CHAPTER 5 — THE NIGHT THEY STOLE MY SON
I couldn't stop shaking.
Daniel was sitting against the stone wall, one hand pressed over his wounded shoulder.
Alejandro stood near the passage entrance, listening for footsteps.
And I was holding my son.
The baby who had been declared dead.
The baby who was supposed to be buried.
The baby whose tiny half-moon birthmark had reopened every wound I had spent months trying to close.
But now there was something worse.
I remembered a face.
Daniel's face.
Except it hadn't been Daniel.
It had been Adrian.
And he had stood beside my hospital bed while I was still bleeding from childbirth.
I closed my eyes.
The memory came back in fragments.
Bright surgical lights.
The smell of antiseptic.
My own screaming.
A nurse crying.
Then a man's shadow falling across the floor.
I remembered opening my eyes.
And seeing him.
Adrian.
He had leaned close.
His face looked exactly like my husband's.
But his eyes were different.
Cold.
Empty.
He had whispered:
“Your husband will never see this child.”
I opened my eyes.
“He was there.”
Daniel stared at me.
“Who?”
“Adrian.”
His jaw tightened.
“What else?”
“I don't know.”
“Try.”
I closed my eyes again.
I forced myself back into that room.
The delivery room.
The night my life had been destroyed.
“I remember a woman.”
“Victoria?”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“A nurse.”
Clara stepped closer.
“What did she look like?”
“Brown hair. Gray eyes.”
Clara suddenly stopped breathing.
“You remember her?”
“Yes.”
Clara looked at Daniel.
“That was Nurse Rebecca.”
“Where is she now?” I asked.
Clara's eyes dropped.
“She disappeared.”
“When?”
“The morning after your baby was declared dead.”
My stomach turned.
“Another person disappeared that night?”
Clara nodded.
“Three people.”
“Who?”
“The nurse. The doctor who signed the death certificate. And the security officer who was assigned to your floor.”
Alejandro's expression hardened.
“All three?”
“Yes.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Mother cleaned up the witnesses.”
Alejandro stared at the ground.
“My God.”
I held my baby tighter.
“Then why was Clara still alive?”
Clara gave a sad smile.
“Because I was the one they forgot.”
Silence.
Then Daniel asked:
“Why did you wait three months?”
Clara looked at me.
“Because I was afraid.”
“Of Victoria?”
“No.”
She looked toward the dark passage.
“Of Adrian.”
I felt cold.
“What can he do?”
Clara's voice trembled.
“He doesn't threaten people.”
She swallowed.
“He makes them disappear.”
A loud sound echoed above us.
Something heavy had fallen.
Daniel immediately stood.
“Someone is inside the passage.”
Alejandro raised his weapon.
“Move.”
We hurried deeper into the tunnel.
The passage was narrow and damp.
My son's head rested against my shoulder.
Daniel walked ahead despite his injury.
Every few seconds, he glanced back at us.
“Keep moving.”
“Where does this lead?”
“The old carriage house.”
Alejandro looked surprised.
“That tunnel hasn't been used in decades.”
“My father built it.”
Daniel pushed open an iron door.
Cold night air rushed inside.
We stepped into an abandoned stone building behind the mansion.
Alejandro locked the door.
For a moment, we were safe.
Then Daniel's knees buckled.
I caught him.
“You're bleeding badly.”
“I'll survive.”
“You'd better.”
He smiled.
“You still worry about me.”
“I still want to strangle you.”
“That sounds more like my wife.”
Despite everything, I almost smiled.
Almost.
Then Alejandro's phone rang.
He answered.
His face changed.
“What?”
He listened.
Then looked at me.
“Someone accessed the hospital database.”
“Who?”
“They erased the original birth record.”
My heart sank.
“Can you recover it?”
“Maybe.”
“How?”
Alejandro looked at Daniel.
“There is an off-site archive.”
Daniel nodded.
“Where?”
“Under the old Castillo Foundation.”
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Alejandro explained.
“My father created a private medical archive for the family.”
“Why?”
“Because he didn't trust public records.”
Daniel's expression darkened.
“Neither did Mother.”
Alejandro nodded.
“If the original birth records still exist, they'll be there.”
I looked at my son.
“Then that's where we're going.”
Alejandro hesitated.
“It's heavily protected.”
“I don't care.”
“Victoria may already know.”
“Then we get there first.”
Daniel smiled faintly.
“There she is.”
I looked at him.
“Who?”
“My wife.”
I turned away.
We left the carriage house before dawn.
Alejandro drove.
Daniel sat beside me in the back.
The baby slept between us.
For the first time since my son was born, I watched his father hold him.
Daniel touched his tiny fingers.
“He's perfect.”
“He has your eyes.”
“And your stubbornness.”
I looked at him.
“You don't know that.”
Daniel smiled.
“I know his mother.”
The car went silent.
Then he whispered:
“I should have been there.”
I looked out the window.
“Yes.”
“I should have protected you.”
“Yes.”
“I failed.”
I turned toward him.
“You didn't fail.”
His eyes met mine.
“They stole our lives.”
“But they didn't steal him.”
I looked down at our son.
“Not anymore.”
Daniel's fingers tightened around mine.
“No.”
The car suddenly stopped.
Alejandro cursed.
“What happened?”
He looked ahead.
“Roadblock.”
Men in black suits stood across the road.
Daniel immediately reached for his weapon.
“That's not police.”
Alejandro nodded.
“I know.”
The baby woke.
I held him close.
A man approached the driver's window.
“Mr. Castillo.”
Alejandro lowered the glass slightly.
“Who are you?”
“Federal investigators.”
