mateo nodded.
Rafael moved toward the window, his expression strained.
“Mateo, are you certain?”
“I never forgot his face.”
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
The old driver lowered his eyes.
“Because he told me what would happen to my family if I spoke.”
Elena tightened her grip around the brass key.
“Who is he?”
Mateo opened his mouth.
But before he could answer, the door swung open.
A nurse entered carrying a medication tray.
“Mr. Salcedo, it's time for your afternoon treatment.”
Mateo immediately fell silent.
The nurse smiled politely at Elena and Rafael.
“I'm afraid visiting hours are over.”
Rafael glanced at his watch.
“It's only eleven thirty.”
“Special medical instructions.”
Something about the woman's expression troubled Elena.
She wore the facility's pale blue uniform, but her identification badge was turned backward.
Mateo began shaking his head.
“No injection.”
The nurse approached.
“Mr. Salcedo, please cooperate.”
Elena stepped between them.
“What medication is that?”
The nurse stopped.
“Excuse me?”
“What are you giving him?”
“His prescribed treatment.”
“Then tell me its name.”
The woman's smile disappeared.
“I'm not authorized to discuss patient information.”
Elena turned toward Rafael.
“Dad, call the director.”
Rafael was already reaching for his phone.
The nurse hesitated.
Then she abruptly turned and walked out.
Elena followed her into the hallway.
By the time she reached the corner, the woman had disappeared.
A few minutes later, the facility director confirmed something deeply disturbing.
No medication had been scheduled for Mateo that morning.
And no nurse matching the woman's description worked at the residence.
Rafael immediately arranged for Mateo to be moved to a secure hospital.
Elena understood what it meant.
Someone knew they had visited him.
Someone was watching.
And someone was desperate to keep Isabella's secret buried.
That afternoon, Elena and Rafael drove to the abandoned Central Railway Station.
The building had once been the busiest transportation hub in the kingdom.
Now its enormous clock had stopped, its windows were dusty, and only a small section remained open for archival storage.
A caretaker led them through a narrow corridor lined with old metal lockers.
“Three seventeen is at the end.”
Elena's hand trembled as she inserted the brass key.
For a moment, it refused to turn.
Then the lock clicked.
Inside was a small leather pouch.
Elena lifted it carefully.
Her mother's initials were embroidered into the fabric.
I.M.
She opened it.
There was a photograph.
A folded letter.
And a small silver pendant shaped like a dove.
Elena recognized the pendant immediately.
Her mother had worn it every day.
Rafael looked away.
Elena unfolded the letter.
The handwriting was unmistakably Isabella's.
My darling Elena,
If you are reading this, then the truth has finally found its way to you.
I wanted to tell you everything when you were old enough to understand. I wanted you to know where you came from without allowing that history to decide who you became.
But there are people who believe bloodlines matter more than human lives.
They are wrong.
You were born into a complicated family, but you were never born to carry its sins.
Elena stopped reading.
Tears blurred the words.
Rafael gently touched her shoulder.
“Take your time.”
She continued.
Your father, Rafael, is the finest man I have ever known. Never let anyone convince you that love is less important than ancestry.
If something happens to me, remember this: the palace is not the treasure.
The people who depend on it are.
Protect them.
And never become like those who hurt us.
Elena pressed the letter against her chest.
For the first time since her mother died, she felt as though Isabella were speaking directly to her.
Then she noticed another paragraph.
The evidence is hidden where Alejandro first promised to make things right.
Look beneath the angel who has no wings.
Elena frowned.
“An angel without wings?”
Rafael's expression changed.
“What is it?”
He took the letter.
His eyes moved over the final sentence.
Then he whispered:
“The chapel.”
Elena looked up.
“What chapel?”
“The private royal chapel inside Santa Aurelia.”
Rafael turned toward the station entrance.
“There is a marble angel beside the altar. One of its wings broke during a restoration twenty years ago.”
Elena felt her pulse quicken.
“So Mom hid something there?”
“Possibly.”
She reached for the photograph.
It showed a younger Beatriz standing beside a tall man in a dark suit.
The man's face was partly turned away.
But Elena recognized him.
She had seen him at her wedding.
She had seen him at royal dinners.
She had even shaken his hand during her first Christmas at the palace.
It was Victor Aranda.
The royal family's longtime legal adviser.
Rafael stared at the photograph.
“No.”
Elena looked at him.
“What?”
Rafael's face had gone pale.
“Victor wasn't simply Alejandro's attorney.”
He turned the photograph over.
On the back, Isabella had written a date and four words.
He knows whose son.
Elena stared at the message.
“Whose son?”
Rafael did not answer.
Because at that exact moment, his phone rang.
The caller was the security director at Santa Aurelia.
Rafael answered.
A strained voice came through.
“Mr. Montoya, you need to know something.”
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“What happened?”
“Prince Adrián has ordered the private chapel demolished.”
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