CHAPTER 3: THE SEARCH

For three days, volunteers searched the mountains.

Police officers.

Firefighters.

Neighbors.

Even people who had publicly condemned Carlos online.

The weather grew colder.

Hope began fading.

Then, on the fourth morning, a rescue dog started barking near a narrow canyon.

The search team rushed forward.

“Over here!”

Mariana ran toward the sound.

What she found brought tears to her eyes.

Carlos was alive.

Barely.

Pinned beneath a fallen tree.

Covered in mud.

Broken ribs.

A shattered leg.

Severe dehydration.

But alive.

When rescuers reached him, he wasn't asking for water.

He wasn't asking for help.

His first words were:

“Is Sofía okay?”

Mariana knelt beside him.

“She’s alive.”

Carlos closed his eyes.

Tears mixed with the rain on his face.

“Thank God.”

The paramedics quickly loaded him into a helicopter.

But before the doors closed, Mariana asked the question everyone wanted answered.

“Carlos... why didn't you call for help?”

Carlos looked embarrassed.

“My phone broke in the crash.”

“Then how did you survive?”

His eyes drifted toward the canyon wall.

“There was a small stream.”

Then he smiled weakly.

“And I kept thinking about my daughter.”

The helicopter lifted into the gray sky.

Back at the hospital, news of the rescue spread across town.

The comments online suddenly changed.

People who had called him a monster now called him a hero.

But Carlos wasn't thinking about any of that.

He only wanted to see Sofía.