The city they arrived at wasn't on any map.
It was a hidden place nestled between mountains, with cobbled streets, silent corners, where no one asked questions—because everyone already knew too much.
Helena knew the way.
"This is where it all began," she told Julian as they stepped into an old house surrounded by dried bougainvillea. "Where your father built his network. Where he kept his real secrets."
"And why bring me here?"
"Because it's time you saw who Arturo Santamaría really is."
⸻
The house smelled of rotting wood and old paper. Every step they took creaked with a sinister echo. Julian walked silently, alert to every shadow. But it was Helena who lifted a trapdoor hidden beneath a rug.
"What is that?"
"The basement."
They descended a narrow, damp staircase. The air was thick. There was moisture… and something else.
Fear.
⸻
The walls were lined with metal filing cabinets, each labeled with initials and codes.
Helena turned on a desk lamp. Its light revealed yellowing folders, photographs, recordings, fake passports.
And a black box, with a single word written on it:
"UNVIABLE."
Julian opened it.
Inside, he found files with names crossed out, young faces, medical histories, and a phrase repeated on every sheet:
"POTENTIAL DONOR."
"What is this?" he asked, feeling the blood freeze in his veins.
Helena answered, her voice trembling:
"Your father didn't just launder money… he experimented on people. He sold bodies. Bought loyalty. Created impossible debts… and then collected them with organs, with silence, with disappearances."
Julian stood frozen. On the top file was a photograph.
A little girl.
Dark hair.
Enormous eyes.
Name: Lucía Montenegro. Age: 14.
"That's my file," Helena said, lowering her gaze. "That's how he found me. That's how he marked me."
Julian felt the world split in two.
His father wasn't just a criminal.
He was a monster.
⸻
But before he could speak, a red light turned on against the wall.
A silent alarm.
"They found us," Helena whispered. "We shouldn't have come."
Julian didn't answer. He just clenched his jaw… and made a decision.
"This time, we don't run."