For the first four days, everything was normal. But in the early morning of the fifth day, at exactly 3:15 AM, Mateo’s phone issued a motion alert.
Unable to sleep, he opened the security app. The black and white screen showed him a scene that left him paralyzed. Elena wasn’t sleeping in her cot. She was sitting on the floor, surrounded by the three children. She made sure to look toward the door, as if checking that no one could discover her. Then, with quick, nervous movements, she pulled a strange metallic device covered in wires and a red light that blinked incessantly from her backpack.
Elena crawled across the floor to Santi’s crib. She placed the device directly under the child’s mattress, connected two tiny wires near the headboard, and with a trembling voice, whispered into the darkness:
“Please… let this work… before Mr. Garza finds out and sends me to jail.”
Mateo’s blood ran cold. His heart began to race. He had no idea who that woman really was, or what on earth she was doing to his son in the middle of the night. He grabbed a baseball bat from his closet and ran into the room. He couldn’t believe what was about to happen.
PART 2
Mateo’s footsteps echoed like thunder down the long marble hallway. He pushed the heavy wooden door to the children’s room so hard that it slammed against the wall.
“Get away from my son right now!” Mateo roared, turning on the lights abruptly.
Elena let out a muffled scream and jumped back, tripping over a box of toys. Her face turned completely pale. The three little ones, startled by the sudden noise, began to cry in unison.
