All feeds dropped simultaneously.
An alert flashed across the monitor:
CONNECTION LOST.
SECURITY SYSTEM COMPROMISED.
Roberto stood so fast his chair crashed into the wall.
Cold sweat soaked his shirt as terror unlike anything he’d known seized him. This wasn’t a hostile takeover. This wasn’t a financial collapse.
This was his child.
Somewhere in that house.
Alone.
With someone who had never been who she claimed to be.
And for the first time in his life, Roberto Herrera realized that all the power he had built meant nothing—unless he could reach Ana in time.
And whatever Elena had planned…
It was already in motion.
Compromised! The word echoed in his head like a gunshot. How was this possible?
He had invested a fortune in this system, designed to be unbreakable. It was the work of the best engineers. Roberto stood up from his chair, knocking it over in the process. There was no time to think, only to act. He grabbed the keys to his sports car, a speedster he used to enjoy, but which was now just a desperate means to reach his daughter.
The commute from his downtown office to his mansion in the hills became an ordeal. Every red light was torture, every car in front of him an unbearable obstacle.
His mind raced, replaying the image of Elena, her icy smile, the shiny object, the hand reaching for Ana. Was it poison? A drug to sedate her? A kidnapping? The possibilities were endless, and all of them horrifying.
When he finally reached the imposing gate of his property, panic transformed into a cold, controlled fury. The security guards, two burly men who should have been watching the entrance, were nowhere to be seen.
The gate was open. A chill ran down his spine. This wasn’t a simple robbery. It was something far more organized, far more sinister.
Roberto burst into the mansion, the echo of his footsteps reverberating through the vast marble halls. The house was silent. A heavy, unnatural silence.
There was no sign of Elena, nor of the other servants who were usually in the house at that hour. He ran toward Ana’s room, his heart pounding in his ears. The door was ajar.
He pushed open the door and entered, his breath held in his lungs. Ana was in her bed, exactly as he had seen her in the recording. She was asleep. Peacefully.
Too peacefully. Roberto approached her, his hands trembling. He touched her forehead. It was cold. An icy terror enveloped him.
“Ana! Ana, wake up!” he whispered, then shouted, shaking her gently. But Ana didn’t respond. Her eyes were closed, her breathing barely perceptible.
She seemed lost in a deep, almost comatose sleep. Roberto felt like the world was crashing down around him. He took out his phone and dialed the emergency number, his voice barely a whisper.
While waiting for the ambulance, her gaze swept around the room. Everything seemed in order. Too orderly. Then her eyes stopped on Ana’s bedside table.
Next to a glass of water, there was a small, almost empty glass bottle. She hadn’t noticed it before. It was the object Elena had taken from her pocket. On the label, some small, barely legible letters read: “Powerful sedative. Veterinary use.”
Veterinarian! The word struck him like a bolt of lightning. Why would Elena give her daughter a veterinary sedative? The police and paramedics arrived within minutes.
The mansion was filled with sirens and flashing lights. Ana was rushed to the hospital, while Roberto, in a state of shock and fury, tried to make sense of what had happened.
The police investigation began immediately. The mansion, her sanctuary, became a crime scene. Forensic technicians examined every corner.
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