CHAPTER 6 — WHAT VALERIA WAS PROTECTING
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Ricardo stood in the center of the mansion.
Two armed men blocked the doors behind him.
Esteban stood on the balcony.
Mateo stood beside him.
And Valeria remained halfway between them.
Her face was pale.
Her eyes were fixed on the DNA file in Ricardo's hand.
Ricardo raised it slightly.
“You're afraid of this.”
Mateo said nothing.
Esteban smiled.
“It's a piece of paper.”
“No.”
Ricardo's voice was cold.
“It's the reason you drugged my son.”
Valeria closed her eyes.
“Ricardo…”
He turned toward her.
“You knew.”
She opened her eyes.
“I knew something was wrong.”
“You knew about the medication.”
“Yes.”
“You knew about Esteban.”
“Yes.”
“You knew about this estate.”
“Yes.”
Ricardo's expression hardened.
“And you let our son suffer anyway.”
Valeria shook her head.
“I didn't have a choice.”
Ricardo laughed once.
A bitter sound.
“There's always a choice.”
“Not when they threaten to kill your child.”
Silence.
Ricardo stared at her.
“Who threatened Diego?”
Valeria looked at Mateo.
He slowly descended the staircase.
“That's enough.”
Ricardo turned toward him.
“You.”
Mateo stopped.
“You're the one.”
Mateo's expression remained calm.
“The one who?”
“The man Valeria is afraid of.”
Valeria whispered:
“Ricardo, please.”
He didn't look at her.
“Tell me where Diego is.”
Mateo smiled.
“Your son is unharmed.”
“You drugged him.”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Mateo glanced toward Valeria.
Ricardo followed his gaze.
Valeria's face collapsed.
“I gave him the medication.”
Ricardo's eyes hardened.
“You admitted it.”
“I did.”
“Why?”
“Because they told me if I didn't, they would hurt him.”
Ricardo stepped closer.
“Who?”
Valeria began crying.
“Mateo.”
Ricardo looked at the old man.
Mateo didn't deny it.
He simply adjusted his cufflinks.
“You see, Ricardo, fear is an extremely effective form of obedience.”
Ricardo's fists clenched.
“You used my son.”
“We used circumstances.”
“You tortured a child.”
Mateo's expression remained cold.
“Your son was never supposed to be harmed.”
Ricardo stared at him.
“Then why is he injured?”
Mateo didn't answer.
That silence was enough.
Ricardo lunged forward.
The guards raised their weapons.
Valeria screamed.
“Ricardo!”
He stopped.
Not because of the guns.
Because of something else.
A sound.
A faint cry from upstairs.
“Daddy!”
Ricardo looked up.
“Diego!”
He took a step toward the staircase.
Mateo raised his hand.
“Don't.”
Ricardo stopped.
“Bring him down.”
Mateo shook his head.
“Not yet.”
“Then I'll come get him.”
“You won't.”
Ricardo's eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“Because if you go upstairs, the entire house becomes very dangerous.”
Ricardo looked around.
“What did you do?”
Mateo smiled.
“Nothing.”
Then he turned toward Esteban.
“Show him.”
Esteban walked to a nearby console.
He pressed a button.
A screen appeared on the wall.
It showed Diego.
The boy was sitting inside a bedroom.
He looked frightened.
But alive.
Ricardo stepped closer.
“Diego.”
The boy looked at the screen.
“Daddy.”
“I'm here.”
“I know.”
“Are you hurt?”
Diego shook his head.
“No.”
Ricardo looked at Mateo.
“Let him go.”
Mateo smiled.
“You haven't answered my question.”
“What question?”
“What is in the DNA file?”
Ricardo held it tighter.
“You already know.”
“No.”
Mateo's voice became colder.
“I know what we feared.”
Ricardo stared.
“And what do you fear?”
Mateo looked toward Valeria.
Then back at Ricardo.
“That the boy is not who you think he is.”
Ricardo's heart stopped.
He glanced toward the screen.
Diego.
His son.
His little boy.
The child he'd raised.
The child he'd loved.
“What are you talking about?”
Mateo said nothing.
Esteban stepped forward.
“Open the file.”
“No.”
“Then Diego stays here.”
Ricardo's eyes hardened.
“You're bluffing.”
Esteban smiled.
“Am I?”
The screen changed.
A second camera appeared.
It showed a basement room.
On the floor was a metal box.
Ricardo recognized it.
