Act Three - The Angel’s Game — Chapter 24

David Martín returns to his darkened tower house and advances through ransacked rooms by oil lamp. He notices his typewriter smashed, books torn down, and a white dove nailed to a door. At the end of the corridor, he reopens the disturbed room where a hidden hole in the wall exhales cold, damp air.

Driven by suspicion, Martín scrapes away plaster to reveal a sealed door and forces it open. Inside a foul chamber smeared with dried blood and littered with ash and small bones, he finds grotesque religious relics hanging from string. A bound figure sits facing the corner; when Martín touches him, the body collapses to dust—Ricardo Salvador, concealed there for years.

Diego Marlasca appears with the boss’s manuscript, praising Martín’s work and declaring his intent to imprison him as he did Salvador. Marlasca attacks with a switchblade. A savage fight ensues; Martín is cut and nearly overpowered before he smashes the oil lamp into Marlasca, dousing him in flaming fuel.

Engulfed in fire, Marlasca staggers and spreads the blaze through the hoarded debris. Flames race into the corridor, gallery, and up toward the study as Martín grabs the manuscript and flees. Neighbors gather below, watching the tower burn while Martín slips away into the night, leaving Marlasca consumed by the inferno.