Chapter 17 — The Evidence They Couldn’t Destroy
The laboratory was already burning when Ricardo arrived.
Flames climbed the eastern wall.
Black smoke rolled across the night sky.
Police sirens echoed somewhere beyond the gates.
Ricardo jumped from the SUV before it had fully stopped.
“Where’s Javier?”
Gabriel grabbed his arm.
“Inside.”
Ricardo looked toward the burning building.
“Then I’m going in.”
“You can’t.”
“My son’s blood is in there.”
Gabriel's grip tightened.
“And that is exactly why Javier wants you angry.”
Ricardo stared at him.
Then he understood.
Javier wasn't trying to escape.
He was waiting.
Ricardo pulled out his phone.
“Call the fire department.”
“They’re already coming.”
“Then call someone else.”
“Who?”
“Everyone.”
Gabriel frowned.
Ricardo's voice became cold.
“Lawyers. Federal investigators. Every journalist who received the documents. I want this entire property surrounded by witnesses.”
Gabriel stared at him for a moment.
Then smiled bitterly.
“You finally learned.”
“Learned what?”
“Never fight a monster where he controls the walls.”
Inside the laboratory, Javier stood beneath fluorescent lights.
The building shook from explosions outside.
A small refrigeration unit hummed beside him.
Inside it was a single vial.
Diego's blood.
Javier lifted it carefully.
“You have no idea what your blood is worth, little boy.”
A door slammed behind him.
Javier turned.
Ricardo stood there.
Alone.
Javier smiled.
“I knew you'd come.”
Ricardo looked at the vial.
“Put it down.”
“You still give orders like your father.”
“My father isn't here.”
“No.”
Javier's smile faded.
“He's everywhere.”
Ricardo stepped forward.
“What did you do to my son?”
“Nothing he won't recover from.”
“You drugged him.”
“I protected him.”
“You tortured him.”
Javier's expression hardened.
“You call it torture because you don't understand what was being done to your family.”
Ricardo glanced at the laboratory equipment.
Then at the computer screens.
One screen displayed Diego's genetic profile.
Another displayed Ricardo's.
A third showed a series of family names.
Alejandro Galván.
Elena Galván.
Mateo Serrano.
Ricardo Galván.
Diego Galván.
And beneath them—
PROJECT ORPHEUS — SUCCESSION CONFIRMED.
Ricardo stared at the screen.
“What were you trying to change?”
Javier laughed quietly.
“Not change.”
He lifted the vial.
“Confirm.”
Ricardo's eyes narrowed.
“You already know Diego is my son.”
Javier shook his head.
“That isn't the question.”
“What is?”
“Whether the blood recognizes him.”
Ricardo froze.
Javier pointed toward the monitor.
“The trust doesn't care who raised you. It doesn't care who loved you. It doesn't care who signed your birth certificate.”
He tapped the screen.
“It recognizes genetic succession.”
Ricardo's jaw tightened.
“And Diego triggered it.”
“Yes.”
“Then why alter his blood?”
“Because if we could create a second genetic match—”
Javier paused.
“—we could create a second heir.”
Silence.
Ricardo finally understood.
“You were going to manufacture a successor.”
Javier smiled.
“Exactly.”
A loud crash shook the building.
The ceiling above them trembled.
Javier looked toward the exit.
“We don't have much time.”
Ricardo took another step.
“You're not leaving.”
Javier raised a small syringe.
“This contains something more important than Diego's blood.”
Ricardo stopped.
“What?”
“The original sample.”
Ricardo stared at him.
“You lied.”
“Yes.”
“You said you wanted Diego's blood.”
“I wanted you to believe that.”
Javier's expression changed.
For the first time, fear appeared in his eyes.
“I needed you here.”
Ricardo slowly looked around.
“Why?”
Javier pointed toward the wall.
A red light blinked.
A camera.
Then another.
Then another.
“This room has been recording everything for seven years.”
Ricardo's face went still.
Javier whispered:
“Every meeting. Every payment. Every order.”
He looked directly into the nearest camera.
“And every person who thought they could destroy the evidence.”
Ricardo understood.
Javier wasn't protecting himself.
He was preserving the evidence.
A gunshot suddenly shattered the room.
Javier dropped.
Ricardo spun around.
Esteban stood in the doorway.
Gun raised.
“Move away from the equipment!”
Ricardo stared at him.
“You shot Javier.”
Esteban lowered the weapon.
“No.”
Javier coughed from the floor.
“I told you…”
He smiled weakly.
“They'd come for the evidence.”
Then Javier pressed a button.
Every screen in the laboratory turned black.
One sentence appeared:
BACKUP TRANSFER COMPLETE.
Ricardo looked at Esteban.
Esteban's face drained of color.
“No…”
The doors outside burst open.
Federal agents stormed inside.
Esteban slowly lowered his gun.
Ricardo looked down at Javier.
“You planned this.”
Javier struggled to breathe.
“I knew they'd kill me.”
“Who?”
Javier looked toward the camera.
Then back at Ricardo.
“The last person you still trust.”
Hours later, the fire was under control.
The laboratory had been sealed.
The evidence had been copied to multiple independent servers.
The hidden accounts.
The payments.
The surveillance recordings.
The medical records.
The forged DNA reports.
The names of the people involved.
Everything.
Nothing could be erased now.
Ricardo stood outside the hospital room where Diego slept.
A doctor approached.
“Mr. Galván.”
Ricardo turned.
“We recovered the original sample.”
His heart stopped.
“Is it intact?”
“Yes.”
“And the test?”
The doctor hesitated.
Then handed him an envelope.
Ricardo opened it.
He read the first line.
Then the second.
His hands began to shake.
PATERNITY: CONFIRMED.
RICARDO GALVÁN IS THE BIOLOGICAL FATHER OF DIEGO GALVÁN.
Ricardo closed his eyes.
For months, everyone had tried to make him doubt his own son.
Now the truth was on paper.
But beneath the result was another sentence.
One that made his blood run cold.
SECOND GENETIC MATCH DETECTED.
Ricardo looked up.
“Who?”
The doctor shook his head.
“We don't know yet.”
Behind the hospital door, Diego stirred.
And whispered in his sleep:
“Grandpa…”
Ricardo's eyes hardened.
There was still one person left.
May you like
One person who had not been exposed.
And now Ricardo knew exactly where to look.
