Chapter 10 - There had been another baby.A second child.
Ricardo read the old medical records again.
Twins.
Two boys.
One survived.
One was declared stillborn.
The surviving child was Diego.
But the second birth record had been sealed.
Valeria sat in silence.
“What happened to the other baby?”
“I don't know.”
“Don't lie.”
“I swear.”
“You've lied for seven years.”
She looked at him.
“Because I was scared.”
Ricardo slammed the file on the table.
“Where is he?”
Valeria whispered:
“Gabriel took him.”
“Why?”
“Because the second child had something Diego didn't.”
“What?”
“Genetic compatibility.”
“With what?”
Valeria looked at the old laboratory equipment.
“The identity system.”
Ricardo stared.
The twins were born from the same parents.
But one apparently carried a genetic marker that Gabriel needed.
A biological key.
Something that could stabilize the technology.
Suddenly the entire conspiracy had a purpose.
They hadn't just been raising Diego.
They had been searching for his brother.
Ricardo grabbed Valeria's shoulders.
“Where is the child?”
She cried.
“I told you. I don't know.”
Then a voice came from behind them.
“You should ask your mother.”
Ricardo turned.
Gabriel Santoro stepped from the shadows.
Or what looked like Gabriel.
Ricardo stared.
“You.”
Gabriel smiled.
“No. Not me.”
He pointed at the mirror.
The reflection moved slightly differently.
Then Ricardo realized there was a hidden glass panel.
Behind it stood the real man.
Older.
Scarred.
Thin.
Almost skeletal.
He stepped forward.
“Seven years, Ricardo.”
Ricardo stared.
“I watched you become me.”
The original Gabriel smiled.
“You never noticed.”
“Where is my son?”
“Which one?”
Ricardo's heart stopped.
“What did you do?”
“I protected my investment.”
“By torturing a child?”
Gabriel's expression hardened.
“Children survive.”
“He nearly died.”
“He wasn't the target.”
“Then what was?”
Gabriel looked at him.
“You.”
Ricardo frowned.
“Why me?”
“Because you are the only man whose identity architecture cannot be copied perfectly.”
“Why?”
“Because your memory is part of the system.”
Ricardo stared.
“My memory?”
“Your brain remembers patterns nobody else does.”
Gabriel smiled.
“And your son inherited that trait.”
Ricardo understood.
Diego wasn't valuable because he was a child.
He was valuable because he could unlock something.
Something Gabriel had spent years building.
Then a scream came from the upper floor.
Ricardo ran.
Valeria followed.
They reached the bedroom.
The duplicate stood beside the window.
Diego was gone.
The window was open.
On the floor was a note.
Ricardo picked it up.
“Your son has been moved.”
“By whom?” Valeria whispered.
Ricardo read the next sentence.
“To the place where you were born.”
He looked at Valeria.
“Where was I born?”
She said nothing.
The original Gabriel answered from the doorway.
“Not here.”
He pointed toward the horizon.
“Spain.”
Ricardo froze.
That was where his recent business trip had begun.
Spain.
The place he had believed was the beginning of his journey.
Maybe it had been the beginning of the lie.
The final line on the note read:
May you like
COME ALONE.
OR DIEGO LEARNS WHO HIS REAL FATHER IS.
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