Chapter 1 - What Sophie Refused to Give Isabel
The wooden cane sliced through the air toward Sophie’s face.
The seven-year-old tried to turn away.
Too late.
The blow knocked her sideways onto the polished marble floor.
A red welt appeared across her cheek, and the skin beneath one eye was already beginning to darken.
Sophie screamed.
Isabel stood over her.
Long dark-brown hair framed a face twisted with rage. Her burgundy blouse and matching trousers looked impossibly elegant against the violence of the moment.
“GIVE ME WHAT YOU FOUND.”
Sophie curled tighter against the floor.
One hand covered her bruised cheek.
The other remained clenched into a fist so tightly that her knuckles had turned white.
She refused to open it.
Marianne appeared through the nearby doorway.
She saw Sophie.
Then Isabel.
“STOP! DON’T TOUCH HER!”
Marianne rushed between them.
Isabel spun.
Her foot drove forcefully into Marianne.
The caregiver was thrown backward.
Her body crashed into the nearby glass display case.
CRASH!
Glass shattered across the marble.
Marianne fell among the broken pieces and remained there, stunned.
Isabel immediately turned back toward Sophie.
She raised the cane again.
Sophie huddled against the wall, sobbing, still refusing to release whatever she held.
Then the double glass doors at the far end of the corridor burst open.
Alejandro entered.
He saw everything at once.
Marianne lying beside the shattered display case.
Sophie on the floor.
Isabel standing over her with the cane raised.
His expression changed.
He crossed the corridor with terrifying speed.
Isabel barely had time to turn.
Alejandro knocked the cane from her hand.
It clattered across the marble and skittered beneath the small cabinet near the windows.
Then his right fist drove across Isabel’s face.
Isabel was thrown backward.
Her body slammed into the antique display cabinet.
CRASH!
The cabinet toppled.
Decorative objects scattered across the floor.
Isabel collapsed amid the wreckage.
A thin trickle of blood appeared beneath her nose.
She remained conscious but dazed.
Alejandro did not strike her again.
He immediately turned away.
“Sophie.”
He crossed to the child and knelt.
The difference in him was instant.
The man who had looked terrifying seconds earlier lowered his voice.
“Sophie… what did you find?”
Sophie stared up through tears.
Her entire body trembled.
Behind Alejandro, Marianne remained where she had fallen.
Isabel did not move from beside the toppled cabinet.
Sophie slowly lifted her closed hand.
“Mr. Alejandro…”
Her voice shook badly.
“She said you were never allowed to see this.”
Alejandro looked down.
Sophie began uncurling her fingers.
One finger.
Then another.
The camera stayed on Alejandro.
Whatever lay in the child’s palm remained completely hidden.
His eyes focused on it.
Then widened.
The color seemed to drain from his face.
Shock replaced anger.
For several seconds Alejandro could not speak.
May you like
Sophie held her open hand toward him.
And the corridor fell completely silent.
