CHAPTER 3: THE FATHER WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
The words on the phone screen burned into my mind.
"Bring Aurelio home. His father is waiting."
I stared at Mateo Vargas.
Waiting.
That word shouldn't have existed.
Not for me.
Not after twelve years.
Not after growing up believing I had been abandoned by everyone who was supposed to love me.
"My father..."
My voice cracked.
"That's impossible."
Nobody answered.
The silence was worse than any explanation.
I looked around the room.
The guards avoided my eyes.
The woman in the black dress looked like she was about to cry.
And Mateo Vargas...
The most feared man in Ciudad de Esperanza...
looked like someone had just opened a wound that never healed.
"Tell me the truth."
My voice became louder.
"Who is my father?"
Mateo didn't move.
Then he slowly placed the phone down.
"His name was Rafael Mendoza."
Was.
The word stabbed deeper than anything.
"You said was."
Mateo looked at me.
"I said what everyone believed."
My heart began racing.
"Everyone believed?"
He walked toward the table and picked up the old wooden box.
Inside was the black ring.
The symbol of my family.
"Your father disappeared fifteen years ago."
"Disappeared?"
Mateo nodded.
"After the attack on your family."
I clenched my fists.
"The attack that killed my parents?"
"Yes."
"Then how can he be waiting for me?"
Mateo didn't answer immediately.
Because whatever he was about to say...
he didn't want to say it.
Finally, he spoke.
"Because Rafael Mendoza was never found."
The room went silent.
I felt like the ground beneath me had disappeared.
My entire life had been built on a lie.
My grandmother told me my parents were gone.
The world told me I was alone.
But now...
a dead man was sending messages asking for me.
I laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because my mind couldn't handle anything else.
"So let me understand this."
I looked at Mateo.
"My grandmother was secretly powerful."
"Yes."
"My parents were murdered."
"Yes."
"My father might be alive."
"Yes."
"And now everyone wants me because I'm some kind of heir?"
Mateo stayed quiet.
I looked down at my dirty clothes.
My torn shoes.
My hands covered with scratches from surviving on the streets.
A bitter smile crossed my face.
"That's ridiculous."
Nobody spoke.
I pointed at myself.
"Look at me."
My voice shook.
"I spent three months sleeping outside."
"I searched through trash for bottles."
"I begged strangers for leftover food."
"And now you are telling me I belong to some powerful family?"
I looked at Mateo.
"Why didn't anyone come for me?"
That question finally broke his expression.
Because he knew the answer.
And he hated it.
"Because they thought you were dead."
I stared.
"Everyone thought I was dead?"
Mateo nodded.
"Your grandmother made sure they believed it."
"Why?"
He looked at the ring.
"Because someone inside your own family betrayed you."
The air became heavy.
A betrayal.
Another secret.
Another hidden knife waiting behind a curtain.
"Who?"
Mateo's eyes darkened.
"We don't know."
The answer surprised me.
"You don't know?"
"No."
The man who knew everything about the city didn't know.
That terrified me.
"The person who attacked your family erased every trace."
Mateo continued.
"They killed the people who knew the truth."
A pause.
"Everyone except Esperanza."
I remembered my grandmother.
Her tired smile.
Her gentle voice.
Her hands that always shook when she thought I wasn't watching.
I always believed she was weak.
Now I realized she had been carrying an entire war on her shoulders.
"Why didn't she tell me?"
Mateo looked away.
"Because she loved you."
Those words hurt.
Because they were the words I had wanted to hear for years.
Someone loved me.
Someone had chosen me.
But why did it have to come with so much danger?
A sudden noise interrupted us.
A guard rushed inside.
"Don Vargas."
Mateo turned.
"What?"
"We found something."
The guard handed him a small envelope.
Mateo opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
His expression changed instantly.
I noticed.
"What is it?"
He didn't answer.
He handed it to me.
My fingers trembled as I took it.
The picture was old.
Faded.
But I recognized the people immediately.
My grandmother.
A younger Mateo Vargas.
And...
a man standing beside them.
A man with my eyes.
My father's eyes.
On the back of the photograph was a message.
For Aurelio.
My breathing stopped.
Nobody had ever left anything for me.
Not like this.
I turned the picture over.
Five words were written.
"When you see this, run."
My blood went cold.
"Run from who?"
Mateo took the photograph from my hand.
His face became serious.
"From everyone."
Before I could ask anything else, a sound came from outside.
A car engine.
Then another.
Then dozens.
The guards looked through the security cameras.
Their faces changed.
"They're here."
Mateo grabbed his weapon.
"Who?"
The guard swallowed.
"Everyone."
The screen showed the road outside the mansion.
Hundreds of vehicles surrounded the property.
Black cars.
Police vehicles.
Military trucks.
And something impossible.
A symbol painted on the doors.
The Mendoza symbol.
My family's symbol.
But there was one problem.
The people standing beside those cars were not here to protect me.
They were armed.
Mateo looked at the screen.
"They found us too quickly."
I looked at him.
"What does that mean?"
His expression became cold.
"It means someone inside this mansion told them where you are."
My stomach dropped.
"Someone here?"
Mateo nodded.
"There is a traitor among us."
The guards immediately looked at each other.
Suspicion spread through the room.
Nobody trusted anyone anymore.
Then a voice came through the mansion speakers.
Everyone froze.
A woman's voice.
Old.
Calm.
Familiar.
I had heard that voice before.
But not in years.
Impossible.
My fingers went numb.
Because that voice belonged to someone who had been gone for three months.
Someone who was supposed to be buried.
Someone whose funeral I attended.
"Mateo Vargas."
The voice echoed through the mansion.
"Give me my grandson."
My entire body froze.
No.
It couldn't be.
Mateo looked at me.
His face had lost all color.
"Aurelio..."
I couldn't breathe.
"Who is that?"
He whispered the answer.
And the world shattered.
"Your grandmother."
I stepped backward.
"No."
The voice came again.
Stronger.
Closer.
"I know you're there, Aurelio."
My knees weakened.
Because I knew that voice.
The same voice that sang to me when I was sick.
The same voice that told me stories before sleeping.
The same voice that told me to protect my soul.
But that was impossible.
My grandmother was dead.
I watched them bury her.
I cried beside her grave.
I touched her coffin.
Yet now...
she was calling my name.
Mateo looked toward the door.
"Everyone stay ready."
I stared at him.
"What is happening?"
He didn't answer.
The mansion doors slowly opened.
The guards raised their weapons.
And standing outside in the rain...
was an old woman wearing a black coat.
Her gray hair moved with the wind.
Her eyes were exactly the same.
I knew that face.
I knew that voice.
It was her.
My grandmother.
Esperanza Mendoza.
Alive.
She looked directly at me.
And the first words she spoke after three months of being "dead"...
changed everything.
"I'm sorry, Aurelio."
A tear rolled down her face.
"But I had to let you believe I was gone."
She stepped forward.
"Because if you knew I was alive..."
A pause.
Her eyes moved toward Mateo Vargas.
"...they would have killed you before you ever learned the truth."
The gates behind her closed.
And for the first time in my life...
I realized something terrifying.
My grandmother didn't disappear.
She was waiting.
May you like
Waiting for the exact moment...
the world would come hunting for me.
