CHAPTER 4 – THE DEAD MAN WHO WALKED BACK INTO HER LIFE
“I… am your father.”
The words hung in the darkness like a thunderclap.
Claudia couldn't breathe.
“No…”
The man stepped closer, tears shining in his eyes.
“You used to call me Papa Gabi.”
A memory flashed through her mind.
A little wooden horse.
A man lifting her into the air.
A voice saying:
"One more ride, little star."
Her heart nearly stopped.
“How do you know that?”
The stranger reached into his coat.
Slowly, carefully, he pulled out a small object.
A silver bracelet.
Tiny stars engraved around it.
Claudia gasped.
She still had the other half.
She had worn it since she was a child.
Her mother had told her never to throw it away.
“Impossible…”
The man held up his wrist.
He wore the matching piece.
“You broke it the day you turned four,” he whispered.
“You cried because you thought I'd be angry.”
Tears suddenly filled Claudia's eyes.
Only one person could know that.
Only her father.
But her father was dead.
She had seen his grave.
She had cried beside it.
“I buried you,” she whispered.
“No, sweetheart. You buried an empty coffin.”
The room fell silent.
Even Esteban looked pale.
“You…” he whispered. “You should be dead.”
Gabriel's expression hardened.
“I almost was.”
Twenty-three years earlier…
Gabriel and Elena discovered something horrifying.
Project Aurora was no longer about medicine.
The company had found investors willing to pay billions to control human regeneration.
Governments.
Private military groups.
Wealthy elites desperate to stop aging.
Everyone wanted the same thing.
The secret inside little Claudia's blood.
When Elena refused to cooperate, the company made a decision.
Take the child.
By force if necessary.
So Gabriel and Elena ran.
They staged his death.
Faked a car accident.
Burned a vehicle.
Left behind enough evidence for the world to believe he had died.
Then they disappeared.
For a while.
Until someone betrayed them.
“Who?” Claudia asked.
Gabriel looked directly at Esteban.
“You.”
The room exploded into silence.
Esteban's face turned white.
“You sold us.”
“That's a lie!”
“You told the investors where we were hiding.”
“I had no choice!”
“You always had a choice!”
Gabriel's voice echoed through the room.
“You chose money.”
Esteban lowered his eyes.
And that silence was all the answer anyone needed.
Claudia felt sick.
Everything she believed about her life was collapsing.
“Where is my mother?” she whispered.
Gabriel's expression changed.
A shadow crossed his face.
“She isn't dead.”
“Then where is she?”
He didn't answer.
“Papa…”
The word slipped out before she realized it.
Tears immediately filled his eyes.
He hadn't heard her call him that in twenty-three years.
“Where is Mom?”
He swallowed hard.
“She was taken.”
The room went silent.
“Taken by who?”
Gabriel looked toward Esteban.
“By the people who financed Project Aurora.”
Claudia felt dizzy.
“You mean… they kidnapped her?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Twenty-three years ago.”
“And she's still alive?”
“I don't know.”
The answer shattered her.
She sat on the edge of the bed.
Twenty-three years.
Twenty-three years wondering why her mother abandoned her.
When all along…
She may have been a prisoner.
Suddenly, Rogelio spoke.
“That's impossible.”
Everyone turned.
He looked pale.
“My company has no record of investors like that.”
Gabriel laughed bitterly.
“Because your company isn't the one running the project anymore.”
“What?”
“They sold it.”
“To who?”
Gabriel's expression darkened.
“To a private organization called Helix.”
The name sent a chill through the room.
Even Esteban looked frightened.
“You know them?” Claudia asked.
Esteban nodded slowly.
“They don't officially exist.”
“Then who are they?”
“No one knows.”
“What do they want?”
Gabriel looked directly at her.
“You.”
The room went cold.
“Me?”
“Your blood.”
Claudia felt her heart stop.
“Why?”
“Because after twenty-five years…”
He paused.
“…you're still the only person whose cells can regenerate naturally.”
A sudden knock interrupted them.
Three knocks.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Everyone froze.
Nobody was outside.
The lights were still out.
Another knock.
Then a voice.
Deep.
Calm.
And terrifying.
“Mr. Vargas…”
Gabriel's face lost all color.
“Open the door.”
No one moved.
The voice spoke again.
“We know she's inside.”
Claudia's blood turned to ice.
A third knock.
Then silence.
And then—
CRASH!
The glass window exploded inward.
A smoke grenade rolled across the floor.
People screamed.
The room filled with white smoke.
“Get down!” Gabriel shouted.
Men in black tactical gear burst through the broken window.
Masks.
Weapons.
No insignias.
One of them pointed directly at Claudia.
“Take the girl!”
Rogelio threw himself in front of her.
“Run!”
Another man grabbed Doña Irma.
She screamed.
Gabriel punched one attacker and shoved Claudia toward the door.
“Go!”
“I won't leave you!”
“You have to!”
“Papa!”
He grabbed her shoulders.
For the first time in twenty-three years, he looked into his daughter's eyes.
Then he said the words that changed everything.
“Your mother is alive.”
Claudia froze.
“What?”
“I found her.”
The room seemed to stop.
“She escaped three days ago.”
Tears filled his eyes.
“And she's waiting for you.”
Before Claudia could speak—
A gunshot echoed through the room.
Gabriel staggered.
Blood spread across his shirt.
“NO!” Claudia screamed.
He collapsed to one knee.
The masked men moved closer.
One of them removed his mask.
And the moment Claudia saw his face…
her heart stopped.
Because she knew him.
She had seen him hundreds of times.
In family photographs.
In her wedding album.
At Christmas dinners.
The man smiled coldly.
“Hello, sister.”
Silence.
Rogelio turned pale.
Doña Irma screamed.
Claudia couldn't even breathe.
Because standing in front of her…
holding the gun…
was Rogelio's older brother.
A man who had supposedly died fifteen years earlier.
Eduardo Salazar.
And he had just called her…
May you like
sister.
TO BE CONTINUED… 🔥🔥🔥
