Chapter 4 - THE LIVING DEAD IN THE ATTIC"Fifteen Years in a Cage of Gold"The revelation hit the room like a bomb.
"Grandfather... alive?" Valeria whispered through her swollen, bandaged lips, her voice barely audible. "They told me... they told me he died when I was seven..."
"They lied to you, Valeria," Javier said gravely. "When Don Guillermo founded Mendoza Infrastructure Developers decades ago, he built a fortune worth over 200 million dollars. But when he drafted his final will, he saw the greed in his son Rogelio's eyes. He saw that Rogelio was a sociopath who would bankrupt the empire."
Javier placed a thick, leather-bound book onto her bed. It was stamped with an ancient wax seal bearing the Mendoza crest.
"Don Guillermo willed 90% of his global assets, real estate, and controlling shares directly to YOU, Valeria—his only true granddaughter who showed humility, intellect, and empathy. Rogelio and Ofelia were only granted a minor monthly allowance, contingent upon one condition: that you reached your 25th birthday unmarried, or married a man of proven honor."
Emiliano’s eyes widened. "Valeria turns 25 next week..."
"Precisely," Javier confirmed. "If Valeria died or was rendered legally incompetent before her 25th birthday, the entire estate would forfeit by default to her younger sister, Daniela. That is why they were poisoning her. That is why Daniela tried to force Emiliano into marriage. And when Emiliano refused to abandon Valeria, Rogelio took that brick to her face—hoping to break her spirit, disfigure her beyond recognition, and force her to surrender her legal rights in exchange for medical care."
"Where is Grandfather now?" Valeria wept, anger pulsing through her veins. "Why didn't he stop them?"
"Because they kept him imprisoned," a soft, raspy voice spoke from the doorway.
Everyone spun around.
Standing in the shadow of the hospital doorway was an elderly man wrapped in an oversized coat. His hair was stark white, his face etched with deep lines of suffering, and his hands shook violently. But his eyes—dark, sharp, and brimming with tears—matched Valeria’s exactly.
"Grandfather..." Valeria gasped.
Don Guillermo collapsed to his knees beside her bed, grabbing her uninjured hand and pressing it to his trembling forehead.
"Forgive me, my sweet girl... forgive me," the old man sobbed bitterly. "For fifteen years, my own son kept me drugged in the soundproof attic of the Jardines de Morelos estate. They forged my death certificate. They kept me alive only to scan my retinas and force my thumbprints onto quarterly financial transfers. But today... when I saw that monster hit you with that brick through the window... I found the strength to snap the lock on the balcony window."
Emiliano knelt beside the old man, offering him a steady arm. "Sir, you're safe now. We have the police, we have the evidence."
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Don Guillermo looked up, his eyes turning cold as hardened steel.
"No, young man," the patriarch rasped, pulling a sealed steel cylinder from inside his coat. "The police can only put them in prison for a few years. What I have in this vault... will erase Rogelio, Ofelia, and Daniela from the face of the earth forever."