Alejandro frowned.
“Show me your identification.”
The man smiled.
Then raised his gun.
“Get out of the car.”
Daniel whispered:
“They found us.”
Alejandro accelerated.
The SUV crashed through the barrier.
Gunshots erupted behind us.
I screamed.
Daniel covered the baby with his body.
Alejandro drove faster.
The men pursued.
For ten minutes, we raced through empty streets.
Then the pursuing vehicle vanished.
Alejandro slowed.
“Are you okay?”
I nodded.
Daniel looked at the baby.
“He's fine.”
I looked at Alejandro.
“Were they really federal agents?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
He shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Daniel stared out the window.
“I do.”
“What?”
“The Castillo private security division.”
Alejandro looked shocked.
“My security division?”
“Someone took control of it.”
“Who?”
Daniel's face darkened.
“Victoria.”
We arrived at the Castillo Foundation shortly after sunrise.
The building looked abandoned.
Broken windows.
Dusty walls.
No guards.
No cameras.
Alejandro entered a security code.
A hidden elevator opened.
We descended.
Level after level.
Finally, the doors opened into an underground archive.
Thousands of files filled the walls.
Medical records.
Birth certificates.
Death certificates.
Family histories.
Alejandro began searching.
Daniel went directly toward one section.
I followed.
“What are you looking for?”
“My father's records.”
He pulled out a file.
Inside was a photograph.
A younger version of Alejandro's father.
And beside him...
a pregnant woman.
I looked at the photograph.
I recognized her.
I had seen her once before.
In Victoria's bedroom.
“What is that?”
Daniel's face became pale.
“My mother.”
I stared at him.
“But I thought your mother was—”
“Dead.”
He opened another document.
His fingers shook.
“My father had two wives.”
Alejandro looked over.
“And two families.”
Daniel nodded.
“The first was my mother.”
He pointed at the photograph.
“The second was Victoria.”
I looked at Alejandro.
His expression was shattered.
“She wasn't my father's first wife.”
“No.”
“She was his mistress.”
“Yes.”
I stared at the documents.
“Then why did she control the family?”
Daniel answered quietly.
“Because she had something my mother didn't.”
“What?”
“Power.”
He pulled out another file.
Inside was a legal document.
The Castillo inheritance agreement.
I read the first paragraph.
Then the second.
Then my hands began shaking.
There was a clause.
A hidden clause.
The controlling shares of Castillo Holdings would pass to the first legitimate male descendant of Daniel Castillo.
I looked at my son.
“That's him.”
Daniel nodded.
“Yes.”
Alejandro looked stunned.
“If Daniel has a son…”
“Then you don't control the company anymore.”
Silence.
Alejandro looked at the baby.
Then at his brother.
Then at me.
“That explains everything.”
“What?”
“Mother wasn't trying to steal your baby.”
I frowned.
“She was trying to erase him.”
Daniel nodded.
“And me.”
A sound came from the far end of the archive.
A file cabinet closing.
Everyone froze.
Daniel raised his weapon.
“Who's there?”
No answer.
Alejandro moved forward.
“Come out.”
A woman stepped from behind the shelves.
She was holding a folder.
Her face was pale.
Her hands were trembling.
Clara gasped.
“Rebecca.”
The missing nurse.
I stared at her.
“You were there.”
Rebecca nodded.
“I was.”
“Why did you disappear?”
She looked at Daniel.
Then at me.
“I tried to stop them.”
“Who?”
She began crying.
“Victoria.”
I stepped closer.
“What did she do?”
Rebecca looked at my baby.
“She ordered the doctor to declare him dead.”
“Why?”
“Because she needed to replace him.”
“Replace him with what?”
Rebecca opened the folder.
Inside were two birth certificates.
One belonged to my son.
The other belonged to another baby.
I looked at the names.
My blood froze.
The second certificate carried the name:
Adrian Castillo Jr.
I looked at Daniel.
“That isn't possible.”
Rebecca whispered:
“It happened.”
Daniel stared at her.
“Explain.”
Rebecca's voice broke.
“Victoria didn't steal one baby.”
She looked at me.
“She switched two.”
The room went silent.
I stared at the documents.
My son had been given another child's identity.
And Adrian's name had been placed into the records of a baby who had never existed.
But then Rebecca said the words that destroyed everything we thought we knew.
“The baby Victoria took from you…”
She looked at Alejandro.
“…was never supposed to be raised as your brother's son.”
Alejandro frowned.
“Then whose son was he?”
Rebecca looked at Daniel.
“He was yours.”
Alejandro's face went white.
“What?”
Rebecca pointed to the second document.
“The child Victoria presented as the miracle baby…”
She swallowed.
“…was actually Alejandro's biological son.”
Silence.
No one moved.
Alejandro stared at the baby in my arms.
His face slowly collapsed.
Rebecca whispered:
“And the child Emily gave birth to…”
She looked directly at me.
“…was taken somewhere else.”
My heart stopped.
I looked down at my son.
Then at Daniel.
“No.”
Rebecca shook her head.
“This baby is not the only child who was stolen.”
A terrible realization hit me.
If she was telling the truth...
then the baby in my arms was not my son.
I stepped backward.
The world disappeared beneath my feet.
And from somewhere above us, a phone began ringing.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Alejandro answered.
Victoria's voice came through.
“Now you finally understand.”
Then she laughed.
“Emily…”
“You didn't find your son.”
“You found mine.”
The call ended.
I looked at the baby.
My heart shattered.
Because for the first time since finding him...
May you like
I was afraid that the mark on his foot had told me the truth about his blood—
but not the whole truth about whose child he really was.
