Chapter 12 - THE LETTER WRITTEN FOR HIS DEATH
The water rose above Diego’s knees.
The current tore through the chamber.
Stone fragments crashed from the old walls.
Valentina clung to his neck.
“Papá!”
“I have you.”
He moved toward the tunnel.
Marisol stayed beside him.
Ramón carried Isabella.
Paulina supported Arturo, who was barely conscious.
The sealed envelope floated near the metal door.
Diego looked at it.
Marisol grabbed his sleeve.
“No.”
“It may explain everything.”
“It may also get you killed.”
The chamber shook.
A section of the ceiling collapsed into the river.
The envelope spun toward the opening.
Paulina released Arturo.
“I’ll get it.”
Diego turned.
“You cannot.”
“It has my real sister’s name on it.”
“Valentina is not your sister.”
Paulina looked at the child.
“No.”
“She is the first person in this family who gave me a reason to stop running.”
Before anyone could stop her, Paulina entered the current.
The water struck her wound.
Pain twisted across her face.
She reached toward the envelope.
Her fingers missed.
The envelope drifted closer to the metal door.
Octavio stood on the other side.
He had not escaped.
He was waiting.
He picked up the envelope.
Paulina froze.
Octavio smiled at her.
“You always were predictable.”
He backed through the doorway.
Paulina lunged.
Octavio grabbed her injured arm.
She screamed.
Diego handed Valentina to Marisol.
Then entered the water.
Marisol shouted.
“Diego!”
He fought through the current.
Octavio pulled Paulina into the doorway.
Diego caught her other hand.
For one terrifying moment, Paulina hung between them.
Octavio looked at Diego.
“Let her go.”
“She tried to kill your child.”
“She drugged your servants.”
“She betrayed your mother.”
Diego tightened his grip.
“She also saved my daughter.”
Paulina looked at him.
Her face filled with disbelief.
Octavio pulled harder.
“You cannot save everyone.”
Diego stared at him.
“No.”
“But I decide who I refuse to abandon.”
Ramón entered the water.
He struck Octavio’s arm with the metal handle of his weapon.
Octavio released Paulina.
Diego pulled her toward him.
Octavio stumbled through the doorway.
The envelope remained in his hand.
Paulina reached out.
Her fingers closed around its corner.
The paper tore.
Half remained with Octavio.
Half stayed in Paulina’s hand.
Octavio disappeared into the passage.
The metal door began closing.
Diego pushed Paulina back into the chamber.
Then forced himself through the narrowing gap.
“Diego!”
Marisol screamed.
The door slammed shut behind him.
He was gone.
Valentina stared at the door.
“Papá?”
Marisol rushed toward it.
She pulled the handle.
It would not move.
“Diego!”
She struck the metal.
“No!”
Ramón searched the wall.
“There must be another control.”
Water continued pouring into the chamber.
Isabella pointed toward a rusted wheel above the river gate.
“Close that valve.”
Ramón climbed onto the broken stonework.
Arturo tried to stand.
He collapsed again.
Paulina held the torn half of the envelope.
Blood and water covered her hands.
Marisol turned on her.
“What was inside?”
Paulina opened the damaged paper.
Only the lower portion of the letter remained.
Several lines were readable.
If Diego is dead, Valentina must never be allowed to enter Villaseñor headquarters.
The company is not her inheritance.
It is the prison built around her.
Do not trust the board.
Do not trust the family foundation.
And above all, do not trust—
The name had been torn away.
Marisol stared at the missing section.
“Do not trust whom?”
Paulina looked toward the sealed door.
“My father has the rest.”
Ramón reached the valve.
He turned it with both hands.
The mechanism resisted.
Then moved.
The water slowed.
The chamber stopped filling.
Marisol pressed her ear against the metal door.
Nothing.
No gunshots.
No footsteps.
No voice.
Only silence.
On the other side, Diego followed Octavio through a concrete passage.
Emergency lights glowed along the floor.
The tunnel did not look ancient.
It was modern.
Reinforced.
Maintained.
Octavio had built an entire hidden facility beneath the monastery.
Diego followed the trail of blood from Octavio’s injured hand.
It led to an underground garage.
Three black vehicles waited.
A private elevator stood against the far wall.
Octavio entered it.
Diego ran.
The doors began closing.
He forced one arm between them.
The doors reopened.
Octavio struck him with the metal envelope case.
Diego staggered.
Octavio pressed the elevator button again.
“This is your last opportunity.”
“To do what?”
“To return to the child.”
“Forget the company.”
“Forget your mother.”
“Forget the truth.”
Diego stepped inside the elevator.
“You spent four years teaching Marisol to believe I abandoned her.”
