Chapter 13: The Truth of Diego's Birth
No one reached for the hospital file.
It rested in the center of the table like a stone dropped into still water, sending invisible ripples through everyone in the room.
Diego looked at Fernando.
"What is this?"
Fernando's tired eyes met his.
"The reason I made the worst decision of my life."
"You separated me from the woman I loved because of my birth?"
Fernando nodded slowly.
"Yes."
Diego's voice hardened.
"Open it."
Fernando didn't move.
"You should."
Diego stepped forward, picked up the file himself, and untied the faded cloth ribbon securing it.
Inside were dozens of yellowed documents.
Medical reports.
Birth records.
Adoption forms.
And one envelope marked:
CONFIDENTIAL: TO BE OPENED ONLY IF NECESSARY
Elena stared at it.
"I've never seen those documents."
"You weren't supposed to," Fernando replied quietly.
Diego unfolded the first report.
His eyes moved quickly across the page before suddenly stopping.
He read the sentence again.
Then a third time.
His face slowly lost all color.
Marisol immediately noticed.
"Diego..."
He couldn't answer.
His hands were trembling.
Elena stepped closer.
"What does it say?"
Diego swallowed.
"It says..."
His voice cracked.
"...that there were twins."
The room froze.
"What?"
Elena whispered.
"There were twins?"
Fernando closed his eyes.
"Yes."
The silence that followed seemed endless.
Fernando finally spoke.
"Thirty-five years ago, Elena gave birth to twin boys."
Tears immediately filled Elena's eyes.
"No..."
She shook her head.
"I only had one son."
Fernando looked at her with profound sadness.
"That's what you were told."
Elena staggered backward until she found the edge of a chair.
"What are you saying?"
"You gave birth to two healthy boys."
"The first..."
"...Diego."
"The second..."
Fernando's voice became barely audible.
"...was taken."
"No!"
Elena cried.
"No one took my baby!"
Fernando lowered his head.
"They did."
"Who?"
"Your father-in-law."
The room erupted.
Arturo stepped forward in disbelief.
"My father?"
Fernando nodded.
"He believed dividing the inheritance between identical twins would eventually destroy the company."
"So he made a decision."
"A terrible one."
"He arranged for the second child to be secretly adopted."
Diego stared at Fernando.
"You expect me to believe my grandfather gave away his own grandson?"
"I wish I were lying."
Fernando removed another document.
An official adoption certificate.
The names of the adoptive parents had been blacked out years earlier.
Only one line remained clearly visible.
Male Infant B.
Transferred within 24 hours of birth.
Elena burst into tears.
"They told me..."
"They told me my second baby had died."
Fernando nodded.
"I know."
"I signed the papers."
"You..."
Her voice broke.
"You let me mourn a child who was alive?"
"I did."
"And I have regretted it every day since."
Valentina quietly climbed off the sofa.
She walked over to Elena.
Without saying a word, she wrapped her tiny arms around her grandmother's waist.
Elena immediately knelt and held the little girl tightly.
"My sweet girl..."
Valentina gently wiped away Elena's tears with the sleeve of her tiny pajamas.
"No cry."
The innocence of the gesture only made Elena cry harder.
Diego slowly turned toward Fernando.
"So..."
"I have a brother."
Fernando nodded.
"Yes."
"Does he know?"
"I don't know."
"Where is he?"
Fernando hesitated.
"I lost track of him years ago."
"You lost track?"
"I kept searching."
"But after the adoption records were sealed..."
"I couldn't find him."
Arturo stepped closer.
"You're lying."
Fernando looked up.
"No."
"I truly don't know."
Ricardo interrupted.
"Sir."
He held up one of the documents.
"This isn't an adoption agency."
Everyone looked.
The document bore the logo of a private foundation.
Ricardo frowned.
"The transfer wasn't arranged through the government."
"It was arranged through a charity."
Fernando nodded.
"Your grandfather owned it."
Diego looked at Ricardo.
"Can we trace it?"
Ricardo was already typing.
"The foundation no longer exists."
"But..."
He stopped.
"What?"
"It merged with another organization twenty-eight years ago."
"Which one?"
Ricardo looked at the screen.
"The San Gabriel Children's Foundation."
Fernando's expression changed instantly.
"No..."
Diego noticed.
"You recognize it."
Fernando slowly nodded.
"I was chairman of that foundation."
Another silence filled the room.
"So the records still exist."
Fernando whispered,
"They should."
Just then, Ricardo's phone rang.
He answered immediately.
"Yes."
He listened.
Then looked at Diego.
"We have another problem."
"What now?"
"Our cybersecurity team just detected someone remotely accessing the San Gabriel archives."
Diego's eyes narrowed.
"Can they identify the user?"
"They already did."
Ricardo slowly turned his tablet toward everyone.
A single name flashed across the screen.
PAULINA ROBLES
Marisol stared in disbelief.
"Paulina?"
Diego frowned.
"What could she possibly want with adoption records?"
Fernando's expression suddenly turned pale.
For the first time since arriving, genuine fear appeared in his eyes.
He whispered,
"...She knows."
Diego looked directly at him.
"Knows what?"
Fernando answered in a trembling voice.
"If Paulina reaches those files before we do..."
"...she'll discover who your brother really is."
And somewhere across the city, inside a dark office lit only by a computer screen, Paulina smiled as a decades-old adoption record slowly appeared on her monitor.
She whispered one name.
May you like
Then laughed.
"Now I understand everything..."
