Chapter 13 - THE FALSE RELAPSE
The plan required Adrián to believe Mateo was getting worse.
Dr. Marín created a false medical report.
The document claimed the infant’s skin reaction had spread to his lungs.
A private message was leaked through one of Mauricio’s old security channels.
Mateo Velasco might not survive the night.
Within an hour, three financial reporters received anonymous tips.
Velasco International shares began falling.
Board members called Nicolás continuously.
He answered none of them.
Sofía prepared the nursery.
The silk furnishings remained gone.
Plain cotton covered the bassinet.
Hidden cameras were placed inside the walls.
Elena’s officers waited in the service passages.
Valeria sat with Mateo in the medical wing.
She hated the plan.
“You are using him as bait.”
Sofía looked at her.
“No one enters this room.”
“Adrián has entered every room we believed was secure.”
“That is why Mateo will not be here.”
A second bassinet was prepared in the nursery.
Beneath the cotton blanket lay a medical training doll.
A monitor played recorded infant heartbeats.
Valeria looked toward Nicolás.
“And where will our son be?”
“With me,” Leonor said.
Everyone turned.
Valeria’s face hardened.
“Never.”
Leonor lowered her eyes.
“I understand.”
“No, you do not.”
“You are right.”
Leonor removed her pearls.
She placed them on the table.
“I have spent my life believing an apology was something weaker people demanded.”
Valeria did not answer.
“I will testify against Adrián.”
“That does not place Mateo in your arms.”
“I know.”
Leonor looked at Sofía.
“Take him to Teresa’s home.”
Nicolás stared at his mother.
“Why there?”
“Because Adrián searches palaces.”
Leonor looked toward the plain cotton blanket.
“He does not notice the people who wash them.”
Teresa agreed.
Mateo was taken through the servants’ entrance inside an ordinary grocery van.
Valeria went with him.
Luca and Don Esteban were placed under federal protection.
At eleven thirty, a black sedan approached the mansion.
Adrián stepped out with Dr. Montalvo.
Neither man appeared frightened.
Montalvo carried a medical case.
Adrián carried the merger documents.
Elena watched through the hidden cameras.
“Let them enter.”
Nicolás waited in his office.
Sofía stood beside the false bassinet in the nursery.
Adrián entered first.
His snake ring glinted beneath the lights.
Montalvo followed.
He looked at the child-shaped bundle.
“Has the respiratory distress started?”
Sofía did not answer.
Montalvo approached the bassinet.
She stepped in front of him.
“No examination until Nicolás signs.”
Adrián smiled.
“The nurse has learned negotiation.”
“I learned that rich men call cruelty a negotiation when they expect everyone else to pay.”
Adrián opened the folder.
Nicolás entered.
“Show me Mateo’s real medical records.”
“Sign first.”
“I want proof that Montalvo changed the samples.”
Montalvo’s face tightened.
Adrián remained calm.
“You already have proof.”
“I want his confession.”
Montalvo looked at Adrián.
“You said this was a document exchange.”
“It is.”
“I will not confess to anything.”
Adrián’s smile disappeared.
“You replaced the DNA report.”
“You ordered it.”
“You created the duplicate patient.”
“You brought me the child.”
The accusation came too quickly.
Too naturally.
Both men realized their mistake at the same moment.
Every word had been recorded.
Adrián looked toward the ceiling.
He saw the new camera lens.
His expression changed.
“Where is Mateo?”
Nicolás moved toward him.
“Safe.”
Adrián pulled a small remote control from his pocket.
Sofía recognized it.
It matched the medical sensor attached to Mateo.
Adrián smiled again.
“Not for long.”
May you like
He pressed the button.
Across the city, the monitor on Mateo’s ankle began flashing red.
