Chapter 14 - Ricardo stood in front of the terminal.Fifty-nine seconds.
Everything depended on one answer.
WHO ARE YOU?
He tried his full name.
RICARDO GALVÁN.
ACCESS DENIED.
He tried another.
SUBJECT B.
ACCESS DENIED.
The timer continued.
00:41.
His mother shouted:
“Remember the final phrase!”
“What phrase?”
“You said it before the crash!”
Ricardo searched his memory.
Nothing.
He closed his eyes.
Then he heard Diego.
“Daddy.”
Ricardo looked at him.
The boy was crying.
“I know who you are.”
Ricardo knelt.
“Who?”
“My dad.”
Something clicked.
Not intellectually.
Emotionally.
The system wasn't asking who he was according to records.
It was asking who he was according to the people who knew him.
Ricardo placed his hand on the scanner.
“I'm the man who came home.”
The screen changed.
IDENTITY ACCEPTED.
The countdown stopped.
For three seconds, nothing happened.
Then every monitor went black.
Silence.
Inspector Herrera exhaled.
“Is it over?”
Ricardo shook his head.
“No.”
A final folder opened.
ARCHIVE 33.
He clicked it.
Inside were files about Adrián.
His missing brother.
But the records showed something impossible.
Adrián had not died.
He had been transferred to another facility.
Then another.
Then another.
The latest entry was dated three months ago.
Location:
MEXICO CITY.
Status:
ACTIVE.
Ricardo stared.
His brother was alive.
Then a video opened.
A young man appeared.
Older now.
Maybe twenty-four.
Same eyes as Ricardo.
Same face shape.
He looked directly at the camera.
“Ricardo,” he said.
Ricardo stopped breathing.
“If you're seeing this, then you made it.”
“Adrián?”
The man smiled sadly.
“I know what they told you.”
“What?”
“That I'm your brother.”
Ricardo frowned.
“You are.”
The man shook his head.
“No.”
Silence.
“I am your son.”
Ricardo's entire body went numb.
Diego looked up.
His mother covered her mouth.
The duplicate stepped backward.
“What?”
The man on screen continued.
“Ricardo, you didn't have one son.”
The video shifted.
A timeline appeared.
Births.
Transfers.
Experiments.
Copies.
The technology had been evolving for decades.
The children weren't simply biological children.
Some had been created.
Some were clones.
Some were hybrids.
Some were duplicates designed to replace dead heirs.
Project Mirror had been running before Ricardo was born.
His father had been involved.
His grandfather too.
The Galván family empire had been built partly on identity manipulation.
Ricardo had inherited not just wealth.
He had inherited the system.
The video ended with one sentence:
“Dad, you need to decide which family you want to save.”
Then the screen displayed two locations.
LOCATION A: DIEGO.
LOCATION B: ADRIÁN.
One choice.
Only one could be reached in time.
Ricardo stared at the screen.
Inspector Herrera stepped beside him.
“This could be a trap.”
“I know.”
“Then don't go.”
Ricardo looked at Diego.
His son was frightened.
But he wasn't hiding anymore.
“I can't choose between my children.”
His mother shook her head.
“The system will.”
Ricardo turned.
“What?”
She pointed toward a hidden map.
Two facilities.
Two moving vehicles.
And a final command:
SELECT ONE.
Ricardo realized the system didn't simply want to test him.
It wanted to control him.
Make him prove whether love could be divided.
Then Diego whispered:
“Dad.”
Ricardo looked down.
“Don't pick me.”
His heart shattered.
“What?”
“Save the other boy.”
“Diego…”
“He needs you more.”
Ricardo knelt.
“You are my son.”
“I know.”
“But…”
“I'm not scared anymore.”
Ricardo looked at the screen.
The timer appeared again.
TEN MINUTES.
Then one vehicle icon began moving.
Toward Diego.
The other toward Adrián.
Ricardo stood.
“I'll save both.”
Inspector Herrera stared.
“How?”
Ricardo looked at the system.
Then smiled for the first time in days.
“By destroying the game.”
He pulled the emergency drive.
The system screamed.
Alarms erupted.
Every door locked.
And then the screens displayed one final message.
May you like
YOU WERE NEVER THE PLAYER.
YOU WERE THE PRIZE.