The same box from the hidden archive.
Then Esteban spoke.
“That's everything your father left behind.”
Ricardo stared.
“Where did you get it?”
“We found it years ago.”
“What is inside?”
“Your father's final investigation.”
Ricardo's jaw tightened.
“My father died fifteen years ago.”
“Yes.”
“And you were supposed to be dead.”
Mateo smiled faintly.
“People believe what they're told.”
Ricardo looked at Valeria.
“Did you know?”
She nodded.
“About Mateo?”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Since before Diego was born.”
Ricardo felt the floor disappear beneath him.
“You knew him before Diego?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Valeria's voice broke.
“Because your father hired him.”
Ricardo froze.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To investigate Esteban.”
Ricardo turned toward Esteban.
Esteban's expression changed.
For the first time, the confidence disappeared.
Ricardo understood.
There were layers to this.
His father had investigated Esteban.
Mateo had been the investigator.
Then something happened.
Something had caused Mateo to disappear.
Something had forced Valeria into silence.
Something involving Diego.
Ricardo looked at Valeria.
“Tell me everything.”
She shook her head.
“I can't.”
“You can.”
“If I tell you, they will kill him.”
“They already hurt him.”
“They can do worse.”
Ricardo stepped closer.
“Valeria.”
She looked at him.
For the first time, Ricardo saw something behind her fear.
Regret.
Not guilt.
Regret.
She had been carrying something alone.
For years.
“Tell me.”
Valeria wiped her tears.
“When Diego was born…”
She stopped.
Ricardo waited.
“The doctors found something unusual.”
“What?”
“His blood type.”
Ricardo frowned.
“I know Diego's blood type.”
“No.”
Valeria shook her head.
“You don't.”
Ricardo stared at her.
“What are you saying?”
“Your family believed Diego had your blood type.”
“He does.”
Valeria shook her head again.
“He shouldn't.”
Ricardo's heart began pounding.
“Explain.”
She looked toward Mateo.
“He changed the records.”
Ricardo's face hardened.
“Who?”
“Your father.”
Silence.
Ricardo couldn't breathe.
“My father changed Diego's medical records?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Valeria whispered:
“Because the original records proved something that could destroy the Galván family.”
Ricardo looked at the DNA file.
Then at Diego on the screen.
“What?”
Valeria began to cry.
“I was told never to tell you.”
“Tell me.”
She shook her head.
“I can't.”
Ricardo stepped forward.
“Valeria.”
She looked directly into his eyes.
Then said:
“Diego has a genetic connection to the Galván family that doesn't make sense.”
Ricardo's face went blank.
“What does that mean?”
“It means…”
Valeria swallowed.
“The blood in his veins connects him to someone who was supposed to have died before you were born.”
Ricardo stared at her.
“Who?”
Valeria's lips trembled.
Before she could answer, the lights went out.
The mansion plunged into darkness.
A gunshot exploded upstairs.
Ricardo spun around.
“Diego!”
A scream followed.
“Daddy!”
Ricardo ran toward the staircase.
The guards shouted.
Mateo yelled something.
But Ricardo heard only his son's voice.
He reached the second floor.
The bedroom door was open.
The room was empty.
The window was broken.
A curtain moved in the cold night air.
On the floor was Diego's stuffed astronaut.
Ricardo picked it up.
His hands shook.
Then he saw something beneath it.
A small piece of paper.
He unfolded it.
Four words.
ASK YOUR FATHER'S BROTHER.
Ricardo froze.
His father had only one brother.
A man everyone in the family believed had died before Ricardo was born.
Ricardo looked toward the broken window.
Then back at the note.
His father's brother.
Alive?
Impossible.
Unless—
The man in the photograph wasn't Mateo.
Mateo had been standing beside him.
Ricardo suddenly understood why Mateo had looked so afraid.
Why Valeria had been protecting someone.
Why his father had altered records.
Why Diego's bloodline mattered.
And why someone had spent years preparing Ricardo to believe a lie.
Behind him, Valeria appeared on the staircase.
Her face was covered in tears.
“Ricardo…”
He turned.
“Your brother.”
Valeria closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“Where is he?”
She whispered:
“That's the man who has Diego.”
Ricardo's blood ran cold.
Then Valeria said the words that shattered everything Ricardo thought he knew about his family.
“His name is Gabriel Galván.”
May you like
A pause.
“And he has been alive for thirty-eight years.”
