Chapter 11 - The Name Beneath the Photograph
The woman stood behind the opening door.
She looked at Mariana.
Then at Lucia.
Then at Isabella.
Nobody spoke.
The woman was old, but there was nothing fragile about her. Her white hair was pulled tightly behind her head. She wore a dark dress without jewelry, and her expression was completely calm.
Too calm.
I stepped in front of Mariana.
“Who are you?”
The woman looked at me.
“You already know.”
“No.”
She smiled faintly.
“You know my family name.”
Isabella whispered:
“Beatriz.”
The woman's eyes moved toward her.
“Yes.”
Mariana stared.
“My grandmother?”
Beatriz nodded.
“I wondered how long it would take you to find me.”
Lucia stepped forward.
“You knew I was alive.”
“Yes.”
“You watched me grow up?”
“Yes.”
Lucia's hands trembled.
“And you never came for me.”
Beatriz's expression didn't change.
“I couldn't.”
“You wouldn't.”
“That is what you believe.”
Lucia took another step.
“You marked me dead.”
“I protected you.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
Her voice broke.
“Everyone says they protected me while they were destroying my life.”
Beatriz looked at Mariana.
“Your sister was never supposed to survive.”
Mariana's face went pale.
“What?”
Beatriz walked toward the old photograph on the wall.
“Two children were born that night.”
She touched the photograph.
“Only one was meant to remain.”
I looked at the picture.
Two newborn babies.
One had been marked with a small handwritten number.
One.
The other.
Two.
Underneath the second baby was a line.
Deceased.
Lucia stared at it.
“That was me.”
Beatriz nodded.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because your father wanted one heir.”
Mariana's voice was barely audible.
“And you chose me?”
“No.”
Beatriz turned toward her.
“Your father chose you.”
Mariana shook her head.
“My father loved me.”
“He loved what you represented.”
“What did I represent?”
Beatriz didn't answer.
Isabella did.
“Control.”
Mariana stared at her.
Isabella's eyes filled with tears.
“Your father believed the Beltrán bloodline had to remain pure.”
Lucia laughed bitterly.
“And I wasn't?”
“You were.”
“Then why was I rejected?”
Isabella looked at her.
“Because you were born first.”
Lucia frowned.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
Beatriz answered.
“Because the firstborn belonged to your father.”
The room went silent.
I felt Mariana's fingers tighten around mine.
“What does that mean?”
Beatriz looked directly at her.
“The firstborn inherited something your father desperately wanted.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“The genetic sequence.”
Beatriz nodded.
“Yes.”
I looked at Daniel.
“But you said Alma's sequence wasn't inherited.”
“It wasn't.”
Beatriz smiled.
“That is because the sequence was dormant.”
Daniel froze.
“Impossible.”
“Not impossible.”
Beatriz turned toward him.
“Rare.”
She looked at Mariana.
“The sequence remained inactive in both twins.”
Lucia touched her stomach.
“I don't understand.”
“Your daughter activated it.”
Beatriz pointed toward Mariana's belly.
“Alma.”
Mariana instinctively covered her stomach.
“Why?”
“Because something happened during conception.”
I felt my heart pounding.
“What happened?”
Beatriz looked at me.
“You.”
I stepped forward.
“Me?”
“Yes.”
Daniel shook his head.
“That doesn't make sense.”
Beatriz smiled.
“Your genetic material interacted with the dormant sequence.”
I stared at her.
“So Alma is my daughter.”
“Yes.”
I almost collapsed with relief.
Then Beatriz continued.
“But your blood was never the reason they wanted her.”
I looked at her.
“Then what was?”
“The combination.”
She pointed at Mariana.
“Her genes.”
Then Lucia.
“Her genes.”
Then me.
“Your genes.”
Finally, her eyes moved toward Mariana's stomach.
“And the dormant sequence.”
Daniel slowly understood.
“They created a living genetic key.”
Beatriz nodded.
“Exactly.”
Mariana's face twisted with horror.
“You're talking about my baby like she's a machine.”
Beatriz's expression softened for the first time.
“I know.”
“No.”
Mariana shook her head.
“You don't know anything about her.”
“She is my granddaughter.”
“She is my daughter.”
Beatriz nodded.
“And that is why I brought you here.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
“To give you a choice.”
Mariana looked at her.
“What choice?”
Beatriz turned toward the hidden chamber.
Inside were rows of old medical files.
At the center stood a large computer terminal.
She pressed a button.
A screen illuminated.
Hundreds of names appeared.
Then photographs.
Women.
Children.
Families.
Some files were marked with red crosses.
Others with green symbols.
Mariana looked horrified.
“What is this?”
“The people your family used.”
I stared at the screen.
“This is evidence.”
“Yes.”
“Why show us now?”
“Because the program is about to restart.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“When?”
Beatriz looked at the clock.
“Tomorrow morning.”
Mariana shook her head.
“You can't stop it?”
“I tried.”
“For how long?”
“Twenty-six years.”
Isabella looked at her mother.
“You could have destroyed everything.”
Beatriz stared at her.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because your father built safeguards.”
“What safeguards?”
