Chapter 5 - Thirty-Two Years of Lies
The arrests became national news within hours.
Reporters surrounded Ferrer Group headquarters. Financial analysts predicted collapse. Several board members demanded Gabriel resign until the investigation ended.
He refused.
At an emergency press conference, a journalist shouted, “Did your father order the kidnapping of his own granddaughter?”
Gabriel stood before dozens of cameras.
“The evidence suggests he attempted to remove a child from her mother.”
“Are you protecting the Ferrer legacy?”
“No.”
“Then what are you protecting?”
“The people that legacy harmed.”
At the hospital, Elena turned off the television.
“He sounds convincing,” she said.
Lucía watched her carefully.
“You don’t trust him.”
“I don’t know him.”
“He’s trying.”
“So did many people when they wanted something.”
Valentina was assembling empty chocolate boxes nearby.
“He wants us.”
Elena looked at her daughter.
“You don’t know that.”
“He stayed when Grandma was in surgery.”
“One night doesn’t make someone family.”
“No,” Lucía said. “But it can be the first night.”
Elena’s phone rang.
It was her former employer, a cleaning company that had dismissed her after she requested time off for Lucía’s surgery.
“We heard about your connection to Gabriel Ferrer,” the manager said. “We may have acted too quickly.”
Elena’s voice hardened.
“You fired me while my mother was undergoing heart surgery.”
“We’re prepared to discuss reinstatement.”
“You’re prepared to use my name now that you think it has value.”
She ended the call.
Gabriel arrived thirty minutes later carrying groceries.
Elena stared at the bags.
“You own supermarkets. Did you have to bring them yourself?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“You told me to be present when no one thanked me.”
Lucía smiled.
Elena did not.
“Valentina needs to be picked up from school tomorrow,” she said.
Gabriel paused.
“What time?”
“Three fifteen.”
“I’ll be there.”
“No driver. No security parade. No photographers.”
“I understand.”
The next afternoon, Gabriel arrived at three o’clock in an ordinary sedan.
At three fifteen, children flooded through the school gates.
Valentina did not appear.
At three twenty, Gabriel called Elena.
“She isn’t outside.”
“What?”
A teacher approached him.
“Are you here for Valentina Moreno?”
“Yes.”
“She left ten minutes ago.”
“With whom?”
“A woman said she was her aunt.”
Gabriel’s blood turned cold.
“She doesn’t have an aunt.”
He called his security director.
“Lock down every exit from this district.”
Elena arrived minutes later, breathless and terrified.
“You lost her.”
“I was here early.”
“You brought this danger into our lives!”
“I will find her.”
“You said you would prove you could be there!”
“I am here.”
“She is gone!”
Gabriel grabbed her shoulders gently.
“Listen to me. Helena had access to company security personnel and private investigators. If this is connected to her, they will try to use Valentina as leverage.”
Elena’s face went white.
Her phone rang from an unknown number.
She answered.
Valentina’s voice came through.
“Mom?”
“Valentina! Where are you?”
“I’m okay. A lady told me you were waiting—”
A man took the phone.
“Tell Gabriel Ferrer to withdraw the charges against Helena Valdés.”
Gabriel held out his hand.
Elena gave him the phone.
“You have one hour,” the man said.
“If you touch her—”
“Withdraw your statement and destroy the company files.”
“You’re asking for things I cannot do within an hour.”
“Then use your influence.”
The call ended.
Elena struck Gabriel across the face.
He accepted it.
“This is because of you.”
“Yes.”
“If she dies—”
“She won’t.”
“How can you know?”
“Because the people who took her need me to cooperate. That gives us time.”
Gabriel called the police liaison assigned to the Valdés investigation.
“They contacted us.”
While specialists traced the phone, Gabriel studied the school’s security video.
A woman in a gray coat had escorted Valentina into a van.
Gabriel froze the image.
“I know her.”
“Who?” Elena demanded.
“She worked for Arturo’s private security company.”
A traffic camera captured the van heading toward an abandoned Ferrer warehouse outside the city.
Police prepared a rescue operation.
Gabriel insisted on joining the command unit.
“You are not an officer,” the commander said.
“They asked for me. If they don’t see me, they may panic.”
Elena caught his arm.
“Bring her back.”
Gabriel looked into his daughter’s eyes.
“I will.”
At the warehouse, Gabriel walked alone toward the entrance carrying a hard drive.
The kidnapper appeared on an upper walkway with Valentina beside him.
“Stop there.”
Gabriel did.
“Where are the files?”
“In my hand.”
“Throw them up.”
“Let Valentina walk toward me first.”
The man grabbed the child’s shoulder.
“You don’t set conditions.”
Valentina’s voice trembled.
“Grandpa.”
It was the first time she had called him that.
Gabriel looked up.
“I’m here, sweetheart.”
“Are you scared?”
“Yes.”
The kidnapper laughed.
“At least he’s honest.”
Gabriel kept his eyes on Valentina.
“But being scared doesn’t mean I’m leaving.”
Police officers moved silently into position behind the warehouse walls.
Gabriel raised the hard drive.
“This contains every copy of the investigation.”
The man leaned forward.
That was the opening the police needed.
A flash device exploded near the walkway. Officers stormed the building.
The kidnapper released Valentina and ran.
Gabriel rushed up the metal stairs.
Valentina collided with him, wrapping both arms around his neck.
“You came.”
He held her tightly.
“I told you I would.”
When they returned outside, Elena ran toward them.
She pulled Valentina into her arms, crying and checking her face for injuries.
Then she looked at Gabriel.
There was blood on his forehead from falling against the stairs.
“You’re hurt.”
“It’s nothing.”
“You went inside?”
“She asked whether I was scared.”
Valentina reached for Gabriel’s hand.
“He said yes, but he came anyway.”
Elena’s expression broke.
For the first time, she embraced him.
May you like
It lasted only a few seconds.
But it was enough.
