Chapter 6 - The Midnight EscapeClara led Ricardo down the narrow, creaking wooden steps into the dark, damp service passage. The air grew progressively colder, smelling of mildew, wet stone, and neglect.
Ricardo’s jaw tightened with every step. He had lived in this mansion for decades, but this old storage wing had been completely cordoned off by Verónica two years ago under the excuse of "structural renovations."
When they reached the heavy wooden door, Ricardo saw the heavy double padlocks securing the frame. Anger flared in his chest.
"Move back," Ricardo ordered. He grabbed a heavy iron fire poker hanging from the wall rack nearby, jammed it into the latch mechanism, and leveraged his full body weight against it.
With a loud, metallic CRACK, the lock snapped open.
Ricardo pushed the door wide and stepped inside, sweeping the beam of Clara's flashlight across the dark, filthy room.
"Mother?" Ricardo’s voice cracked, trembling with a fear he hadn't felt since he was a child.
In the far corner, behind the rusted iron bars, a frail figure stirred on a thin cot. Doña Leonor slowly lifted her head, shielding her eyes from the bright flashlight.
"Ricardo?" she rasped softly, her voice weak and trembling. "Is that... is that my boy?"
Ricardo dropped the iron poker. It clattered loudly against the stone floor. He rushed to the iron gate, gripping the cold bars, tears instantly overflowing his eyes as he recognized his mother's weathered face.
"Mother! Oh God, Mother!" Ricardo wept, pressing his forehead against the iron bars. "What have they done to you?!"
"It was her, son," Leonor wept, reaching her thin hands through the bars to touch her son's face. "Verónica did this to me. She stole everything..."
Before Ricardo could break the cell latch, the floodlights in the passage suddenly snapped on, blinding them.
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"How touching," a cold, sharp voice echoed from the top of the stairs.
Verónica stood at the doorway, flanked by two imposing private security guards she kept on the estate payroll. In her right hand, she held a small black revolver.
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