Chapter 12 - The HeartbeatThe ambulance arrived within minutes.
Alejandro rode beside Valeria.
Mateo monitored her condition.
Her blood pressure was dangerously low.
“The poison is active again,” he said.
“How?”
Mateo looked at the IV.
“Someone contaminated the equipment.”
Alejandro stared at the hospital staff.
“Who?”
No one answered.
The maternity ward became a maze of fear.
Valeria was rushed into surgery.
Alejandro stood outside.
His father sat in the wheelchair.
Rafael paced.
Then Esteban appeared on television.
He was giving a press conference.
He claimed Alejandro had become violent.
He claimed Valeria was mentally unstable.
He claimed Doña Esther was acting only to protect the family.
Alejandro watched in disbelief.
“This is insane.”
His father shook his head.
“No.”
“This is war.”
Then a nurse ran out.
“Señor Aranda?”
Alejandro rushed forward.
“The baby survived the emergency.”
He exhaled.
“But there is a problem.”
“What?”
“We need a blood donor immediately.”
Alejandro stepped forward.
“Take mine.”
The nurse hesitated.
“Your blood type doesn't match.”
Alejandro froze.
Valeria's blood type was rare.
The baby's could be different.
But not dramatically.
Mateo looked at the records.
“This doesn't make sense.”
Rafael checked the files.
Then he saw something.
Valeria's original blood records had been altered.
The same pattern used in the fake DNA test.
Someone was rewriting medical identities.
“Esteban,” Rafael whispered.
Alejandro clenched his fists.
He realized the entire system had been corrupted.
Not just the family.
The clinic.
The court.
The financial records.
The medical records.
Everything.
They were fighting someone who could change reality on paper.
Then Isabella arrived.
She carried an old leather notebook.
“I know where the original ledger is.”
Alejandro turned.
“Where?”
She looked at his father.
He nodded.
Isabella opened the notebook.
“Your mother never kept the ledger in her room.”
“Then where?”
She whispered:
“In the nursery.”
Alejandro stared.
“Why would she hide it there?”
“Because no one would search a child's room.”
They rushed home.
The nursery was untouched.
A wooden crib stood beneath the window.
Alejandro searched the walls.
Nothing.
Then Valeria's words echoed in his memory.
“Your father changed the inheritance for the unborn child.”
He looked under the crib.
A small metal lock.
Inside was a book.
The ledger.
But before Alejandro could open it, the nursery door closed.
The lock clicked.
Doña Esther stood outside.
She held a match.
“If you open that book,” she said,
“I will burn the entire mansion to the ground.”
Alejandro looked at her.
“What are you afraid of?”
Her face changed.
For the first time, she looked truly terrified.
“Not of the ledger.”
“Then what?”
May you like
Esther whispered:
“Of what your father wrote on the last page.”
