Chapter 5 - The hospital's basement parking garage was empty except for police vehicles.Ricardo stood beside Inspector Herrera while Camila was transferred to a secure location.
“What does my company have to do with Diego?”
Camila shook her head.
“I don't know all of it.”
“You know enough.”
She looked at him.
“Seven years ago, Santoro was trying to gain access to your research.”
Ricardo knew that.
Gabriel had wanted control of Galván Intelligence before the company became international.
Ricardo had refused.
Then came lawsuits.
Betrayals.
A long corporate war.
Eventually Ricardo won.
Gabriel vanished.
“What did my son have to do with any of that?”
Camila looked away.
“Valeria owed Gabriel money.”
Ricardo's eyes narrowed.
“How much?”
“Enough to destroy her.”
“How much?”
“Millions.”
The answer landed like a stone.
Ricardo remembered unexplained transfers in the company accounts.
Money Valeria had claimed was for charity.
He had never questioned it.
Until now.
Camila continued.
“Gabriel offered to erase her debts.”
“In exchange for what?”
“Access.”
“To what?”
“Your home.”
Ricardo's heart sank.
“The mansion?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Gabriel believed you kept physical records there.”
Ricardo frowned.
“I use encrypted servers.”
“I don't know.”
She hesitated.
Then said:
“He didn't want your money.”
“What did he want?”
“Your identity architecture.”
Ricardo went silent.
His company wasn't just an AI firm.
It specialized in biometric security.
Face recognition.
Voice identification.
Behavioral authentication.
Systems powerful enough to protect banks, government institutions, and private infrastructure.
If someone could steal the source code and manipulate identity verification systems, they could make one person appear to be another.
Suddenly the strange photograph made sense.
But not Diego.
Not yet.
Ricardo's phone rang.
Inspector Herrera answered.
“What?”
Her expression changed.
She covered the microphone.
“They found something in your company's old records.”
“What?”
“A transfer from Gabriel's offshore account.”
“To Valeria.”
“When?”
“Six years ago.”
Ricardo frowned.
“That was before Diego was born.”
“No.”
Inspector Herrera looked at him.
“It was the month before Diego was born.”
Ricardo stopped.
His memories rearranged themselves.
The pregnancy.
Valeria's sudden insistence that they needed privacy.
The strange doctor's appointments.
The fact that she had never let him attend one early scan.
He had thought she simply hated hospitals.
Maybe she had been hiding something else.
Back in Diego's hospital room, Ricardo sat beside his son.
The boy was asleep.
A nurse entered with additional paperwork.
“Mr. Galván?”
“Yes?”
“There is a problem with his chart.”
“What problem?”
“His blood type.”
Ricardo frowned.
“What about it?”
“The chart says O positive.”
“And?”
“Your son was registered at birth as A negative.”
Ricardo stared.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
He looked through old records.
The original registration had been altered.
Someone had changed it.
Ricardo's pulse raced.
“Can you restore the original file?”
“We need authorization.”
“Get it.”
The nurse hesitated.
Then nodded.
Five minutes later, she returned.
“There is another issue.”
“What?”
“The original birth record isn't stored electronically.”
“Where is it?”
“Federal archive.”
“Then request it.”
The nurse's face was pale.
“They already requested it.”
“Who?”
“Someone using your name.”
Ricardo felt a chill.
“When?”
“Two months ago.”
He looked at Diego.
Someone had been moving through his son's records before Ricardo knew anything was wrong.
This wasn't random.
It was planned.
At 2:00 a.m., Inspector Herrera called.
“We found Valeria.”
“Where?”
“An apartment in Cuajimalpa.”
“Is she alive?”
“Yes.”
Ricardo rushed there.
Police had surrounded the building.
Valeria sat on the floor of a dark apartment.
No designer clothes.
No sunglasses.
No makeup.
She looked smaller.
Human.
Broken.
Ricardo entered.
“You have a lot to explain.”
She stared at him.
“I didn't hurt him.”
“You poisoned him.”
“I didn't.”
“You starved him.”
“I didn't.”
“Then tell me who did.”
Valeria's eyes filled with tears.
“I was trying to protect him.”
Ricardo laughed bitterly.
“By locking him in a room?”
Her face crumpled.
“Do you know what happens when Gabriel Santoro wants something?”
“I don't care.”
“You should.”
She lowered her voice.
“Because he already has what he wants.”
Ricardo stepped closer.
“What?”
She whispered:
“Your company.”
Ricardo's anger sharpened.
“How?”
Valeria looked toward the police.
Then at him.
“Because the man running it right now isn't you.”
Ricardo froze.
“What are you talking about?”
Valeria started crying.
“They replaced you.”
“No.”
“They replaced you seven years ago.”
Silence.
Then she said:
“The man who came home every night wasn't Ricardo Galván.”
Inspector Herrera slowly lowered her pen.
“What did she say?”
Valeria looked directly at Ricardo.
May you like
And whispered:
“Your husband died seven years ago.”
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