Chapter 13: The Blood Beneath the Lie
For several seconds, Alejandro could not move.
The photograph trembled between his fingers. Sebastián stood beside Elena outside a hospital, one hand resting protectively on her shoulder. Elena looked exhausted, her face pale, her eyes swollen from crying.
On the back, Rafael had written six words that threatened to destroy everything Alejandro had fought to recover.
Sebastián is the twins' biological father.
“No,” Alejandro whispered.
Rafael watched him with unsettling patience.
“You wanted the truth. Now you have it.””
“You're lying.””
“Perhaps. But ask Elena why Sebastián visited her in the hospital before the twins were born. Ask her why she never told you.””
Alejandro's gaze snapped toward him.
“You expect me to believe that Elena betrayed me?””
“I expect you to understand that love makes people foolish.””
Alejandro lunged.
Daniel caught his arm just as Rafael's men raised their weapons.
“Sir, don't!””
Rafael didn't flinch.
“You see? You're still the boy Arturo raised. You react before you think, and you mistake anger for strength.””
Alejandro fought against Daniel's grip.
“Where is Sebastián?””
“Alive.””
“Where?””
Rafael's expression hardened.
“Give me the recordings and the original documents. Then I'll tell you.””
“No.””
Rafael sighed.
“Then you'll learn the rest the difficult way.””
He nodded to his men.
One of them pulled a phone from his pocket and turned the screen toward Alejandro.
A live video showed Elena standing in the mansion's kitchen. Marisol was beside her, holding Camila's hand. Valentina sat at the table, coloring on a sheet of paper.
Behind them, an unfamiliar man stood near the doorway.
He was holding a gun.
Alejandro's blood turned cold.
“Touch them, and I'll kill you.””
Rafael's eyes narrowed.
“You won't. Not if you want to see your daughters again.””
Daniel lowered his weapon slightly.
“Sir, we have police units on standby.””
Rafael heard him.
“Then you have about three minutes before my men receive orders to act.””
Alejandro looked at the video.
Elena had noticed something was wrong. She was moving the girls toward the pantry, trying to keep her expression calm.
She looked directly at the camera.
For a fraction of a second, she lifted her left hand and touched her wrist twice.
Their old signal.
I'm afraid, but I'm thinking.
Alejandro forced himself to breathe.
He could not attack Rafael blindly. He could not surrender the evidence. And he could not allow another member of his family to disappear.
“Take me to Sebastián,” he said.
Rafael studied him.
“And the recordings?””
“You'll get copies when my daughters are safe.””
Rafael smiled faintly.
“You've learned to negotiate.””
“I learned to recognize a coward who hides behind children.””
For the first time, Rafael's composure cracked.
“Be careful, Alejandro. I am the only reason you survived your childhood.””
“You were the reason my mother died.””
Rafael's face hardened.
Then he turned and walked toward the waiting vehicle.
“Bring the documents.””
Alejandro handed the leather pouch to Daniel, keeping the two recording devices hidden inside his jacket.
Daniel understood immediately.
He gave Rafael the pouch.
“Now,” Rafael said, “we go to the place where this family first learned to lie.””
The old Mendoza estate had been abandoned for decades.
Its stone walls were blackened by the fire that had supposedly killed Rafael, and its gardens had grown into a tangle of weeds. A rusted iron gate hung crookedly across the entrance.
Rafael led Alejandro through the ruined house to a staircase descending beneath the kitchen.
“Your mother came here the night she died,” Rafael said.
“She wanted to leave Arturo. She wanted to take you and Sebastián away from both of us.””
“And you sabotaged her car.””
Rafael didn't deny it.
“I intended to frighten her. I wanted her to understand that leaving would cost her everything.””
“She died.””
“Yes.””
The simplicity of his answer made Alejandro feel sick.
Rafael opened a heavy door.
Inside was a small room containing a desk, two chairs, and a single photograph of a young man.
Sebastián.
Not the man who had impersonated him, but the real Sebastián, with darker hair and a small scar beneath his chin.
Alejandro stared at the photograph.
“Where is he?””
Rafael walked to the desk and opened a drawer.
“Before you see him, you must understand the twins' birth.””
“I know Elena gave birth to them.””
“Do you know why Arturo took Camila?””