Beatriz looked toward Daniel.
“Ask him.”
Daniel went pale.
I turned to him.
“What does she mean?”
He said nothing.
“Daniel.”
He finally spoke.
“Every time someone tried to expose the program, evidence disappeared.”
“Because of the safeguards?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
Daniel looked at the floor.
“Because someone inside the government was protecting them.”
The room fell silent.
I stared at him.
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“You do.”
“I don't.”
Beatriz interrupted.
“I know.”
Everyone looked at her.
She walked toward the computer.
She entered a password.
The screen changed.
A single name appeared.
Esteban Varela.
I looked at the doorway.
“He's been working for them all this time.”
“Yes.”
“But he was helping us.”
“No.”
My stomach dropped.
“He gave me the key.”
“He wanted you to believe he was helping.”
Daniel's face tightened.
“Why?”
“To lead you here.”
I stared at the screen.
“Why?”
Beatriz looked toward the old photograph.
“Because R-17 contains the original records.”
“Records of what?”
“The truth about Alma.”
Mariana stepped forward.
“What truth?”
Beatriz hesitated.
Then she looked at her.
“You were not the first woman to carry that child.”
Mariana froze.
“What?”
Beatriz continued.
“Years ago, they tried the procedure on another woman.”
“Who?”
Beatriz looked at Isabella.
Isabella's face collapsed.
“No.”
Mariana stared at her mother.
“Who was she?”
Isabella whispered:
“My sister.”
Lucia looked shocked.
“Our aunt?”
“Yes.”
Mariana took a step backward.
“What happened to her?”
Beatriz closed her eyes.
“She died giving birth.”
“And the baby?”
“Died too.”
Mariana touched her stomach.
“And you repeated the experiment with me.”
Beatriz shook her head.
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Beatriz looked at Daniel.
He didn't move.
Mariana stared at him.
“You.”
Daniel's eyes filled with tears.
“I didn't know.”
“You worked for them.”
“I didn't know what they were doing.”
“You knew enough.”
He lowered his head.
“I was young.”
“You were a doctor.”
“I was twenty-four.”
“You knew.”
His voice broke.
“I knew the research was wrong.”
Mariana turned away.
I moved toward her.
She was shaking.
I wrapped my arms around her.
She held me tightly.
Then something moved beneath her hand.
The baby kicked.
Mariana froze.
I placed my palm over her stomach.
Another kick.
Stronger.
Beatriz watched.
“The sequence has activated.”
Daniel stared at the monitor.
“What?”
The computer suddenly began beeping.
A new line appeared.
FETAL GENETIC ACTIVATION DETECTED.
Then another.
EXTRACTION WINDOW: 11 HOURS.
Mariana stepped backward.
“They know.”
Beatriz nodded.
“They know.”
I looked at the clock.
“We need to get out.”
“No.”
Beatriz turned toward me.
“If you leave now, they will find you.”
“Then we'll run.”
“You won't make it.”
“Why?”
“Because every exit from this facility is being watched.”
Daniel moved toward the computer.
“Then we need to disable the security system.”
Beatriz nodded.
“There is one way.”
“What?”
“The original control room.”
“Where?”
She pointed toward another door.
“Below R-17.”
Daniel stared at her.
“That's impossible.”
“No.”
Beatriz walked toward the door.
“It was designed to be inaccessible.”
She entered another code.
The floor beneath us began to vibrate.
A section of the wall moved.
Behind it was a staircase descending into darkness.
Mariana looked at me.
“Julián.”
“I know.”
She took my hand.
We started down.
Isabella followed.
Lucia came behind her.
Daniel was last.
Beatriz remained above.
I looked back.
“Aren't you coming?”
She shook her head.
“Someone has to make sure the door stays open.”
I frowned.
“Beatriz—”
“Go.”
The hidden door began closing.
We descended.
One level.
Then another.
The air became colder.
At the bottom was a small room.
There was one chair.
One desk.
One old computer.
And one locked metal box.
Daniel walked toward it.
“What is that?”
Beatriz's voice came through a speaker.
“The original birth records.”
I looked at Mariana.
She was crying.
“We already know the truth.”
“No.”
Beatriz's voice became quieter.
“You know part of it.”
The computer suddenly turned on.
A video began playing.
A young woman appeared on the screen.
She was pregnant.
She looked directly into the camera.
I recognized her.
It was Mariana.
But the date on the recording was fifteen years before Mariana had even met me.
She spoke with tears in her eyes.
“If you're watching this, my daughter has already been chosen.”
Mariana stopped breathing.
The woman on the screen continued.
“And if they told you her father is dead…”
The video flickered.
Then the image cleared.
The young Mariana looked directly into the camera and whispered:
“Don't believe them.”
The screen went black.
A second later, a name appeared.
Father: Julián Ortega.
I stared at it.
That was impossible.
I had never met Mariana fifteen years earlier.
Then the computer displayed another line.
Recorded before conception.
And behind us, the metal door suddenly unlocked.
Someone stepped into the room.
May you like
A familiar voice whispered:
“Now you finally know why Julián was chosen…”
