CHAPTER 3: THE LETTER UNDER THE FLOORBOARDS… AND THE NAME NO ONE EXPECTED
The rain had stopped by dawn.
But inside the Morales mansion, no one slept.
Police officers moved from room to room, taking photographs and collecting evidence. Flashlights illuminated every corner of the house.
In the living room, ten-year-old Diego sat wrapped in a blanket beside Doña Meche.
His arm was finally free of the cast.
The doctor had cleaned the wound and confirmed something horrifying:
The infection had been intentionally caused.
The syringe found inside the cast contained bacteria and chemicals capable of producing severe pain, fever, and hallucination-like symptoms.
Someone had wanted Diego to suffer.
Someone had wanted everyone to think he was losing his mind.
Across the room, Adrián sat with his face buried in his hands.
He looked ten years older than he had the night before.
The woman he had married had confessed to causing Elena's death.
And worse…
she had said something he couldn't stop hearing.
"You helped me."
The words echoed in his mind.
Did he really know?
Had he ignored the truth all these years?
Or had he simply chosen not to see it?
A detective approached him.
It was Detective Ignacio Salazar, one of the most respected homicide investigators in Mexico City.
“Mr. Morales,” he said softly, “we're reopening your wife's case.”
Adrián looked up.
“The case was ruled an accident.”
“Not anymore.”
The detective placed the emerald-cross necklace on the table.
“Your son remembered something. Your wife confessed to pushing Elena. We have enough to investigate.”
Adrián swallowed hard.
Then Detective Salazar said something unexpected.
“We also found something in Claudia's bedroom.”
He placed a small silver key on the table.
“Do you recognize it?”
Adrián's eyes widened.
The key belonged to Elena.
She used it to lock her private study.
A room no one had entered since her death.
ONE HOUR LATER
The entire family stood outside Elena's old study.
The room had remained untouched for three years.
Adrián inserted the key.
His hands trembled.
Click.
The door slowly opened.
A smell of old books and dust filled the air.
Everything looked exactly the same.
Her desk.
Her favorite lamp.
The framed family photos.
The blue scarf she always wore in winter.
Doña Meche quietly wiped away tears.
“This room still feels like her,” she whispered.
Diego held her hand tightly.
Then Detective Salazar walked toward the desk.
“Something's strange.”
“What?” Adrián asked.
The detective pointed at the floor.
One wooden board looked newer than the others.
He knelt down.
Tapped it.
Hollow.
Everyone froze.
A police officer brought a tool and carefully lifted the board.
Underneath was a small metal box.
The detective opened it.
Inside were several documents.
Some photographs.
And a sealed envelope.
On the front were three words.
For My Son.
Diego stopped breathing.
Adrián's hands began to shake.
The detective carefully opened the envelope.
Inside was a handwritten letter.
It was signed:
Elena Morales.
And dated only six hours before her death.
The detective began reading aloud.
"If you are reading this, something terrible has happened to me."
The room went silent.
"I have discovered a secret that could destroy my family."
Adrián felt his heart pounding.
"For months, I believed my husband was simply working late. But I was wrong."
He looked up slowly.
"Adrián is having an affair."
Doña Meche gasped.
Diego looked confused.
"The woman is Claudia Serrano."
Silence.
"I confronted them tonight."
Adrián closed his eyes.
The memories returned like a storm.
The shouting.
The broken glass.
Elena crying.
He remembered.
Everything.
"I am afraid."
The detective continued.
"Claudia looked at me with hatred in her eyes. She said she would never allow me to take Diego away from this house."
Tears rolled down Adrián's face.
Then came the sentence that changed everything.
"If anything happens to me… it was not an accident."
The room seemed to stop breathing.
The detective read the final lines.
"To my son, Diego: Never doubt how much I love you. And remember this…"
He unfolded the last page.
"The person you trust the most is not always the person who protects you."
Then, below it, in shaky handwriting:
"Your father knows more than he admits."
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Adrián's face turned pale.
Diego slowly looked at him.
“Dad…”
The little boy's voice broke.
“You knew?”
Adrián couldn't answer.
“Dad… did you know what happened to Mom?”
Tears streamed down his face.
“I… I didn't want to believe it.”
The room froze.
“You knew…” Diego whispered.
“I thought it was an accident…”
“But you knew she pushed her.”
Adrián began sobbing.
“I was afraid.”
“For three years?” Diego cried.
The little boy stood up.
“You let me live with her!”
“Diego…”
“You let her become my mother!”
“Please…”
“You didn't protect Mom… and you didn't protect me!”
The words hit Adrián like knives.
For the first time in his life, his son looked at him not with love…
but with disappointment.
Then Detective Salazar's phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed instantly.
“What?”
Everyone looked at him.
The detective lowered the phone slowly.
“We have another problem.”
“What is it?” Adrián asked.
The detective looked directly at Diego.
“Claudia escaped.”
Silence.
“She attacked a nurse at the hospital and disappeared.”
A cold chill ran through the room.
Then the detective said the words that terrified everyone.
“And before she escaped…”
He paused.
“She asked only one question.”
“What question?” Doña Meche whispered.
The detective looked at Diego.
“She asked if the boy still remembered everything about that night.”
At that exact moment…
the lights in Elena's study suddenly went out.
The room fell into darkness.
Then a noise came from somewhere inside the house.
A door slowly creaked open.
And Diego whispered in terror:
May you like
“She's here…”
TO BE CONTINUED…
CHAPTER 4: Claudia Returns to Finish What She Started… But Diego Finally Remembers the One Thing That Can Send Her to Prison Forever.
