CHAPTER 16 — THE MAN BEHIND EVERYTHING
By the time Ricardo returned to the safe house, the rain had stopped.
But nobody was sleeping.
Diego sat on the couch wrapped in a blanket.
Isabela sat beside him.
Gabriel stood near the window.
Valeria was gone.
Mateo was unconscious in a locked room upstairs.
Ricardo entered.
Everyone looked at him.
Isabela stood.
“What happened?”
“Someone shot Mateo.”
Gabriel's face tightened.
“Is he alive?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“Mateo says Valeria.”
Isabela shook her head.
“She didn't.”
“How do you know?”
“Because she called me.”
Ricardo stared.
“When?”
“Ten minutes ago.”
“What did she say?”
“That she was going to end it.”
Ricardo's expression changed.
“End what?”
“The Galván network.”
Gabriel turned from the window.
“She can't.”
“Why?”
“Because she doesn't know where the central ledger is.”
Ricardo looked at him.
“What ledger?”
“The master ledger.”
“What is it?”
“Every payment. Every name. Every agreement. Every person your grandfather bought.”
Ricardo looked at the USB drive.
“Isn't that what I released?”
Gabriel shook his head.
“No.”
Ricardo froze.
“Then what did I release?”
“Copies.”
“Where's the original?”
Gabriel looked at Mateo's room.
“With the person who controls the network.”
Ricardo's voice became cold.
“Mateo.”
“No.”
“Esteban?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Gabriel didn't answer.
Ricardo walked closer.
“Gabriel.”
The old man sighed.
“Javier.”
Ricardo stared.
“Javier is dead.”
“His body was.”
Ricardo frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Gabriel looked toward Diego.
“The man who died at the estate wasn't Javier.”
Silence.
Ricardo's face hardened.
“Then who was it?”
“A decoy.”
Ricardo felt a chill.
“Where is Javier?”
Gabriel whispered:
“Inside Galván Holdings.”
Ricardo understood.
The security chief hadn't disappeared.
He had returned to the company.
While everyone was looking for him.
He had been controlling the business.
Controlling the accounts.
Controlling the evidence.
Ricardo immediately called the company's board.
No answer.
He called his assistant.
Nothing.
Then the company website changed.
GALVÁN HOLDINGS — TEMPORARY EXECUTIVE CONTROL TRANSFERRED.
Ricardo stared.
The new chairman appeared.
JAVIER MENDOZA.
Ricardo's blood ran cold.
“He took the company.”
Gabriel nodded.
“But that isn't what he wants.”
Ricardo looked at him.
“What does he want?”
Gabriel pointed toward Diego.
“Him.”
Ricardo immediately moved closer to his son.
“No.”
A message arrived.
COME TO THE GALVÁN TOWER. ALONE.
Below it:
BRING THE BOY.
Ricardo deleted it.
Another message appeared.
OR WE RELEASE THE ORIGINAL BIRTH CERTIFICATE.
Ricardo stopped.
Gabriel saw his face.
“What?”
Ricardo handed him the phone.
Gabriel read it.
His expression changed.
“What birth certificate?”
Ricardo said nothing.
Isabela stepped forward.
“What?”
Ricardo looked at her.
“The original.”
She went pale.
“Then they have it.”
“Who?”
“Javier.”
Ricardo's eyes narrowed.
“How?”
“Your father gave it to him.”
Ricardo froze.
“Why?”
“To keep it away from Mateo.”
Ricardo looked at Gabriel.
“So Javier has been holding the original document for thirty years?”
“Yes.”
“And he used it to control my father?”
“Yes.”
Ricardo suddenly understood.
Javier wasn't just a security chief.
He was the keeper of the family's deepest secret.
He knew Ricardo's true identity.
He knew about Mateo.
He knew about Isabela.
He knew about Diego.
And now he controlled Galván Holdings.
Ricardo picked up his jacket.
Gabriel blocked him.
“Don't go.”
“I have to.”
“No.”
“I won't let him take my son.”
“You're walking into his strongest position.”
Ricardo looked at Diego.
“Then I'll make it his weakest.”
Isabela stepped forward.
“What are you planning?”
