Lucía made a broken sound. Gabriel felt his stomach drop.

By 1 a.m., officers were in the yard. The shed—once ordinary, filled with tools—suddenly felt different. The lock broke quickly. Inside, everything seemed normal… until they uncovered a hidden trapdoor beneath stacked boards.

Renata knelt.
“Open it.”

A narrow staircase led downward.

Lucía began shaking so badly Marco had to hold her. Gabriel stared into the darkness, already knowing something had changed forever.

Two specialists went down first. Then Renata.

Silence.

Seconds stretched into minutes.

Then her voice rose from below—tight, strained:
“No one come down.”

That was enough.

Lucía collapsed.

Gabriel didn’t need to see anything. He understood. Melissa hadn’t run away. She had never left. She had been there all along—beneath the same ground where they had celebrated holidays, where life had continued as if nothing was wrong.

The excavation took two days.

The truth that followed was devastating.

The garment was Melissa’s. So were other small items—things Lucía recognized instantly. And in the notebook, there were entries. Simple, cold lines, like routine notes—except they revealed something far darker.