Chapter 7 - Inspector Herrera ordered additional security around the hospital.No visitors.
No exceptions.
Especially Valeria's known associates.
Ricardo couldn't shake the image from Diego's words.
He looks like you.
A second Ricardo.
A duplicate.
Or something worse.
At 8:20 a.m., the forensic team accessed the hard drive found beneath the dining room.
Most files were encrypted.
One folder wasn't.
It contained photographs.
Ricardo as a child.
Ricardo at university.
Ricardo in his first office.
Then photographs of another man.
At first glance, they were identical.
But the dates overlapped.
The impossible became visible.
Both men existed at the same time.
One file was labeled:
SUBJECT A: ORIGINAL.
Another:
SUBJECT B: INTEGRATED REPLACEMENT.
Ricardo's hands shook.
Inspector Herrera asked:
“Which one are you?”
“I don't know.”
The next file contained voice recordings.
The audio was damaged.
But one line was clear.
“Subject B must never discover the existence of Subject A.”
Ricardo closed his eyes.
He suddenly remembered something from childhood.
A phrase his father used to say.
“When you forget something important, don't trust the first memory that comes back.”
Why would his father have said that?
The answer might have been hidden in the company archives.
Ricardo ordered an emergency internal audit.
The company's chief security officer, Mateo Ruiz, arrived within an hour.
Mateo had worked with Ricardo for eleven years.
Or thought he had.
“Sir,” Mateo said, “there's something you need to know.”
Ricardo looked at him.
“Go on.”
“The board has been bypassing you.”
“For how long?”
“Seven years.”
Ricardo's stomach tightened.
“Why?”
Mateo hesitated.
“Because they believed you were medically unstable.”
“Who told them?”
“Dr. Esteban León.”
Ricardo recognized the name.
His surgeon.
The doctor who had treated him after the crash.
“Where is he now?”
Mateo looked away.
“Dead.”
“When?”
“Six years ago.”
Ricardo frowned.
“Then who signed my medical clearance?”
Mateo placed a document on the table.
Ricardo saw the signature.
His own.
But he had never signed it.
At that moment, the hospital lights flickered.
The security alarm sounded.
Mateo immediately reached for his phone.
A nurse screamed somewhere down the hall.
Ricardo ran toward Diego's room.
The door was open.
The bed was empty.
His son was gone.
“DIEGO!”
Chaos erupted.
Security officers searched the corridor.
The elevators.
The stairwell.
The emergency exits.
Then a doctor found something beneath the pillow.
A handwritten note.
Ricardo opened it.
DON'T LOOK FOR YOUR SON.
LOOK FOR YOURSELF.
Below it was an address.
An old Galván warehouse in Santa María.
And one more sentence:
YOU HAVE 90 MINUTES.
Inspector Herrera grabbed the note.
“We're going.”
Ricardo was already moving.
They reached the warehouse forty minutes later.
The gates were unlocked.
Inside, darkness.
A single light flickered above a table.
On the table were two chairs.
And two cups of coffee.
One still warm.
A voice came from the shadows.
“You came.”
Ricardo stepped forward.
A man emerged.
Ricardo froze.
The man looked exactly like him.
Not similar.
Exactly.
Same eyes.
Same jaw.
Same scar.
Same posture.
Same voice.
“Who are you?”
The man smiled sadly.
“I'm the reason you don't remember.”
Inspector Herrera drew her weapon.
The stranger raised his hands.
“I don't want to hurt anyone.”
“Where is Diego?” Ricardo demanded.
“Safe.”
“Where?”
“Closer than you think.”
Ricardo stepped forward.
“Tell me the truth.”
The stranger looked at him.
Then said:
“You are not the replacement.”
Ricardo frowned.
“What?”
“I am.”
Silence.
Inspector Herrera looked at both men.
“Then who is he?”
The stranger pointed at Ricardo.
“He is the original.”
Ricardo felt the room tilt.
“Then why don't I remember?”
The stranger looked at him sadly.
“Because Gabriel didn't erase your memory.”
“Who did?”
The stranger whispered:
“Valeria.”
Before anyone could react, the warehouse doors slammed shut.
The lights went out.
A gunshot echoed.
Then another.
May you like
When the emergency lights came on, the stranger was gone.
And on the floor was a bloodstained child's shoe.
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