Chapter 4 - The Man Behind The Gate
The man standing outside the east gate knew my name.
That was the only thing I could think about.
Not the armed guards moving through the mansion.
Not the locked doors.
Not even the fact that my grandmother's secrets were somehow connected to one of the most feared families in Ciudad de Esperanza.
Someone had found me.
And he had come looking for me.
Don Mateo Vargas stood in front of the security monitor, staring at the screen.
The rest of the room waited for his reaction.
I watched his face carefully.
A few seconds earlier, he looked like a powerful man preparing for a threat.
Now he looked like someone who had just seen a ghost.
"Who is he?" I asked.
Don Vargas didn't answer.
"Who is outside?"
Still nothing.
His silence made my stomach tighten.
Because powerful people always knew what to say.
They always had answers.
But Don Vargas looked like he was trying to decide whether telling me the truth would destroy me.
The guard beside the screen spoke quietly.
"Boss, we need your order."
Don Vargas finally moved.
"Do not open the gate."
The guard nodded.
"And do not let him leave."
I looked at the screen.
The camera showed a man standing alone outside the massive iron gate.
He looked older.
Maybe in his sixties.
Gray hair.
Dark coat.
No weapons visible.
No bodyguards.
Nothing that made him look dangerous.
But everyone inside the mansion looked afraid.
That scared me more.
A person with an army was easy to understand.
A person who could make powerful men nervous while standing alone was something different.
"Do I know him?" I asked.
Don Vargas looked at me.
"No."
The answer came too quickly.
I noticed.
He was lying.
"You do know him."
His expression changed.
"Aurelio..."
"No."
I stepped back.
"Everyone keeps doing this."
"What?"
"Everyone keeps deciding what I can handle."
My voice became louder.
"My grandmother did it. You are doing it. Everyone knows something about my life except me."
Nobody spoke.
Because I was right.
Don Vargas looked at the photograph on the table.
The one with my grandmother.
The one with his father.
Finally, he sighed.
"His name is Victor Salazar."
The name meant nothing to me.
But the reaction around me did.
Sofia immediately looked down.
One of the guards touched his earpiece.
Another locked the door behind us.
"Who is Victor Salazar?"
Don Vargas walked away from the screen.
"Someone who should have disappeared twenty years ago."
That sentence made my skin crawl.
"Why is he here?"
Don Vargas looked at the folder containing my grandmother's records.
"Because he knows you exist."
I looked at the screen again.
The older man stood calmly outside the gate.
Waiting.
Like he knew nobody would dare ignore him.
"What does he want?"
Don Vargas didn't answer.
Instead, he walked toward the security room.
I followed.
The guards looked uncomfortable.
Nobody tried to stop me.
Maybe because after everything I had learned, they realized I deserved answers.
On the security screen, Victor Salazar suddenly looked directly into the camera.
It felt impossible.
The camera was high above the gate.
There was no reason he should know where it was.
But he looked straight at it.
Then he smiled.
A cold smile.
He raised a small object in his hand.
A photograph.
The guard zoomed in.
My heart stopped.
It was another picture of my grandmother.
But this one was different.
She was younger.
Standing beside a baby.
Me.
I moved closer to the screen.
"No..."
My voice became a whisper.
That picture shouldn't exist.
I remembered that day.
Or at least I thought I did.
My grandmother had always told me my parents left when I was very young.
She told me she raised me alone.
But in the picture, she wasn't alone.
There was someone standing beside her.
A man.
I couldn't see his face clearly.
The picture was old and damaged.
But I recognized one thing.
A ring on his hand.
The same symbol carved into the old metal key Don Vargas showed me.
I turned around.
"Who is that?"
Don Vargas looked at the photograph.
His face became pale.
"I don't know."
I stared at him.
"You know something."
He didn't deny it.
That scared me.
Before anyone could say anything, the mansion lights suddenly went out.
The room fell into darkness.
Someone shouted.
"Security breach!"
The sound of footsteps filled the hallway.
Fast.
Heavy.
Organized.
Not panic.
Movement.
Someone had entered.
The guards pulled weapons.
Don Vargas grabbed my shoulder and moved me behind him.
"Stay close."
For a man like him to protect me was strange.
But even stranger was the fact that he looked worried.
Not about himself.
About me.
A few seconds passed.
Then emergency lights turned on.
Red lights.
Flashing.
The entire mansion looked different.
Like a warning.
A guard ran into the room.
"Boss!"
"What happened?"
The guard was breathing heavily.
"Someone accessed the old archive room."
Don Vargas froze.
"The archive room?"
The guard nodded.
"Yes."
"How?"
The guard looked uncomfortable.
"Using a code."
"Whose code?"
Nobody answered.
Then the guard slowly looked at me.
My blood went cold.
Don Vargas noticed.
"Say it."
The guard swallowed.
"The code belonged to Esperanza Mendoza."
The room became silent.
My grandmother.
Her code.
Her access.
Twenty years after everyone thought she was gone.
I looked at Don Vargas.
"How can someone use her code?"
He didn't answer.
Because another sound interrupted us.
A notification.
From the computer.
The security system had received a message.
Everyone turned toward the screen.
A single file appeared.
No sender.
No location.
Just a name.
Aurelio Mendoza.
My hands became cold.
Don Vargas opened it.
Inside was one sentence.
Your grandmother didn't leave you alone.
She left you a way out.
Then another line appeared.
A video file.
Recorded today.
Don Vargas hesitated.
"Don't play it."
I looked at him.
"Why?"
His eyes stayed on the screen.
"Because if this is what I think it is..."
He stopped.
The guards waited.
I waited.
Then the video started automatically.
The screen showed a dark room.
A chair.
A person sitting with their back toward the camera.
A voice spoke.
A voice I had not heard in three months.
A voice I knew better than my own.
"Aurelio..."
My entire body froze.
May you like
Because it was my grandmother.
And she was alive.
