Chapter 4 - The Silent Drawings
The next morning, the bright Monterrey sun flooded Mateo’s sprawling playroom, illuminating mountains of expensive, completely untouched toys. Valeria sat on the plush carpet, entirely ignoring the luxury items. Instead, she had brought a simple stack of blank printer paper and a fresh box of crayons.
Mateo sat silently across from her, his dark, observant eyes tracking her every single movement. He hadn't thrown anything all morning, which the armed guards outside the door considered an absolute miracle.
“You don't have to talk if you don't want to, Mateo,” Valeria said gently, sliding a piece of white paper and a black crayon toward him. “But sometimes, when my heart feels too heavy, it helps to put it on paper. You can draw whatever is hurting you.”
Mateo stared at the black crayon for a long, intense minute. Then, his small, trembling hand reached out and grabbed it.
He began to draw with a sudden, frantic energy. He pressed the wax so hard against the paper that it snapped in half, but he kept going. Valeria watched patiently, not interrupting, letting the child release his pent-up trauma.
When he finally pushed the paper away, he retreated to the corner of the room, pulling his knees tightly to his chest.
Valeria picked up the drawing. Her breath caught in her throat.
It wasn't a drawing of the terrible car ambush. It wasn't a drawing of guns or the masked men who had killed his mother on the highway.
It was a crude, dark sketch of a very tall man standing inside a hallway. The man had a distinct, jagged scar running across the back of his right hand. And in the drawing, the man was holding a pillow over someone's face.
Valeria’s blood ran completely cold. She looked over at the terrified four-year-old boy.
May you like
“Mateo,” Valeria whispered, her voice trembling slightly. “Who is this man? Is he inside the house?”
Mateo did not speak. But he slowly lifted his small arm and pointed a trembling finger directly toward the solid oak door of the playroom, confirming her absolute worst fear. The person who truly terrified the cartel boss's son wasn't a rival gang member. It was someone Alejandro Ríos implicitly trusted.
