CHAPTER 4 – THE FIRE THAT COULDN'T ERASE THE PAST
CHAPTER 4 – THE FIRE THAT COULDN'T ERASE THE PAST
Two hundred kilometers away, Santa Elena Women's Clinic stood unusually quiet.
Most of the lights had already been turned off.
Only a skeleton staff remained.
In the records department, sixty-five-year-old archivist Rosa Méndez locked the final cabinet before heading home.
She paused.
Something felt wrong.
Outside, two black SUVs rolled silently into the parking lot.
Four men stepped out.
None wore medical uniforms.
One carried a gasoline container.
Back in Mexico City, Detective Mateo separated everyone into different rooms.
No one was allowed to speak to one another.
Lucía sat in a private lounge, still holding Valeria.
The little girl refused to leave her arms.
Every attempt by the nanny ended with terrified screaming.
Even Alejandro tried once.
Valeria cried so violently that the detective stopped him.
"For now..."
Mateo said,
"let the child stay where she feels safe."
Alejandro nodded.
It hurt more than he expected.
For three years he had raised her.
Fed her.
Read stories every night.
Held her through fevers.
Yet in one moment...
she had chosen someone else.
He couldn't understand why.
Unless...
everything Isabel had said was true.
Detective Mateo opened the brown envelope.
Inside were photocopies.
Birth records.
Payment receipts.
Medical authorization forms.
And one document immediately caught his attention.
A wire transfer.
Five million pesos.
Sender:
Grupo Santillán Holdings.
Recipient:
Santa Elena Women's Clinic.
Purpose:
Confidential neonatal arrangement.
Mateo frowned.
"What exactly is a neonatal arrangement?"
No one answered.
Across town, Ricardo waited inside his limousine.
His driver remained silent.
Finally Ricardo spoke.
"Call Ignacio."
"The clinic?"
"Yes."
"It must disappear."
The driver hesitated.
"Sir... journalists are everywhere."
Ricardo's voice became ice.
"I didn't ask for excuses."
At that very moment...
flames erupted inside Santa Elena's records building.
Smoke poured through broken windows.
Staff ran screaming into the parking lot.
Fire alarms echoed across the neighborhood.
But Rosa Méndez hadn't left.
She remembered something.
Years earlier...
a frightened young nurse had secretly handed her a flash drive.
"If anything happens to me..."
the nurse had whispered,
"don't let them erase those babies."
Rosa had hidden it.
Not in the archive.
Not in her office.
But inside the hollow base of a broken religious statue in the clinic chapel.
Now the fire was spreading toward that wing.
Ignoring everyone shouting behind her, Rosa ran back inside.
Meanwhile, Detective Mateo received an urgent call.
He answered.
"What?"
His expression changed instantly.
"When?"
He listened another few seconds before ending the call.
Everyone stared at him.
"What happened?"
Mateo looked directly at Alejandro.
"The records department at Santa Elena Women's Clinic is on fire."
Ricardo closed his eyes.
Just for one second.
Too quickly for most people to notice.
But Alejandro saw it.
He saw the relief.
Not shock.
Not horror.
Relief.
And that tiny reaction shattered the last piece of trust he still had in his father.
"You knew," Alejandro whispered.
Ricardo said nothing.
Alejandro stepped closer.
"If that fire destroys evidence..."
"I'll personally make sure you spend the rest of your life in prison."
Ricardo looked at his son with cold disappointment.
"I built everything you have."
Alejandro answered with tears in his eyes.
"And tonight..."
"I found out it was built on a stolen child."
At that exact moment, Detective Mateo's phone rang again.
He answered immediately.
His eyes widened.
Then he looked toward Lucía.
"They found a survivor inside the burning clinic."
"Who?"
Mateo took a slow breath.
"A retired nurse."
"And before she lost consciousness..."
"she said she knows exactly who took your baby."
He paused.
May you like
"She also said..."
"...it wasn't the first baby they stole."
