CHAPTER 3 — The Intruder Knew He Couldn’t Run
The metallic click echoed again.
Soft.
Precise.
Deliberate.
Mateo's pulse exploded.
The anonymous phone call still rang inside his ears.
"You should have stayed in that wheelchair..."
He slowly turned off the monitor.
Darkness swallowed the office.
The only light came from the city skyline outside the enormous windows.
Another sound.
Footsteps.
Someone was moving through his apartment.
Very slowly.
Very confidently.
Not like a burglar searching for valuables.
Like someone who already knew the layout.
Mateo reached toward the desk drawer.
Inside rested the emergency panic button connected directly to the building's private security office.
His hand stopped halfway.
No.
If Alejandro had already manipulated hospital records...
Who was to say he hadn't bribed security as well?
He couldn't trust anyone.
Silently, Mateo rolled his wheelchair toward the office door.
Every movement felt painfully loud.
The hallway outside was empty.
The luxurious penthouse that had once felt like a dream now resembled a prison.
His own prison.
Suddenly...
The motion sensor lights in the living room switched on.
Someone had walked past them.
Mateo held his breath.
A shadow crossed the marble floor.
Tall.
Broad shoulders.
Male.
The figure paused near the dining table.
Then continued toward Mateo's bedroom.
Drawers opened.
Closet doors slid aside.
The intruder was searching for something.
But what?
Mateo quietly grabbed his phone and activated the security camera system.
Every room appeared on the screen.
Kitchen.
Terrace.
Library.
Garage.
Nothing.
Then...
Camera Four.
Bedroom.
A man dressed entirely in black.
Face hidden beneath a baseball cap.
Black gloves.
Professional.
He wasn't stealing jewelry.
He wasn't touching cash.
Instead...
He carefully removed folders from Mateo's private safe.
He photographed every page before placing them back exactly where they belonged.
Mateo frowned.
Whoever this man worked for wasn't interested in money.
He wanted information.
Then the stranger suddenly froze.
Very slowly...
He looked directly toward the hidden camera.
Almost as if...
He knew it existed.
The screen went black.
Static.
Disconnected.
"He found it..."
Mateo whispered.
His phone vibrated again.
This time...
A text message.
DON'T MOVE.
A second message followed immediately.
HE HAS A GUN.
Mateo stared at the unknown number.
Who was warning him?
Before he could respond...
A third message arrived.
TRUST NO ONE IN YOUR COMPANY.
His heartbeat pounded harder.
Then...
The apartment doorbell rang.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The intruder inside the bedroom instantly stopped moving.
Silence filled the apartment.
Whoever was outside had interrupted whatever mission he had come to complete.
Mateo cautiously checked the entrance camera.
His eyes widened.
Standing outside the door...
Holding a small paper bag...
Was Carmen.
The cleaning lady.
Beside her stood little Lucía, hugging a stuffed rabbit almost bigger than herself.
Mateo couldn't understand.
Why were they here?
Before he could unlock the door...
The electricity throughout the apartment suddenly failed.
Everything went black.
The emergency lights activated several seconds later, bathing the penthouse in an eerie red glow.
Mateo heard running footsteps.
The intruder.
He was escaping.
A window shattered somewhere inside the apartment.
Glass exploded across the marble floor.
By the time the lights returned...
The man was gone.
Only one thing remained behind.
A silver key.
Small.
Old-fashioned.
Attached to a faded leather tag.
On it, handwritten in blue ink, were three simple words:
Warehouse 17.
Confused, Mateo unlocked the front door.
Carmen looked startled when she saw the broken glass behind him.
"What happened?"
"I think someone broke into my apartment."
Her expression changed instantly.
Not surprise.
Fear.
Real fear.
Without saying another word...
She stepped inside and locked the door herself.
She pulled the curtains shut.
Then looked directly into Mateo's eyes.
"You opened the company files..."
It wasn't a question.
Mateo's heart skipped a beat.
"How do you know about them?"
Instead of answering...
Carmen slowly placed the paper bag onto the table.
Inside were several old photographs.
Newspaper clippings.
A cracked cellphone.
And a thick brown envelope covered in dust.
She pushed it toward him.
"My husband didn't die because of a broken crane."
Mateo nodded quietly.
"I know."
Carmen shook her head.
"No..."
"You only know half of it."
With trembling hands, she removed a faded photograph.
It showed Daniel Ortega standing beside another construction worker.
Mateo immediately recognized the second man.
His face turned pale.
Impossible.
The man smiling beside Daniel...
Was Mateo's own father.
The founder of Vargas Construction.
The man everyone remembered as an honest businessman who had died five years earlier from a heart attack.
Carmen spoke in little more than a whisper.
"The day before Daniel died..."
"He told me your father had discovered something."
"What?"
Carmen swallowed hard.
"He discovered that millions of dollars were disappearing from the company..."
"...and the people stealing it were willing to kill anyone who got in their way."
Mateo stared silently at the photograph.
Everything he believed about his family's legacy suddenly began falling apart.
Then little Lucía innocently pointed toward the old cellphone lying inside the envelope.
"My mommy says Daddy hid something in there..."
"...before the bad men found him."
Mateo picked up the cracked phone.
The battery was dead.
The screen wouldn't turn on.
But taped to the back...
Almost invisible beneath the worn protective case...
Was a tiny black memory card.
Carmen looked at him with frightened eyes.
"My husband said..."
"If anything ever happened to him..."
"...give that card only to Mateo Vargas."
Mateo slowly removed the memory card.
His hands were shaking.
Because Daniel had died eighteen months before.
Long before Mateo's own accident.
How could Daniel possibly have known that one day...
Mateo would be the only person he could trust?
Just then...
The television inside the living room turned on by itself.
Breaking news flashed across every channel.
VARGAS CONSTRUCTION CEO UNDER CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION
A photograph of Mateo filled the screen.
The reporter announced that anonymous evidence had been delivered to prosecutors accusing him of fraud, embezzlement, and causing multiple worker deaths.
Mateo's face turned white.
Alejandro wasn't just stealing his company anymore.
May you like
He was preparing to send him to prison.
End of Chapter 3...
