chapter 2
The crystal glass exploded across the marble floor.
Its sharp echo rolled through the enormous mansion like a gunshot.
For several seconds...
Nobody moved.
Alejandro Garza stood frozen, his eyes locked on Mateo's face.
Not on the delivery uniform.
Not on the package.
Only on his eyes.
Those eyes.
The same deep brown eyes Alejandro had spent twenty-five years trying to forget.
The billionaire's breathing became uneven.
His hands trembled so noticeably that even the butler standing nearby took a cautious step forward.
"Sir... are you alright?"
Alejandro ignored him.
Instead, he slowly walked toward Mateo, stopping only a few feet away.
The young delivery driver instinctively stepped back.
Something about the older man's expression unsettled him.
It wasn't anger.
It wasn't fear.
It was recognition.
The kind of recognition that changes a person's entire world.
"How old are you?" Alejandro asked quietly.
Mateo frowned.
"Twenty-two."
"And your birthday?"
"October seventeenth."
Alejandro closed his eyes.
For a long moment, he said nothing.
His jaw tightened as though he were fighting an invisible battle inside his own mind.
"No..."
he whispered.
"It can't be..."
Before Mateo could ask another question, hurried footsteps echoed from the grand staircase.
An elegant elderly woman descended, leaning on a polished wooden cane.
Despite her age, her posture remained proud.
She wore an expensive cream-colored dress, a string of pearls, and an expression that suggested she had spent a lifetime giving orders.
This was Doña Emilia Garza.
The matriarch of the Garza empire.
She stopped halfway down the stairs.
Her eyes fell on Mateo.
Then...
Everything changed.
The cane slipped from her hand.
It clattered loudly against the marble steps.
Her face turned completely white.
"No..."
she gasped.
Her trembling finger pointed directly at the young man.
"Who..."
"Who brought him here?"
The butler quickly answered.
"He's the delivery driver, ma'am."
"He arrived with today's package."
Doña Emilia wasn't listening.
She stared at Mateo as though she had just seen someone rise from the dead.
Her lips shook uncontrollably.
"Those eyes..."
she whispered.
"They're exactly like..."
She stopped herself.
Alejandro quickly stepped between them.
"Mother."
"Go back upstairs."
Her gaze never left Mateo.
"You told me this day would never come."
Alejandro's voice became firm.
"Please."
"I'll handle this."
The old woman slowly nodded.
But before turning away...
She looked directly into Mateo's eyes.
And tears silently rolled down her cheeks.
"I'm sorry..."
she whispered.
"So very sorry."
Then she disappeared upstairs.
Mateo felt a chill crawl down his spine.
Nothing about this made sense.
He had arrived to deliver a package.
Now the richest family in Mexico was looking at him as though he carried a ghost's face.
"What is happening?" Mateo demanded.
"Why did she apologize to me?"
Alejandro didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he picked up the electronic receipt with trembling hands and signed it without looking.
"You've completed your delivery."
"You should leave."
Mateo didn't move.
"No."
The billionaire slowly raised his head.
"I know my mother's face."
"I've seen it every day since I was born."
"That portrait is her."
"So either someone stole her identity..."
"Or you're hiding something."
Silence filled the entrance hall.
Even the servants stopped pretending not to listen.
Alejandro inhaled deeply.
"Young man..."
"What is your mother's name?"
"Carmen Hernández."
The billionaire's expression darkened.
"And before Hernández?"
"I don't know."
"My mother never talks about her past."
Alejandro looked toward the portrait hanging above them.
His voice became almost inaudible.
"Because she had every reason not to."
Mateo's heartbeat accelerated.
"What does that mean?"
Alejandro remained silent.
Instead, he reached into the inside pocket of his suit jacket and removed an old leather wallet.
Inside was a faded photograph.
Its edges had yellowed with time.
He stared at it for several seconds before handing it to Mateo.
The young man looked down.
The photograph showed a smiling young woman standing beside a handsome man in military uniform.
The woman was wearing the exact same blue dress as the portrait.
There was no doubt.
It was his mother.
Twenty-five years younger.
Standing beside a man Mateo had never seen before.
On the back of the photograph, written in elegant handwriting, were six words.
"Forever yours... Alejandro and Catalina."
Mateo felt as though the floor had disappeared beneath him.
Catalina?
Not Carmen?
"What is this?"
"My mother's name is Carmen."
Alejandro slowly shook his head.
"No."
"It wasn't."
"Not when I knew her."
The room spun.
Nothing in Mateo's life made sense anymore.
The woman who had raised him.
The woman who had insisted the past no longer mattered...
Had apparently lived under another name.
And somehow...
She had once belonged inside this mansion.
Before either man could speak again, another voice interrupted them.
"Father..."
A tall man in his mid-thirties entered the foyer wearing an expensive tailored suit.
His sharp features resembled Alejandro's, but there was a hardness in his eyes that immediately made Mateo uneasy.
This was Sebastián Garza.
Alejandro's only publicly acknowledged son.
Sebastián stopped the moment he noticed Mateo.
"What is he doing here?"
Alejandro hesitated.
"He's just a delivery driver."
Sebastián's eyes narrowed.
Then he noticed the photograph in Mateo's hand.
His expression changed instantly.
He crossed the room in seconds and snatched it away.
"What are you doing with this?"
No one answered.
Sebastián looked from the photograph...
To Mateo...
Then back to the portrait.
His face lost all color.
For the briefest moment...
Fear flashed across his eyes.
Not confusion.
Not surprise.
Fear.
The kind of fear only a guilty person feels.
He turned sharply toward Alejandro.
"You promised this would never happen."
The words slipped out before he could stop them.
The entire room fell silent.
Alejandro stared at his son.
"What did you just say?"
Sebastián realized his mistake.
He forced an awkward laugh.
"I mean..."
"I thought all of those old family stories were over."
But it was too late.
Mateo had heard every word.
So had every servant standing in the hallway.
Alejandro slowly looked at Sebastián...
Then at Mateo.
A terrifying realization began forming in his mind.
If Sebastián wasn't simply surprised...
If he had expected this day...
Then perhaps someone had known the truth all along.
And had spent decades making sure it remained buried.
At that exact moment...
Miles away in Iztapalapa...
Carmen was sewing quietly beside her window when the television suddenly switched on after a brief power surge.
A breaking news report appeared.
The camera showed Alejandro Garza greeting business leaders outside his mansion earlier that afternoon.
Behind him...
For less than two seconds...
Mateo could be seen standing in the entrance hall.
The needle slipped from Carmen's fingers.
The thread snapped.
Her face drained of all color.
She reached toward the television with trembling hands.
"No..."
she whispered.
"They found him."
Then she ran to the old wooden cabinet...
Opened a hidden compartment beneath the bottom drawer...
And removed a sealed envelope marked in faded ink.
"To Mateo... if the Garza family ever discovers you."
Her hands shook so violently that she could barely hold it.
Outside...
A black luxury SUV slowly pulled to a stop across the street.
Inside sat two men wearing dark suits.
One lifted a phone.
"We've confirmed it."
"The boy has reached the Garza mansion."
A cold voice answered from the speaker.
"Then don't let either of them tell the truth."
The call ended.
The SUV's engine remained running.
May you like
And both men stepped out.
End of Chapter 2...
