Chapter 2 - THE MAN BEHIND THE GATES
"If you want those boys to survive, you need to listen to me very carefully."
Elena's words stopped me colder than the three black SUVs outside my gates.
"First," she whispered, "turn off the cameras in this room."
I stared at her.
"Elena—"
"Please, Alejandro. Sofia trusted me with their lives. Trust me for thirty seconds."
Outside, one of the vehicles rolled forward.
My security guard's voice crackled through the radio at my waist.
"Boss, the visitors say they're from Moretti Protective Services. They have authorization codes."
My stomach tightened.
That was my private security company.
"Nobody opens those gates," I ordered.
"Sir, they're using your executive clearance."
"Then somebody stole it."
I switched off the radio and looked at Elena.
"Explain."
She pointed toward the small camera above the dining room entrance.
"Your security system isn't private anymore."
For eleven years, Elena had never questioned my judgment.
Now she was telling me that someone inside my organization had turned my own home into a trap.
I crossed the room and disconnected the camera.
The little red light disappeared.
Elena finally breathed.
Behind her, four identical boys watched us.
One was carefully separating the peas from his rice.
Another had climbed onto his knees to see through the window.
The smallest, Mateo, was still holding his blue backpack.
"Are those bad cars?" he asked.
I crouched beside him.
"Not while I'm here."
He studied me.
"You're big."
Despite everything, I almost smiled.
"So I've been told."
He considered that answer seriously.
"Can you make them go away?"
I looked toward the gates.
"Yes."
Then I stood.
"Elena. Who are they?"
She pressed her hands together.
"Mateo, Nico, Luca, and Tomas."
Four names.
Four children.
Four small faces carrying pieces of my own childhood.
"They're brothers?"
"Yes."
"Whose children?"
Elena looked toward the photograph in my hand.
"Sofia's."
For a moment, I heard nothing.
Not the engines outside.
Not the guards moving through the hallway.
Not the children whispering.
Only one word.
Sofia's.
"My wife has been dead for five years."
"I know."
"These boys are four."
"I know that, too."
"Then how?"
Her eyes filled again.
"You and Sofia tried for years to have a baby. You remember the fertility treatments?"
Of course I remembered.
The hospital visits.
The injections.
The nights Sofia cried because another treatment had failed.
I remembered holding her while she apologized for something that had never been her fault.
"She told me the treatments were over," I said.
"She believed they were. But there was one frozen embryo left."
I stared at her.
"One?"
Elena nodded.
"One embryo. Four boys."
My mind refused to follow.
"Elena, that doesn't make sense."
"It didn't make sense to the doctors at first, either."
A sharp voice came through the radio.
"Boss, Mr. De Santis is approaching the residence."
Rafael De Santis.
My closest friend.
My head of security.
The man who had stood beside me at Sofia's funeral.
The man who controlled every camera, security code, and armed guard on my property.
I looked at Elena.
Her face had turned gray.
"Don't let him near the children," she whispered.
I felt something dangerous move inside my chest.
"Are you accusing Rafael?"
"I'm asking you to protect those boys."
"That's not an answer."
"Because the answer could destroy you."
Before I could respond, footsteps approached.
The dining room doors opened.
Rafael entered wearing his usual charcoal suit, his silver hair neatly combed, his expression calm.
He glanced at the children.
Not with surprise.
With recognition.
I noticed.
"Rafael," I said quietly. "Who authorized those vehicles?"
He stopped.
"An emergency protection order. I was going to explain."
"Who ordered it?"
"I did."
"Why?"
He looked at Elena.
"Because somebody has been keeping a terrible secret from you."
Elena backed toward the boys.
Rafael's voice softened.
"Alejandro, I've spent twenty years protecting your family."
"Then you can answer my questions."
He studied the photograph in my hand.
Something flickered across his face.
"Where did you get that?"
"One of the children."
His eyes moved toward Mateo.
The boy instinctively stepped behind Elena.
I noticed that, too.
Rafael sighed.
"I hoped we'd handle this privately."
"Handle what?"
"The children."
I moved closer.
"Explain what you mean by that."
Rafael straightened his jacket.
"Those boys shouldn't be here. They're supposed to be under controlled protection until we establish their identities."
"Who is 'we'?"
He hesitated.
That hesitation told me more than his answer.
Then Rafael said something I would remember for the rest of my life.
"Alejandro, whatever Elena has told you, you need to understand something."
He looked directly at the four boys.
"She's the woman who took your sons away from you."
Elena made a sound like someone had struck her.
But Rafael wasn't finished.
"And if you don't believe me, ask her what happened the night Sofia died."
I turned toward Elena.
May you like
For the first time, she couldn't meet my eyes.
And the four little boys watched silently as the two people I trusted most prepared to destroy each other.