“You spent thirty years teaching my mother that no one would find her.”
“You taught Paulina that cruelty was strength.”
“And now you think I will forget?”
Octavio smiled.
“You still do not know what the letter says.”
“Then tell me.”
“It says Valentina is not the final heir.”
Diego went still.
“What?”
Octavio held up his torn half.
“Your father had another child.”
“Paulina.”
“No.”
“After Paulina.”
Diego stared at him.
“That is impossible.”
“Esteban hid many things from you.”
“Who is the child?”
Octavio pressed the top button.
The elevator began rising.
“The child is no longer a child.”
“Who?”
“The person currently running Villaseñor Group while you chase ghosts.”
Diego’s face changed.
Only one person had authority to operate the company in his absence.
Gabriel Villaseñor.
Diego’s cousin.
Chief financial officer.
The man Diego had trusted since childhood.
Octavio watched recognition enter his face.
“Gabriel is my brother?”
“Half-brother.”
“And the board knows?”
“The board created him.”
Diego’s stomach turned.
“What does that mean?”
“It means Gabriel was raised for one purpose.”
“To replace you.”
The elevator stopped.
The doors opened into a private office high above Mexico City.
Glass walls overlooked Santa Fe.
Villaseñor Group headquarters.
Diego stepped out.
The building should have been empty.
Instead, every light was on.
Dozens of executives stood inside the boardroom.
Lawyers surrounded the long table.
Security guards blocked each exit.
At the head of the room stood Gabriel Villaseñor.
Thirty-five years old.
Elegant.
Calm.
Wearing the dark suit Diego had given him on the day he became CFO.
Gabriel looked toward Diego.
No surprise entered his face.
Only disappointment.
“You were supposed to remain at the chapel.”
Diego stared at him.
“You knew.”
Gabriel glanced toward Octavio.
“I knew enough.”
“You are my brother.”
A few board members looked away.
Gabriel smiled faintly.
“That word changes nothing.”
“You helped Paulina.”
“I helped preserve the company.”
“You helped drug my daughter.”
Gabriel’s smile vanished.
“I never approved that.”
“But you knew she existed.”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Since the day Marisol entered the mansion.”
The answer struck harder than any blow.
Diego stepped toward him.
“You watched me walk past my own child.”
Gabriel did not move.
“You were not ready to know.”
“You decided that?”
“Someone had to.”
Diego looked around the boardroom.
“These people knew too?”
No one answered.
Octavio placed his half of the letter on the table.
Gabriel looked at it.
“Where is the rest?”
“With Paulina.”
Gabriel’s expression changed.
“She is alive?”
“Yes.”
“That complicates the vote.”
Diego stared at him.
“What vote?”
Gabriel gestured toward the legal documents on the table.
“The emergency removal of Diego Villaseñor as chief executive.”
A lawyer pushed the resolution forward.
Gabriel continued.
“You abandoned company operations.”
“You assaulted police officers.”
“You interfered with an investigation.”
“You concealed an unverified heir.”
“And you placed the corporation at extraordinary risk.”
Diego laughed bitterly.
“You kidnapped my daughter and scheduled a board meeting.”
Gabriel looked at the executives.
“The board does not concern itself with family drama.”
“No.”
Diego answered.
“The board created the family drama.”
Gabriel placed a hand on the resolution.
“The vote begins now.”
Diego looked toward the security guards.
Then toward the glass walls.
He was surrounded.
His phone was gone.
Ramón was trapped beneath the monastery.
Marisol had no idea where he was.
Gabriel lifted a pen.
“One final matter.”
He opened a second folder.
Inside was a new paternity report.
Diego saw Valentina’s name.
Then he saw the conclusion.
PATERNITY EXCLUDED.
His blood went cold.
Gabriel turned the document toward the board.
“According to the only test now recognized by the company’s medical counsel, Valentina Ortega is not Diego Villaseñor’s daughter.”
Diego stared at the forged result.
Gabriel’s voice remained calm.
“And by sunrise, Marisol Ortega will be charged with fraud, attempted extortion, and the murder of Don Esteban.”
Back beneath the monastery, Marisol’s radio crackled.
A security announcement from Villaseñor headquarters broke through the static.
“Effective immediately, Diego Villaseñor has been removed as chief executive officer.”
Valentina looked up at her mother.
“What does that mean?”
Marisol held her tighter.
Before she could answer, another voice entered the transmission.
Gabriel’s voice.
“To Marisol Ortega.”
“I know you can hear me.”
“Bring Paulina and the remaining half of the letter to Villaseñor headquarters.”
May you like
“Come before sunrise.”
“Or Diego will be arrested for the murder of his own father.”
