CHAPTER 2 – THE SECRET INSIDE ROSA'S APRON
CHAPTER 2 – THE SECRET INSIDE ROSA'S APRON
Rosa never broke eye contact with the hidden camera.
She didn't smile. She didn't nod.
She simply lifted two fingers to the tiny object hidden in her apron pocket before slipping it back inside, so quickly that Patricia never noticed.
But Emiliano did.
"What is that?" he whispered.
His head of security, Gabriel, leaned closer to the monitor.
"It looked like... a memory card."
Emiliano's pulse hammered against his ribs.
Why would Rosa carry a memory card like it was the most valuable thing she owned?
Patricia folded her arms.
"I've told you before," she snapped. "You are staff. Staff obey."
Rosa kept her voice calm.
"I am only asking you not to frighten the girls."
Patricia laughed.
"Frighten them?"
She grabbed Daniela by the chin so suddenly the little girl gasped.
"I'm educating them."
Daniela froze.
Martina buried her face against Rosa's skirt.
The sight nearly sent Emiliano charging out of the monitoring room.
Gabriel put a firm hand on his shoulder.
"Sir."
"I'm going."
"Not yet."
"My daughters—"
"If you walk in now, you'll stop today."
Gabriel's voice remained steady.
"But you'll never learn how long this has been happening... or who else is involved."
Those words forced Emiliano back into his chair.
His stomach twisted with guilt.
Patricia released Daniela with a shove.
"You know what happens if you tell Daddy lies."
Daniela whispered,
"...Yes."
"And what happens?"
The little girl's voice trembled.
"You'll send Rosa away."
"Exactly."
Patricia smiled.
"So if Daddy asks whether I was nice..."
Daniela lowered her head.
"...I say yes."
"And if he asks whether I yelled?"
"I say no."
"And if I took your toys?"
"You didn't."
Patricia nodded approvingly.
"Good girl."
Emiliano felt every word like a knife entering his chest.
His daughters had been rehearsing lies.
Because he had unknowingly rewarded them every time they protected Patricia.
Rosa finally spoke.
"They're children."
"They're future heirs."
Patricia's smile widened.
"They'll learn discipline now instead of embarrassing me later."
"You mean embarrassing you?"
Patricia's eyes flashed.
Without warning—
SLAP.
The sound echoed through the living room.
Rosa's face turned sharply from the force.
Neither Martina nor Daniela screamed.
They simply closed their eyes.
As though they had seen it before.
Emiliano stood.
"Enough!"
Gabriel blocked the door.
"Sir!"
"I said enough!"
"Five more minutes."
"My girls are terrified!"
"And Rosa knew you'd be watching."
Emiliano blinked.
"What?"
Gabriel pointed at the screen.
"Look carefully."
Rosa wasn't crying.
She wasn't angry.
She was...
stalling.
Every answer she gave Patricia was deliberately slow.
Every movement placed her body between Patricia and the children.
Every second she spoke allowed time to pass.
But why?
Then Emiliano noticed something else.
Rosa's left hand disappeared briefly beneath the kitchen counter.
When it came back—
the memory card was gone.
Patricia finally lost interest.
"I'm leaving for my spa appointment."
She pointed one manicured finger at Rosa.
"When I return, I expect this house spotless."
She looked at the girls.
"And remember."
"If your father ever asks..."
Daniela answered automatically.
"You were kind."
Patricia smiled with satisfaction.
"Perfect."
A minute later, the front door slammed.
Her heels clicked across the marble foyer.
Then silence.
The moment Patricia's car disappeared through the front gate—
everything changed.
Rosa rushed to the windows.
Locked every door.
Closed every curtain.
Then she dropped to both knees before the girls.
"My angels..."
She wrapped both children into her arms.
Martina exploded into sobs so violent her tiny shoulders shook.
Daniela tried to stay brave for exactly three seconds.
Then she collapsed too.
"I'm sorry..."
Rosa whispered over and over.
"I'm so sorry I couldn't stop her."
Watching from the monitor, Emiliano felt something inside him shatter forever.
His daughters cried the way children cry only after surviving fear—not during it.
"Daddy doesn't love us anymore."
Martina's tiny voice barely reached the microphone.
Emiliano stopped breathing.
Rosa gently held the little girl's face.
"Don't ever say that."
"But he always believes Patricia."
Daniela nodded through tears.
"He thinks we're lying."
Rosa closed her eyes.
For the first time since Emiliano had known her...
she cried.
Not loud.
Not dramatically.
Just silent tears falling one after another.
"Your daddy loves you more than his own life."
"Then why doesn't he see?"
No answer came.
Because there wasn't one.
Only heartbreaking silence.
Five minutes later, Rosa stood.
"I have something to show you."
She walked to the pantry.
Reached behind the bottom shelf.
Pulled out a small metal lunch box wrapped in old kitchen towels.
She unlocked it with a tiny brass key hidden inside her shoe.
Gabriel leaned toward the screen.
"There."
Inside the box were dozens of memory cards.
Not one.
Dozens.
Each carefully labeled with dates.
Every week.
Every month.
Going back almost a year.
Emiliano stared at the screen in disbelief.
"What...?"
Rosa picked up the newest card.
"This one is today's."
Daniela asked quietly,
"Are you giving them to Daddy?"
Rosa looked toward the hidden camera again.
Almost as though she could see straight through the wall into Emiliano's soul.
"I've tried."
She whispered those three words so softly the microphone almost missed them.
"I've tried for months."
Then she reached beneath the lunch box.
And removed a thick envelope.
Across the front, written in careful handwriting, were words that made Emiliano's blood freeze solid.
IF SOMETHING HAPPENS TO ME... GIVE THIS TO MR. EMILIANO BEFORE PATRICIA FINDS IT.
Emiliano's hands began to shake uncontrollably.
Gabriel looked at him.
"Sir..."
But Emiliano wasn't listening anymore.
Because at that exact moment—
one of the exterior security cameras captured Patricia's black Mercedes stopping just outside the front gate.
She wasn't driving away.
She had parked around the corner.
And she was getting out of the car.
Not alone.
Three men dressed in black climbed out behind her.
One of them carried a crowbar.
Another wore black gloves.
Patricia looked toward the mansion with a smile that no longer belonged to a human being.
May you like
"They're all inside," she said.
"Get the evidence before Rosa can hide it again."
