Chapter 13 - The Last PageAlejandro opened the ledger.
The final page had been torn out.
Esther had already removed it.
But she had made one mistake.
A corner remained.
A few handwritten words were visible.
The person responsible is not—
The rest was gone.
Rafael searched the room.
Isabella checked the fireplace.
Mateo examined the ledger binding.
Then Valeria's father, who had been silent until now, spoke from the doorway.
“Look at the stitching.”
Alejandro inspected the cover.
A small piece of paper was hidden inside.
He pulled it out.
It contained a series of numbers.
Coordinates.
His father recognized them.
“The old train station.”
They went there before dawn.
Beneath platform four, they found a locker.
Inside was a cassette tape.
An envelope.
And a photograph.
The photograph showed Doña Esther standing beside Esteban.
Alejandro's blood ran cold.
On the back was a date.
The day his father supposedly died.
Esteban had been there.
The envelope contained a statement signed by the hospital director.
It confirmed that Alejandro's father had survived the poisoning.
It also identified the person who ordered the false death certificate.
Doña Esther.
But there was one final sentence.
She did not act alone.
Alejandro stared.
Who else?
The cassette answered.
His father's voice.
“If Esther discovers this recording, she will try to destroy everyone involved.”
A pause.
“She is not the architect.”
Another pause.
“The real architect is the person who knows the Marquez fortune cannot be controlled through Esther.”
Alejandro frowned.
Then the name was spoken.
“Gabriel Marquez.”
Alejandro almost dropped the tape.
“Impossible.”
Gabriel was his biological father.
Dead before Alejandro was born.
His father continued:
“Gabriel did not die.”
Silence.
“His death was staged.”
Alejandro looked at Isabella.
She was crying.
“My brother…”
Her voice broke.
“He was alive?”
The recording continued.
“Gabriel created the entire inheritance structure before disappearing.”
“The child would inherit everything.”
“Not Alejandro.”
“The first grandchild.”
Alejandro stared.
The unborn baby.
But if Gabriel was alive, why had he never returned?
The answer came from another document.
Gabriel had been imprisoned under a false identity.
For twenty-eight years.
By Esteban.
Alejandro looked at his father.
“Where is he?”
His father whispered:
“He is closer than you think.”
The train station lights suddenly went out.
A car door slammed outside.
Footsteps approached.
Rafael drew his weapon.
A man's voice echoed in the darkness.
“Alejandro.”
Everyone froze.
The voice sounded older.
Rougher.
But somehow familiar.
Isabella began to cry.
She whispered:
“Gabriel.”
A figure stepped into the light.
An older man with green eyes.
Alejandro's eyes.
He stared at Alejandro for several seconds.
Then he said:
“My son.”
Before anyone could move, a gunshot rang out.
Gabriel collapsed.
May you like
Blood spread across his shirt.
And Doña Esther appeared behind him.
