CHAPTER 3 – THE BABY STOPPED BREATHING… AND THE SECRET INSIDE THE BOX DESTROYED THEM ALL
Mateo!”
Valeria's scream pierced the house.
The baby had gone completely still.
No crying.
No movement.
No sound.
For one horrifying second, Julián felt his world stop.
A paramedic rushed forward and gently took Mateo from his arms.
“Pulse is weak!”
Another paramedic opened a medical kit.
“Temperature is dangerously high. We need to move now!”
Valeria collapsed onto her knees.
“No… please… not my baby…”
Julián stood frozen.
He had survived gunfire.
He had survived ambushes.
He had carried wounded soldiers across battlefields.
But nothing had prepared him for the sight of his tiny son lying motionless.
“Sir!”
A paramedic grabbed his shoulder.
“We need room!”
Julián stepped back, unable to breathe.
The paramedic placed an oxygen mask over Mateo's tiny face.
“Come on, little guy… stay with us.”
The room was silent except for the sound of medical equipment.
Then—
A weak cry.
Everyone looked up.
Another cry.
Then another.
Mateo began breathing again.
Valeria burst into tears.
The paramedic smiled.
“He's fighting.”
Julián closed his eyes.
For the first time in months, he thanked God.
“We're taking him to the hospital immediately,” the paramedic said.
“I'll go with him,” Julián answered.
“No,” Valeria whispered. “You stay.”
He looked at her.
“Why?”
She glanced toward the metal box still sitting on the table.
“Because this nightmare isn't over.”
The room became quiet again.
Tomás slowly picked up the small envelope that had fallen from the box.
There was something else underneath.
A folder.
Yellow.
Old.
Its edges were worn.
The old man frowned.
“I've never seen this before.”
Carmen suddenly panicked.
“Don't open it!”
Everyone turned toward her.
Her face had become ghostly white.
“Please,” she begged. “Don't.”
Tomás looked at her for a long moment.
Then he opened the folder.
Inside was a document.
His expression changed instantly.
“What is it?” Julián asked.
The old man didn't answer.
Instead, he handed him the paper.
Julián looked down.
At the top were three words:
DNA PATERNITY TEST
Below it were two names.
JULIÁN MEDINA.
And…
TOMÁS MEDINA.
His heart stopped.
“What is this?”
No one answered.
He kept reading.
Probability of paternity:
99.98%.
The paper slipped from his hand.
The room exploded into silence.
Patricia covered her mouth.
Valeria stared in disbelief.
Even the police officers looked confused.
Julián slowly lifted his head.
“No…”
Tomás looked as if he had aged ten years in ten seconds.
“No…” Julián repeated.
Carmen began crying.
“No…”
The old man finally spoke.
“I didn't know.”
“What?” Julián whispered.
“I swear to God… I didn't know.”
Julián's hands trembled.
“Tell me what this means.”
Nobody moved.
Then Carmen broke.
Thirty years of lies came crashing down.
“When I was young…” she whispered, “I worked for your grandfather.”
Tomás closed his eyes.
“We fell in love.”
The room froze.
“But he was engaged to another woman.”
Tears streamed down her face.
“He ended our relationship.”
Julián felt sick.
“A few months later, I discovered I was pregnant.”
Silence.
“I was afraid.”
Her voice shook.
“I married another man… and told him the child was his.”
Julián could barely stand.
“You're saying…”
She nodded.
“Yes.”
The world seemed to spin.
Tomás looked at him with tears in his eyes.
“You're not my grandson.”
The old man swallowed hard.
“You're my son.”
Nobody breathed.
The sentence echoed through the room like thunder.
Thirty-four years.
Thirty-four years of believing one thing.
And now…
everything had changed.
Valeria stepped toward him.
“Julián…”
But he couldn't hear her.
His mind was racing.
Every childhood memory.
Every family photograph.
Every birthday.
Every argument.
Everything was suddenly different.
Tomás spoke again.
“I never knew, son.”
The word sounded strange coming from him.
“Your mother never told me.”
Carmen collapsed into a chair.
“I was afraid you'd take him away.”
The old man looked at her.
“So instead… you lied to everyone?”
She nodded through her tears.
“And when I learned you planned to give everything to Julián…”
She stopped.
Tomás frowned.
“Go on.”
“I was terrified.”
Realization slowly crossed the old man's face.
“You tried to kill me… because of the inheritance.”
Carmen began sobbing.
“I didn't mean for things to go this far.”
But no one believed her anymore.
Because everyone knew the truth.
Greed had destroyed her.
Suddenly another officer entered the room.
“Sir, we found additional documents.”
He handed them to Tomás.
The old man opened the file.
Then his face turned pale.
“What now?” Julián asked.
The old man looked at him.
Then at Valeria.
Finally he whispered:
“This changes everything.”
“What does?”
Tomás handed him another paper.
Julián looked down.
It was a will.
Dated four years earlier.
The first line read:
I, Tomás Medina, leave all my assets to my only living child, Julián Medina.
Silence.
Then came the second line.
In the event of my death under suspicious circumstances, this document must be given to the authorities.
Below it was another envelope.
Sealed.
Written in Tomás's handwriting.
To be opened only if I am murdered.
Everyone stared at it.
The old man slowly picked it up.
His hands trembled.
Because suddenly…
he wasn't sure anymore.
Had someone really tried to kill him?
Or had someone much closer to him been planning something far worse all along?
Then, from outside the house, came a scream.
One of the paramedics ran back toward the door.
“Mr. Medina!”
Julián looked up.
“What happened?”
The paramedic's face had gone white.
“You need to come now.”
“Why?”
The man swallowed hard.
Then he said the words no parent ever wants to hear.
“Your baby isn't the one in the ambulance.”
The entire house went silent.
“What… did you say?”
The paramedic looked terrified.
“The child inside the ambulance…”
May you like
He paused.
“…is not Mateo.”
