CHAPTER 9: THE DAUGHTER OF THE ENEMY
The room was silent.
Not the silence of peace.
The silence before something breaks.
Everyone was staring at Valentina Cruz.
But she only looked at me.
Like everyone else in my life...
she already knew my story.
And I was the last person to hear it.
"Destroy the Mendoza legacy?"
My voice sounded strange.
Almost like someone else was speaking.
"You want me to destroy my own family?"
Valentina didn't answer immediately.
She looked at the old photograph on the table.
My mother.
A woman I barely remembered.
A face that existed only in fragments inside my mind.
A smile.
A voice.
A hand holding mine.
Then nothing.
"My mother died because of this family."
Valentina's words were quiet.
I frowned.
"How do you know my mother?"
Her eyes moved toward me.
"Because I knew her better than anyone."
The room changed.
Esperanza looked at her carefully.
"You."
A single word.
But there was something behind it.
Recognition.
Valentina looked at my grandmother.
"Yes."
Esperanza's expression hardened.
"I thought you were dead."
A strange smile appeared on Valentina's face.
"Everyone in this world thinks dead people stay dead."
My stomach tightened.
Another person who had returned from the grave.
Was everyone in this world impossible to kill?
I looked at Mateo.
He noticed my expression.
"You are starting to understand."
I shook my head.
"No."
I looked at all of them.
"I understand nothing."
My voice grew louder.
"Everyone keeps coming back."
"Everyone has secrets."
"Everyone knows my parents."
"But nobody tells me anything."
I pointed at Valentina.
"So start talking."
The room became quiet.
Valentina studied me.
Then she nodded.
"Good."
I frowned.
"Good?"
"Yes."
She walked closer.
"Because the first thing your mother taught me was this."
She stopped in front of me.
"Never trust someone who gives you an answer before you ask the right question."
I didn't know why...
but those words felt familiar.
Like something my mother had said.
"What was my mother like?"
The question escaped before I could stop it.
For the first time, Valentina's cold expression softened.
"She was brave."
A pause.
"Too brave."
She looked at the photograph.
"Your mother, Elena Mendoza, was the only person who could make your father question himself."
I listened.
"Rafael wanted to protect you by destroying the Mendoza name."
"Your mother wanted something different."
"What?"
Valentina looked at me.
"She wanted you to choose."
The words hit me.
Choose.
A word nobody had given me.
Everyone had decided my future.
Except my mother.
"What happened to her?"
Valentina's expression darkened.
"She discovered the truth about Project Mendoza."
My heart sank.
"She knew?"
"Yes."
"And?"
Valentina looked toward Rafael.
"She tried to stop it."
My father looked away.
"You didn't tell him everything."
Valentina's voice became sharper.
Rafael said nothing.
I looked at him.
"What didn't you tell me?"
My father's face was filled with regret.
"Your mother wasn't killed because she knew about the project."
A pause.
"She was killed because she destroyed it."
Everyone froze.
I stared.
"She destroyed it?"
Valentina nodded.
"Your mother found the records."
"The experiments."
"The names."
"The people who were involved."
She looked around the room.
"She wanted everything exposed."
"And someone stopped her."
I whispered:
"Who?"
Valentina didn't answer.
Instead, she looked at Mateo.
Everyone noticed.
My heart dropped.
"No."
Mateo's expression changed.
"Valentina."
She ignored him.
"Your mother trusted very few people."
"Your father."
"Your grandmother."
"And one man she believed could protect her family."
I already knew the answer.
But I didn't want to hear it.
"Who?"
Valentina looked at Mateo.
"Mateo Vargas."
The room exploded.
Guards moved.
Rafael stepped forward.
"You knew?"
Mateo closed his eyes.
"Aurelio..."
"No."
I backed away.
"Not again."
The pain returned.
The same feeling.
Everyone I trusted was connected to the nightmare.
"You were there."
Mateo looked at me.
"Yes."
"When my mother died."
Silence.
"Yes."
I felt sick.
"Did you kill her?"
The entire room stopped.
Mateo stared at me.
"No."
The answer came instantly.
But his face told me something else.
Something worse.
"I didn't kill Elena."
A pause.
"But I couldn't save her."
Those words were heavier.
Because sometimes failure hurts more than evil.
"What happened?"
Mateo looked down.
"Adrian found out your mother had destroyed the project."
"She was trying to escape with you."
"She contacted me."
I listened.
"She asked me to get you out."
My breathing stopped.
"Did you?"
Mateo looked away.
"No."
The answer broke me.
"Why?"
His voice became quiet.
"Because I was too late."
Nobody spoke.
"I arrived after the attack."
Mateo continued.
"Your mother was already gone."
I swallowed.
"And my father?"
Mateo looked at Rafael.
"Your father survived."
"Then why didn't he come?"
Rafael finally spoke.
"Because after that night..."
His voice cracked.
"I believed I was the reason everyone around me died."
The room became silent.
I looked at my father.
For the first time, I saw not a powerful man.
Not an heir.
Not a legend.
Just a broken person.
Then Valentina interrupted.
"There is something else."
Everyone looked at her.
She reached into her coat.
And removed a small device.
A recording.
"My mother left this for Aurelio."
My heart started racing.
"How long have you had that?"
"Since the night Elena died."
She handed it to me.
I stared.
A message from my mother.
A woman I barely remembered.
A woman who had been gone for twelve years.
I pressed the button.
Static filled the room.
Then...
a voice.
A woman's voice.
Soft.
Warm.
My knees almost gave out.
"Aurelio..."
My mother's voice.
The room disappeared.
I couldn't hear anything else.
Only her.
"If you are hearing this..."
A pause.
"Then it means I failed to keep you away from this world."
My eyes filled with tears.
"I need you to know something."
Her voice trembled.
"You were never a mistake."
I closed my eyes.
For twelve years...
I had wondered why nobody wanted me.
Now I finally heard the truth.
"I loved you before I ever saw your face."
The recording continued.
"But there is something you must understand."
A pause.
"The Mendoza legacy cannot be saved."
Everyone listened.
"It must end."
My breathing stopped.
Then my mother's final words came.
"Aurelio..."
"If you want to survive..."
"Do not become the heir."
"Become the person who destroys it."
The recording ended.
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
Then a gunshot echoed.
The device fell from my hand.
Everyone turned.
A guard collapsed near the entrance.
Blood spread across the floor.
Someone had shot him from outside.
Mateo immediately shouted:
"Everyone down!"
More bullets hit the mansion.
Valentina grabbed my arm.
"Move!"
"Where?"
She looked toward the hidden hallway.
"Somewhere they can't follow."
I looked at everyone.
My grandmother.
My father.
Mateo.
All the people connected to my past.
Then I looked at the blood on the floor.
And I finally understood.
The war was no longer coming.
It had arrived.
Valentina pulled me into the darkness.
Behind us, Mateo shouted:
"Protect Aurelio!"
But as the hidden door closed...
I heard another voice through the mansion speakers.
A voice I recognized.
Adrian Valdez.
"Run, little heir."
His laughter echoed.
"Because tonight..."
A pause.
May you like
"...we find out whether Aurelio Mendoza is a human being..."
"Or the monster we created."