“Because he wanted to control the inheritance.””
“Partly. But there was another reason.””
Rafael removed a sealed envelope.
“Your mother had discovered that Arturo was using forged documents to conceal the original Mendoza trust. She threatened to expose him. After her death, Sebastián found the records and learned that Arturo had stolen Rafael Mendoza's identity for years.””
Alejandro frowned.
“You're Rafael Mendoza.””
“I am.””
“Then who died in the fire?””
“A man Arturo arranged to place in my house.””
Rafael opened the envelope.
Inside were copies of medical records and an old paternity report.
“The twins were conceived with your sperm,” he said.
“But the original hospital records were altered. Arturo wanted Camila removed because the trust named the second-born child as its contingent beneficiary.””
Alejandro looked at the report.
Both girls were listed as his biological children.
The fatherhood question had been deliberately obscured to create confusion and give Rafael leverage.
“Then why did you say Sebastián was their father?””
Rafael's expression changed.
“Because he believed it.””
Alejandro stared at him.
“What?””
“Sebastián was convinced that Elena and he had been together before she disappeared. He had been given forged letters and photographs. Arturo wanted him to believe you had betrayed him by stealing the woman he loved.””
Alejandro remembered the photograph of Sebastián with Elena.
The hospital.
The forged documents.
The words written on the back of the picture.
Another lie, designed to turn brothers against each other.
“Did Elena ever tell Sebastián she loved him?””
“No.””
“Did she ever sleep with him?””
Rafael's silence was answer enough.
Alejandro exhaled shakily.
“You used my brother's feelings to destroy us.””
“I used what I had.””
“No. You destroyed what you couldn't control.””
A sound came from behind the far wall.
Three knocks.
Then two.
Rafael turned.
Alejandro recognized the pattern from childhood. Sebastián had used it when they played hide-and-seek: three knocks, two knocks, one final knock.
Rafael opened a concealed door.
A man stepped into the room.
His hair was longer than Alejandro remembered, his face thinner, and a deep scar ran along his jaw.
But his eyes were unmistakable.
“Little brother,” he said.
Alejandro couldn't speak.
The real Sebastián smiled sadly.
“You took your time.””
Alejandro crossed the room and grabbed him in a fierce embrace.
For a moment, neither brother moved.
Then Alejandro struck him once in the chest.
“Four years!”” he shouted.
“You let me believe you were dead!””
Sebastián lowered his head.
“I know.””
“You let me bury a stranger!””
“I was trying to keep you alive.””
“By letting me think you abandoned me?””
Sebastián's eyes filled with tears.
“I sent letters. I called. I even went to the house once.
Gabriel intercepted everything. Arturo had people watching you, and Rafael convinced me that if I came back, they'd kill you.””
Alejandro released him.
“Why didn't you come anyway?””
Sebastián looked toward Rafael.
“Because I believed our father had murdered Mother. And I believed Rafael would do the same to anyone who threatened him.””
Rafael stepped forward.
“Enough. We have a deal to finish.””
Sebastián's expression hardened.
“You don't have a deal. You have a prison waiting for you.””
Rafael laughed.
“You think Alejandro will believe you over me?””
Alejandro stood between them.
“I believe the evidence.””
He removed the hidden recorder from his jacket.
“And the evidence says you murdered my mother.””
Rafael's face drained of color.
Sebastián looked at the device.
“You found the recording.””
“Yes.””
“Then there's something else you need to hear.””
Sebastián reached into his coat and pulled out a small folded paper.
It was a hospital discharge summary dated the day after the twins were born.
At the bottom, beneath the attending physician's signature, was a handwritten note:
Infant B transferred to private custody at the request of Rafael Mendoza.
Alejandro looked up.
Rafael's expression had become unreadable.
“You didn't just know about Camila,” Alejandro said.
“You arranged her disappearance.””
Rafael took a slow step backward.
“I was protecting my inheritance.””
“No,” Alejandro replied.
“You were protecting your greed.””
A siren sounded in the distance.
Daniel had called the police.
Rafael glanced toward the door, then reached inside his coat.
Sebastián shouted, “Alejandro, down!””
May you like
The gunshot shattered the silence.
And as Alejandro fell behind the desk, he heard his brother cry out in pain.
