Chapter 3 - Selena’s Secret
Selena woke to the sound of water dripping.
At first she did not know where she was.
The room was dark.
Cold.
Her wrists were tied.
Her head throbbed.
She tried to move.
Pain shot through her shoulder.
Then she remembered.
The staff residence.
The pounding.
The car.
A hand over her mouth.
Ruby.
Selena's eyes flew open.
“Ruby?”
No answer.
She pulled desperately against the restraints.
“Ruby!”
A light switched on.
A man stepped from the shadows.
Selena recoiled.
“Where is my daughter?”
The man said nothing.
He placed a bottle of water on the floor.
Then he walked away.
Selena recognized him.
Ben.
The guard who had come to her door.
Her heart sank.
Someone had betrayed the estate from the inside.
And if Ben had taken her, Ruby was still somewhere.
She prayed Damon had found her.
She prayed her little girl had followed her instructions.
Because Selena had not told Ruby the entire truth.
She could not.
Not yet.
Eleven years earlier, Selena had been twenty.
She had been a college student struggling to pay tuition.
She met Daniel Castillo in a small coffee shop.
He was charming.
Funny.
Kind.
He made her feel safe.
They married two years later.
Daniel had a talent for numbers.
He worked as an accountant for a company connected to the Reyes family.
Selena never understood why his work was dangerous.
Then one night he came home bleeding.
He told her they had to leave.
They did not make it.
Daniel was killed three days later.
Selena learned the truth afterward.
He had discovered the Black Ledger.
And he had found evidence connecting powerful men to murders, extortion, money laundering, and political corruption.
But there was one name he had refused to tell her.
The person who betrayed him.
Before he died, Daniel gave Selena one instruction.
“Never trust anyone who asks about the ledger.”
He also gave her a key.
She kept it hidden for years.
Then, five months after Daniel's death, Selena discovered she was pregnant.
Ruby was born.
Selena built a quiet life.
Until Rafael Reyes found her.
He came to her apartment one night.
She opened the door and nearly screamed.
He looked exactly like the man she had seen in family photographs.
But alive.
“We have a problem,” Rafael told her.
Selena had stared at him.
“You're dead.”
“I know.”
“What do you want?”
“Protection.”
She laughed bitterly.
“You're Rafael Reyes. You don't need protection.”
“You don't understand.”
He handed her a photograph.
It showed a little girl.
A child who resembled Ruby.
Selena looked at him.
“Who is she?”
“My daughter.”
Selena's heart pounded.
Rafael continued.
“Her mother was killed. My enemies took the child.”
“What does that have to do with me?”
“I believe they are coming for Ruby.”
Selena's face changed.
“Why?”
“Because Daniel hid something inside the ledger that can expose them.”
Selena did not understand.
“What?”
“Evidence.”
Rafael leaned closer.
“Evidence that could destroy half the men who think they own Arizona.”
He asked Selena to hide.
To enter the Reyes estate under another identity.
To stay close to Damon.
Selena refused.
Then Rafael showed her a photograph of someone else.
Damon.
Standing as a child beside his father.
And beside Damon stood a teenage Victor Lane.
Rafael pointed at Victor.
“He is not what Damon thinks.”
Selena looked at him.
“Why don't you tell your brother?”
“Because I don't know who I can trust.”
“That sounds like your problem.”
“It will become yours.”
Then Rafael vanished.
Three years later, he was supposedly killed again.
The world believed the story.
Selena did too.
Until she found the same man watching Ruby at the park.
She followed him.
He disappeared.
That was when she realized the truth.
Rafael had never truly died.
And someone was using his name.
Selena finally understood why Damon never spoke about his brother.
He believed Rafael was dead.
And someone wanted it that way.
The door opened.
A woman walked in.
Selena recognized her.
Margaret.
Damon's former housekeeper.
“You,” Selena whispered.
Margaret sat across from her.
“I am sorry.”
Selena stared.
“Where is Ruby?”
“She is safe.”
“Where?”
“With Damon.”
Selena exhaled shakily.
Margaret continued.
“Damon cannot know the whole truth yet.”
“Why?”
“Because if he learns everything too quickly, the people behind this will kill him.”
Selena's eyes narrowed.
“You're involved.”
“Yes.”
“Then why help me?”
Margaret looked down.
“Because I promised your husband.”
Selena stopped.
“Daniel?”
Margaret nodded.
“He came to me before he died.”
Selena felt tears fill her eyes.
“What did he say?”
“That if anything happened to him, I was to protect you and Ruby.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I knew someone was watching you.”
Margaret leaned closer.
“There was only one thing Daniel was more afraid of than the Black Ledger.”
“What?”
“His own employer.”
Selena's throat tightened.
“Who?”
Margaret whispered the name.
“Damon's father.”
Selena shook her head.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“That doesn't make sense.”
“Your husband discovered that Javier Reyes had been funding something far more dangerous than organized crime.”
“What?”
“Human trafficking.”
Selena went still.
Margaret continued.
“Children. Women. Witnesses. Anyone who could be used, sold, threatened, or disappeared.”
Selena remembered the photograph Rafael showed her.
The girl.
The missing child.
Victor's daughter.
Everything connected.
And Ruby was now in the center of it.
Margaret removed a small envelope.
“This is the last message Daniel left.”
Selena opened it.
The handwriting was unmistakable.
If they ever come for Ruby, tell Damon the truth.
Not the truth about me.
The truth about his father.
Because Damon is the only man I believe can finish what I started.
Selena pressed the note to her chest.
“Why now?”
Margaret looked at the clock.
“Because Damon has opened the safe.”
Selena looked up.
“How do you know?”
Margaret smiled sadly.
“Because the people who took you just called me.”
“What did they say?”
“They said the key has been found.”
Selena froze.
“Then Damon is in danger.”
“Very much.”
Margaret stood.
“We have to get out.”
“Where?”
“Before Damon discovers who the real traitor is.”
A gunshot echoed somewhere outside.
May you like
Margaret grabbed Selena's hand.
“Now.”
