Chapter 2 - The Shocking Sight and the Locked Trunk
The blanket pooled onto the floor, and Alejandro froze, the breath completely trapped in his lungs. He had expected to find a hidden burner phone, love letters, or perhaps Valeria desperately trying to hide bruises from an intruder.
Instead, he saw his wife’s legs covered in severe, blistering chemical burns, weeping through crude bandages that had soaked through the bedsheets with a faint, medical odor. Bound tightly around her ankles was a heavy, tarnished silver chain, padlocked to the solid iron frame beneath the bed.
"What... what is this?" Alejandro stammered, the rage draining from his face, replaced by absolute horror. "Valeria, who did this to you?"
Valeria sobbed, pulling her knees to her chest as much as the chain allowed, desperately trying to protect her pregnant belly. "I told you to leave it alone, Alejandro. If they know I told you, they’ll take the baby. They promised they would take my baby!"
"Who would take our baby?!" Alejandro dropped to his knees, his hands shaking as he touched the cold iron of the padlock.
Before Valeria could answer, the bedroom door clicked open. Doña Esther stood on the threshold, her posture immaculate, a silver tray with a cup of herbal tea in her hands. She didn't look shocked. She looked disappointed.
"Alejandro, darling, I told you not to come in here," Esther said, her voice smooth as silk. "Your wife has been having severe psychological episodes due to the pregnancy. She did that to herself. We chained her for her own protection, and for the safety of the Aranda heir."
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"She’s lying!" Valeria cried out, terror gripping her face. "She forced me into the old basement three days ago! Her and Marcela!"
Alejandro looked between his aristocratic mother and his weeping, burned wife. For the first time in his life, the flawless facade of the Aranda family began to crack, revealing a deep, terrifying rot. He realized the silhouette in the photo wasn't a lover—it was someone helping his family keep a prisoner.
