Chapter 4 - THE DEEPENING SHADOWS
"What do you mean she was released?!" Gabriel roared, his voice echoing off the sterile walls of the pediatric ward. A passing nurse shot him a warning look, but he didn't care. "Her boyfriend broke my son's arm with a bat! She has a life insurance policy on him! How is she walking free?!"
Detective Vargas raised his hands defensively. "Calm down, Mr. Mendoza. She hasn't been cleared. But legally, the physical assault was committed by Iván. The paperwork in the box suggests complicity and fraud, but until a judge issues a formal arrest warrant for child endangerment and attempted conspiracy, our legal hold on her expired. Her lawyers acted fast."
"And Iván?" Raúl asked, crossing his arms.
"Iván is in a holding cell under heavy guard. He's not going anywhere," Vargas assured them. "But Lorena’s sudden departure with Iván’s older brother, Hector, is concerning. Hector is a known figure in the local black market logistics. If they are trying to liquidate assets, they might be planning to flee the country."
Gabriel looked back at Mateo, who was sound asleep under the influence of pain medication, his small arm encased in a thick plaster cast. The thought of Lorena—the woman he had once loved, the woman he trusted to raise his child—calculating the monetary value of their son's life made him physically sick.
"I'm not letting her get away with this," Gabriel whispered.
"We do this legally, Gabe," Raúl warned, placing a heavy hand on his brother's shoulder. "You have custody now. Emergency custody will be granted by tomorrow morning based on the medical reports. Focus on Mateo."
"I am focusing on him," Gabriel said, turning to face his brother. "And ensuring the monsters who did this never breathe free air again is focusing on him."
Leaving Raúl at the hospital to guard Mateo, Gabriel walked down to the hospital lobby to clear his head. His phone rang. It was an unknown number.
He answered it immediately. "Hello?"
"Gabriel," a shaky, breathless voice whispered on the other end. It was Lorena.
"Where are you?" Gabriel snapped, stepping into a quiet corner near the cafeteria. "How can you even call me after what you did? You monitored his abuse! You insured his life! You're a monster, Lorena!"
"You don't understand, Gabriel!" she sobbed, but there was a frantic, terrifying edge to her voice. "You think Iván was the one in charge? You think I wanted any of this? Iván owes money. A lot of money. To people who don't care about kids or families."
"I don't care about his debts!"
"You should!" Lorena yelled into the receiver. "Because the life insurance policy wasn't my idea. It was Hector’s. Iván was supposed to make it look like an accident next week. If I didn't go along with it, they told me they would kill me, they would kill Mateo, and then they would go after you! I took the box to keep the records away from them, Gabriel! Not the police!"
Before Gabriel could process this piece of information, a loud crash echoed through the phone line on Lorena's end, followed by a harsh, male voice barking orders.
"Who are you talking to?! Give me the phone!"
"Gabriel, help me! They're at the warehouse on—"
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The call cut out abruptly into static.
HOOK TO NEXT CHAPTER: Gabriel looks down at his phone, his heart hammering against his ribs. A text message suddenly lights up his screen from the same unknown number. It isn't an address. It's a live-stream video link showing a dark, industrial room, and the camera is pointed directly at a chair where Lorena is tied up—and behind her stands a man holding Gabriel’s wallet, which he must have dropped at the house.
