CHAPTER 5: ADRIAN VALDEZ - THE MAN WHO OWNED THE SHADOWS
The name remained in the air.
Adrian Valdez.
Even after the screen went black.
Even after the alarms stopped.
Even after the guards returned to their positions.
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
Because everyone in that room knew one thing.
Adrian Valdez was not just another enemy.
He was the reason monsters existed.
I looked at Mateo.
For the first time since I met him, I saw something I never expected.
Fear.
Not the fear of losing power.
Not the fear of dying.
Something deeper.
A memory.
"What happened?" I asked.
Nobody answered.
I stepped closer.
"What happened twelve years ago?"
Esperanza closed her eyes.
Mateo looked away.
I clenched my fists.
"No."
Both of them looked at me.
"No more."
My voice shook.
"I am tired of everyone protecting me with lies."
The room became silent.
"I spent my whole life believing I was abandoned."
I looked at my grandmother.
"Then I learned I was hidden."
I looked at Mateo.
"Then I learned my family was powerful."
I looked at the black screen.
"And now I learn there is a man who has been waiting twelve years to take me."
I took a breath.
"I deserve to know why."
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then Esperanza walked toward me.
She touched my face.
The same way she did when I was little.
But now her hand was trembling.
"You are right."
Her voice was quiet.
"You deserve the truth."
She looked at Mateo.
"Tell him."
Mateo's eyes narrowed.
"Are you sure?"
"No."
Esperanza swallowed.
"But he cannot fight a war he doesn't understand."
Mateo nodded slowly.
Then he walked toward the fireplace.
"The night your parents died..."
He stopped.
Like even saying it was painful.
"Was not an accident."
I already knew that.
But hearing it still hurt.
"Adrian Valdez planned everything."
Mateo continued.
"He wanted control over the Mendoza organization."
"But your father refused."
"Rafael believed the organization had become corrupted."
"He wanted to destroy it and rebuild something better."
I listened silently.
"Adrian disagreed."
Mateo's expression hardened.
"He believed fear was the only thing that kept people loyal."
A cold feeling entered my chest.
"Your father tried to expose him."
Mateo looked at me.
"And that was the moment Adrian decided your family had to disappear."
I swallowed.
"How did they die?"
Nobody spoke.
Then Esperanza answered.
"Your parents were betrayed by someone they trusted."
My heart sank.
"Who?"
She looked down.
"We never found out."
Again.
The same answer.
The same unknown enemy.
But this time, something felt different.
Because I noticed something.
Mateo and Esperanza exchanged a look.
A look that said they knew more.
"You are lying."
They both froze.
I pointed at them.
"You know who it was."
"No," Mateo said immediately.
Too quickly.
I stared at him.
"Then why did you both look at each other?"
Silence.
A terrible silence.
Esperanza sat down.
"There are things even I don't know."
"But you know something."
Her eyes became sad.
"Yes."
"What?"
She hesitated.
Then whispered:
"The person who betrayed your parents was someone who loved them."
My stomach tightened.
Someone who loved them.
Not a stranger.
Not an enemy.
Someone close.
Someone trusted.
Before I could ask more, a guard rushed inside.
"Don Vargas."
Mateo turned.
"What?"
"We found the location of the broadcast."
"Where?"
The guard looked nervous.
"Not far."
"How far?"
The guard swallowed.
"Three kilometers."
Mateo immediately understood.
"He's here."
Everyone reached for their weapons.
I looked at the doors.
"Adrian Valdez came here?"
Mateo shook his head.
"No."
"Then why are we afraid?"
His answer was quiet.
"Because if Adrian wanted to kill us..."
A pause.
"We would already be dead."
The room went silent.
That sentence scared me more than anything.
Adrian wasn't attacking.
He was playing.
Like a person moving pieces across a chessboard.
And we were the pieces.
Suddenly, my grandmother grabbed my hand.
"Come with me."
"Where?"
"There is something you need to see."
She led me through a hidden hallway behind the library.
I looked back.
Mateo followed.
The passage was old.
Dust covered the walls.
At the end was a small room.
Esperanza unlocked the door.
Inside was a bedroom.
A child's bedroom.
My breathing stopped.
The walls were covered with drawings.
A wooden toy sat on the floor.
A small blanket rested on the bed.
Everything looked untouched.
Like someone had been waiting.
"This..."
My voice failed.
Esperanza looked at me.
"This was your room."
I stared.
"My room?"
She nodded.
"Before that night."
I touched one of the drawings.
A family.
A father.
A mother.
A little boy.
I didn't remember drawing it.
But something about it felt familiar.
Then I saw something carved into the wooden bed.
Three letters.
A.
M.
A.
My initials.
Aurelio Mendoza Alvarez.
I looked at Esperanza.
"My full name..."
She nodded.
"Your father chose it."
A strange feeling filled my chest.
I had spent twelve years believing nobody knew me.
But somewhere...
someone had prepared a place for me.
Someone had loved me.
Then I noticed a locked box beneath the bed.
"What's that?"
Esperanza's expression changed.
"That was supposed to be opened when you turned eighteen."
I looked at Mateo.
"Why?"
"Because your father left it for you."
My heart stopped.
"My father?"
Mateo nodded.
"But now..."
He looked toward the hallway.
"Things have changed."
Esperanza slowly opened the box.
Inside was a letter.
Old.
Yellow.
My hands trembled as I picked it up.
The envelope had my name.
Aurelio.
I opened it.
The handwriting was unfamiliar.
But somehow...
it felt like home.
The first line made my entire body freeze.
"My son, if you are reading this, it means your grandmother failed to keep you hidden."
I looked at Esperanza.
She closed her eyes.
I continued reading.
"I need you to understand one thing."
"The people who come looking for you will tell you that you are powerful."
"They will tell you that you are an heir."
"They will tell you that your blood gives you the right to rule."
My hands tightened around the paper.
Then came the next sentence.
A sentence that changed everything.
"Do not believe them."
I stopped.
"What?"
Mateo looked confused.
Esperanza looked terrified.
I continued.
"Aurelio, the Mendoza family is not your inheritance."
"It is your curse."
The room became completely silent.
Then the final line appeared.
"And if Adrian Valdez has found you..."
The handwriting became darker.
Like the person writing it had been afraid.
"Trust no one."
I lowered the letter.
Nobody spoke.
Then a sound came from behind us.
A slow clap.
Everyone turned.
At the entrance of the hidden room stood a man.
The guards immediately raised their weapons.
But Mateo stopped them.
Because he recognized him.
The man smiled.
The same smile from the screen.
Adrian Valdez.
"You finally found your father's message."
My blood froze.
"How did you get inside?"
Adrian looked around the old room.
"Because, Aurelio..."
He smiled.
"I helped build this house."
Mateo raised his weapon.
"You won't leave alive."
Adrian ignored him.
His eyes stayed on me.
"You look exactly like Rafael."
I stepped back.
"You killed my family."
Adrian tilted his head.
"Did they tell you that?"
The question confused me.
"What?"
He smiled.
"Because your grandmother has been lying to you for twelve years."
Esperanza's face changed.
"Don't listen to him."
Adrian looked at her.
"Still protecting him."
Then he looked back at me.
"Ask your grandmother one question, Aurelio."
My heart raced.
"What question?"
Adrian smiled.
"Ask her why your father wanted you dead."
The room went silent.
I turned slowly toward Esperanza.
And for the first time...
May you like
I wondered if the person who saved me...
was also the person who destroyed me.