Ricardo looked at the three of them.
“We don't fight Javier inside his company.”
Gabriel frowned.
“Then where?”
“We take away his company.”
Isabela stared.
“How?”
Ricardo opened the trust documents.
He searched for the clause Mateo had mentioned.
There it was.
BIOLOGICAL HEIR ACTIVATION.
He read the conditions.
Then his eyes widened.
“The trust is already active.”
Gabriel nodded.
“Because Diego activated it.”
Ricardo continued reading.
“Any person who attempts to transfer control of the company without authorization from the recognized heir…”
He stopped.
“What?”
Gabriel looked over.
Ricardo smiled.
“…automatically triggers an external audit.”
Isabela understood.
“Javier transferred control.”
“Yes.”
“Then the trust just triggered the audit.”
Ricardo nodded.
“Which means?”
Gabriel smiled for the first time.
“Javier can't touch the money.”
Ricardo looked at the computer.
“Neither can Mateo.”
“Neither can Esteban.”
“And neither can anyone else.”
Ricardo turned toward the window.
“Then all we have to do is prove who Diego is.”
Isabela shook her head.
“They'll destroy the DNA evidence.”
Ricardo looked at Diego.
“No.”
He reached into his pocket.
He pulled out the small hospital wristband Diego had been wearing.
The identification code was still visible.
“I know where the original sample is.”
Isabela stared.
“The hospital?”
“Yes.”
“It's probably compromised.”
Ricardo shook his head.
“Not the hospital.”
He smiled faintly.
“The laboratory.”
Gabriel's expression changed.
“You mean the laboratory that performed the original paternity test?”
“Yes.”
“That lab was shut down.”
“No.”
Ricardo held up his phone.
“I checked the corporate registry.”
He turned the screen around.
The laboratory was still legally operating.
Under a different name.
And one of its board members was—
Alejandro Galván.
Ricardo stared.
His dead father.
The man had apparently owned the laboratory through a private trust.
Gabriel whispered:
“Your father kept the original test.”
Ricardo nodded.
“And he knew exactly where it was.”
Suddenly Diego spoke.
“Daddy?”
Ricardo turned.
“What is it?”
Diego looked frightened.
“I remember.”
Ricardo knelt.
“What do you remember?”
“The room.”
“The white room?”
Diego nodded.
“There was a man.”
“Mateo?”
“No.”
“Javier?”
Diego shook his head.
“Then who?”
Diego looked toward Gabriel.
Then whispered:
“Grandpa.”
Ricardo froze.
“Your grandfather?”
Diego nodded.
“The old man.”
Ricardo looked at Gabriel.
“Which old man?”
Diego pointed at a photograph hanging on the wall.
Alejandro Galván.
Ricardo stared.
Diego whispered:
“He was there when they changed Daddy.”
Nobody moved.
Ricardo's blood ran cold.
“When they changed me?”
Diego nodded.
“They put another boy in Daddy's place.”
Ricardo stared at his son.
“Did you see this?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“The white room.”
“When?”
“Grandpa Mateo showed me.”
Ricardo felt sick.
Then Diego said something else.
Something that made Isabela cover her mouth.
“He told me Daddy wasn't the first Ricardo.”
Ricardo looked at Gabriel.
Gabriel whispered:
“It's true.”
Ricardo stood.
“What?”
Gabriel looked him directly in the eyes.
“The boy who returned to Alejandro after you disappeared…”
He paused.
“…was your replacement.”
Ricardo's face went numb.
“Then who am I?”
Gabriel answered:
“The real Emiliano.”
Silence.
Then a phone rang.
Not Ricardo's.
Gabriel's.
He answered.
His face changed immediately.
“Who?”
A pause.
Then Gabriel whispered:
“No.”
Ricardo watched him.
“What happened?”
Gabriel slowly lowered the phone.
“Javier has taken the laboratory.”
Ricardo's expression hardened.
“Then we go there.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“You don't understand.”
“What?”
“He isn't trying to destroy the DNA.”
Gabriel looked toward Diego.
“He's trying to change it.”
Ricardo's blood ran cold.
“How?”
May you like
Gabriel whispered:
“By using Diego's blood.”
