Chapter 4 - The Child That Was Never Supposed to ExistSebastián stared at the bracelet.
It had no hospital logo.
No name.
Only a date.
A date three days in the future.
Rebeca slipped it into her pocket.
"Your son has already been entered into the family registry."
Sebastián felt sick.
"My son isn't even born."
"Not according to the people who arranged this."
Mercer stepped forward.
"Mrs. Alcázar, you're coming with us."
Rebeca laughed.
"You still think I'm the one running this."
Mercer handcuffed her.
She did not resist.
Sebastián barely noticed.
His entire mind was focused on one sentence.
The baby had already been registered.
Someone had prepared a life for his unborn child.
Before birth.
Before identity.
Before consent.
He turned toward Salgado.
"What does that bracelet mean?"
The doctor looked terrified.
"It means the child is on the list."
"What list?"
Salgado said nothing.
Mercer grabbed his shoulder.
"Talk."
"The inheritance registry."
Sebastián frowned.
"My family does not have an inheritance registry."
"It does."
"Who created it?"
"Your grandfather."
Sebastián stared.
His grandfather had died decades earlier.
Salgado continued.
"The registry identifies every child considered valuable to the family's long-term structure."
"Valuable?"
"Their bloodline. Their intelligence. Their medical profile. Their assets."
Sebastián felt disgust.
"And my baby?"
Salgado looked away.
"Your baby has a genetic marker."
"For what?"
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
Salgado shook his head.
"I only saw the file."
"What file?"
"The Red Ledger."
Valeria's warning echoed in Sebastián's mind.
It had supposedly been destroyed ten years ago.
Mercer asked:
"Where is it?"
Salgado hesitated.
"Your father has it."
Sebastián looked toward the parking garage.
"We're going."
Mercer blocked him.
"You are not going anywhere."
"My wife was kidnapped."
"And your father may be involved."
"Exactly."
Mercer studied him.
Then he lowered his weapon.
"Fine."
Sebastián blinked.
"What?"
"We're going to the old facility."
They reached the abandoned San Gabriel complex before dawn.
The building stood behind a rusted iron fence.
Sebastián remembered visiting it as a child.
His father had once told him never to enter the lower levels.
Now he knew why.
They forced open a steel door.
Inside, the air smelled of dust and chemicals.
A hallway stretched into darkness.
Mercer found an old security panel.
Salgado entered a code.
The wall unlocked.
Behind it was an elevator.
Sebastián stared.
"This was never on the blueprints."
Salgado nodded.
"Most of it wasn't."
The elevator descended.
One floor.
Two.
Three.
Ten.
Sebastián looked at the display.
There should not have been a tenth basement.
When the doors opened, they stepped into a room filled with old computers.
At the center stood a metal table.
On it was the Red Ledger.
A thick crimson book.
Sebastián reached for it.
Mercer stopped him.
"Wait."
A speaker crackled overhead.
Then a man's voice filled the room.
Older.
Rougher.
But unmistakable.
Sebastián forgot how to breathe.
"Hello, son."
His knees nearly gave out.
"Father?"
The voice continued.
"If you're hearing this, then Valeria failed to keep you away from the truth."
Sebastián looked at Salgado.
The doctor was crying.
The recording continued.
"I know what my wife has done."
Sebastián's eyes widened.
"And I know she will try to take your child."
The speaker crackled.
"I also know you will eventually discover that your wife wasn't chosen by accident."
Sebastián opened the Red Ledger.
Inside were hundreds of names.
Dates.
Financial figures.
Medical codes.
Then he saw one familiar name.
VALERIA MENDOZA.
Underneath it:
STATUS: RECRUITED
Sebastián stopped breathing.
On the next page was his own name.
Beside it was one word.
UNKNOWING.
Then, on the final page:
CHILD OF SEBASTIÁN + VALERIA: PRIMARY ASSET
A red stamp crossed the page.
ACTIVATE AFTER BIRTH.
Behind them, the elevator doors opened.
Someone stepped out.
Valeria.
Alive.
Bleeding.
And holding a gun.
May you like
"Sebastián," she whispered.
"Don't come any closer."
