Chapter 3 - The Man Who Wanted The Boy Erased
The room stayed silent after the stranger's message ended.
The screen went black.
Nobody moved.
Nobody breathed.
I looked around at the faces surrounding me.
A few minutes earlier, I thought I had been brought here because Don Mateo Vargas wanted to repay me for saving his life.
Now I understood.
I wasn't a guest.
I was a secret.
And someone had just discovered I existed.
Don Vargas stood in front of the screen, his fists tightened at his sides.
I had seen him face danger before.
At the river.
When his men surrounded him.
When everyone lowered their heads because of his name.
But this was different.
For the first time, I saw fear in his eyes.
Not fear for himself.
Fear for me.
"Lock the gates," he ordered.
The guards immediately moved.
Doors closed.
Security alarms activated.
Men rushed through the mansion.
I stood there, frozen.
"Who was that man?"
Nobody answered.
I looked at Don Vargas.
"You said you would tell me the truth."
His eyes moved toward me.
"I will."
"Then tell me now."
My voice became louder.
"Why does someone want me dead?"
The room became uncomfortable.
The older woman who recognized my grandmother looked away.
Don Vargas stared at me for several seconds.
Then he walked toward a large wooden table and placed the photograph on it.
"Your grandmother was not just hiding from someone."
He touched the old picture.
"She was protecting something."
"What?"
He looked at me.
"You."
I shook my head.
"That doesn't make sense."
"It will."
He walked to the window.
Outside, armed guards were taking positions around the property.
"Twenty years ago, your grandmother discovered something she was never supposed to find."
"About what?"
"About the people controlling this city."
I frowned.
"People like you?"
The question surprised everyone.
One guard looked at me like I had just insulted a king.
But Don Vargas didn't get angry.
Instead, he nodded.
"Yes."
That answer shocked me.
He wasn't denying anything.
"You were a criminal?"
"I was."
The honesty caught me off guard.
"I built my empire through fear. Through violence. Through choices I cannot erase."
He looked at the photograph.
"But your grandmother was one of the few people who ever looked at me and saw the person underneath."
I didn't know what to say.
Nobody talked about Don Vargas like he was human.
Everyone talked about him like he was a monster.
But right now, he sounded like someone carrying years of regret.
"What did my grandmother find?"
His expression darkened.
"A list."
"A list of what?"
"The names of people who controlled everything from the shadows."
I felt a chill.
"Government?"
"Business."
"Police?"
He nodded.
"Some."
The room seemed smaller.
My grandmother had been hiding from powerful people.
And I had spent months sleeping outside without knowing.
"Why didn't she tell me?"
Don Vargas looked down.
"Because she loved you."
I hated that answer.
Because it sounded like the answer everyone gave when they didn't want to explain.
"No."
I stepped closer.
"If she loved me, she would have told me."
My voice cracked.
"She would have prepared me."
The room went quiet.
Don Vargas didn't argue.
Because maybe he understood.
Maybe he knew what it felt like to lose someone and be left with questions.
"You are right," he said softly.
I looked at him.
"She should have told you."
That was the first time someone admitted it.
And somehow, that hurt more.
Before I could respond, the woman from earlier walked toward us.
Her name was Sofia.
I learned that later.
But at that moment, she was just another person who knew things about my grandmother.
She held something in her hand.
An envelope.
"This was supposed to be given to him."
Don Vargas turned.
"Where did you get that?"
Sofia looked nervous.
"Esperanza left it with me before she disappeared."
The word stopped me.
"Disappeared?"
Everyone became silent.
I looked at Don Vargas.
"You said she died."
His face changed.
"I said what I was told."
My heart started racing.
"What does that mean?"
Don Vargas didn't answer.
Sofia placed the envelope on the table.
My name was written on the front.
Aurelio Mendoza.
My hands shook.
I reached for it.
But before I touched it, Don Vargas grabbed my wrist.
"Wait."
I looked at him.
"Why?"
His eyes were serious.
"Because once you open that, there is no going back."
I pulled my hand away.
"I already lost everything."
I picked up the envelope.
"I think I'm allowed to know why."
Nobody stopped me.
Inside was a single piece of paper.
The handwriting was familiar.
My grandmother's.
My eyes immediately filled.
I had forgotten what her writing looked like.
The small curves.
The careful letters.
The way she always pressed harder when she wrote something important.
The note was short.
Aurelio,
If you are reading this, then Mateo found you.
Trust him only as much as you trust your own instincts.
There are things I could not tell you.
Things I wanted to tell you.
But if they found me, they would find you.
Remember this:
Your family was never as small as you believed.
I read the words again.
And again.
My hands started shaking.
"Family?"
I whispered.
Don Vargas looked away.
"Your parents."
I froze.
I hadn't heard anyone mention them in years.
"My parents are dead."
Nobody answered.
That silence told me everything.
I looked at Don Vargas.
"What do you know?"
He hesitated.
And that hesitation terrified me more than any answer.
"My father told me your parents died."
I stepped closer.
"Your father?"
Don Vargas nodded.
"He was the reason I met your grandmother."
"Who was your father?"
The question changed the entire room.
Don Vargas looked at the floor.
"Rafael Vargas."
The name meant nothing to me.
But everyone else reacted.
Sofia's face went pale.
"Mateo..."
Don Vargas ignored her.
"Your grandmother trusted my father."
"And?"
He looked at me.
"My father betrayed her."
The words hit harder than I expected.
"Why?"
"I don't know."
That answer made me angry.
"You don't know?"
Don Vargas looked frustrated.
"I spent years trying to find out."
He walked toward a locked cabinet near the wall.
Inside were hundreds of files.
Old documents.
Photographs.
Records.
He opened one drawer.
Then another.
Finally, he pulled out a thick folder.
The label on it was faded.
But I could still read the name.
MENDOZA.
My breathing stopped.
He placed it on the table.
"This is everything I found about your grandmother."
I opened the folder.
The first pages were old reports.
Newspaper clippings.
Pictures.
Then I saw something that made my hands go numb.
A photograph.
My grandmother.
Standing beside a young Don Vargas.
And beside them...
A man I had never seen before.
But someone had written a name underneath.
Rafael Vargas.
Don Mateo's father.
I looked up.
"Why was my grandmother standing with your family?"
Nobody answered.
Then the security system suddenly beeped.
One guard rushed into the room.
"Boss."
Don Vargas turned.
"What happened?"
The guard looked at me.
His face was pale.
"We found someone outside the east gate."
Don Vargas immediately became alert.
"Who?"
The guard swallowed.
Then he said:
"He says he came for Aurelio Mendoza."
The room went cold.
May you like
Don Vargas reached for his weapon.
And the gate camera showed the face of the man standing outside.
