Chapter 11 - Ricardo flew to Spain that night.But this time, he wasn't going for business.
He was going for the truth.
Inspector Herrera refused to let him travel alone.
They landed outside Madrid.
A black car waited.
No driver.
Inside was an envelope.
A photograph.
A hospital.
The same hospital where Ricardo had allegedly been treated seven years earlier.
But the date was wrong.
The photograph was taken eight days before the crash.
Ricardo stared.
“Why would I have been here?”
Inspector Herrera examined it.
“Maybe you weren't.”
The envelope contained a second photograph.
Camila.
Pregnant.
Standing outside that same hospital.
Ricardo's heart stopped.
“Diego was born here?”
Camila had always said he was born in Mexico.
Someone had lied.
Or someone had forged the birth records.
Inside the hospital, they found archived footage.
A nurse recognized Valeria.
“She came here often.”
“For what?”
The nurse frowned.
“To visit a patient.”
“Which patient?”
She checked the files.
“Ricardo Galván.”
Ricardo froze.
“That was seven years ago.”
“No.”
She pointed at the record.
“It was eight years ago.”
One year before the crash.
The patient was listed as comatose.
Ricardo had been there before the supposed accident.
Meaning there might have been another Ricardo.
Another man.
Another identity.
The nurse opened an old photograph.
Two men appeared.
One was Ricardo.
The other was his exact duplicate.
Inspector Herrera stared.
“That's impossible.”
Ricardo whispered:
“Apparently not.”
The duplicate in the photo was unconscious.
Beside him stood Valeria.
And beside Valeria stood Ricardo's mother.
Alive.
Very much alive.
The truth arrived in pieces.
His mother hadn't disappeared after his supposed death.
She had been running.
Protecting someone.
Maybe protecting both children.
The hospital basement held the last clue.
A hidden archive.
There they found a file labeled:
PROJECT MIRROR.
Inside was a medical report.
Twin boys.
Genetic marker.
Identity-compatible neural pattern.
One child retained by Valeria.
One transferred.
To Gabriel.
Ricardo's hands shook.
“Transferred where?”
The report named a facility in Mexico.
A remote research center.
Then Inspector Herrera saw something else.
A recent access stamp.
September 13.
Someone had accessed the file yesterday.
They were there.
Now.
Ricardo's phone rang.
His mother's voice.
“You found it.”
“Where are you?”
“You're close.”
“Where is Diego?”
“I'll tell you.”
A pause.
“Your son isn't the only child they took.”
Ricardo's heart sank.
“How many?”
“Thirty-two.”
Silence.
“Thirty-two children?”
“All connected to Project Mirror.”
Ricardo felt sick.
“What happened to them?”
“Some were returned.”
“Returned where?”
“To families who believed they were their own.”
Inspector Herrera stared.
“You're saying…”
His mother interrupted.
“They didn't replace only you, Ricardo.”
The implication was horrifying.
There had been dozens.
Children.
Parents.
Executives.
Identity substitutions.
A hidden network.
A machine built to erase reality one person at a time.
Ricardo asked:
“Who controls it?”
His mother's answer was barely audible.
“You.”
He froze.
“What?”
“You built the first version.”
“No.”
“You don't remember because Gabriel stole the memory.”
Ricardo closed his eyes.
A fragment returned.
A laboratory.
A young Ricardo.
A screen.
A line of code.
And beside him, a little boy.
His brother.
Not Diego.
A child Ricardo had never known existed.
Then another memory appeared.
The child was crying.
Ricardo was holding him.
And he said:
“I promise I'll find you.”
His mother whispered:
“You made that promise before the accident.”
The call ended.
Ricardo opened his eyes.
Now he understood why Diego mattered.
Why Gabriel needed him.
Why Valeria was terrified.
Because the missing child wasn't just Gabriel's experiment.
He was Ricardo's brother.
And the boy known as Diego might have been only one piece of the puzzle.
A final message arrived.
NOON. THE OLD RESEARCH FACILITY.
May you like
COME WITH THE BOY.
OR THE CHILDREN DIE.
