Chapter 20 - The Ghost of San Pedro
Six months later.
High in the private mountains of Blackwood Island—a black-site private rehabilitation and security facility located thousands of miles away in the international waters of the Pacific—a lone man sat in a windowless steel cell.
He wore a plain white tunic with no numbers or names. Three times a day, a tray of basic food was passed through a slot in the heavy door. No guards ever spoke to him. No visitors ever arrived. There were no calendars, no clocks, and no mirrors.
Mateo Garza sat on the edge of his cot, staring at his bare feet. His mind replayed the same sound over and over again in an endless, tormenting loop:
Ring... Ring... Rejected. Ring... Ring... Rejected.
He had forgotten what his own voice sounded like. He had forgotten the color of the sky. To the world, he had been buried in a pauper’s grave outside Topo Chico. To his family, he was a dark memory wiped clean from history.
Meanwhile, back in San Pedro Garza García, sunlight flooded the glass courtyard of the newly inaugurated Camila Vance Children’s Hospital.
Thousands of spectators, news reporters, and city officials applauded as Camila, holding Alejandro’s hand while little Sofia laughed in his arms, cut the bright red ribbon at the grand entrance.
A reporter thrust a microphone forward. "Mrs. Vance! Your foundation has transformed this city! How did you manage to build all this after surviving such a traumatic past?"
Camila smiled warmly into the flashing cameras, her hand resting gracefully on her husband’s arm.
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"Sometimes, you have to let everything you thought you owned burn to the ground," Camila said calmly, her eyes bright with triumph. "Because only when the dead weight is gone can you build something that lasts forever."
As the crowd cheered, Camila’s phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out, saw a black screen with no caller ID, and simply pressed the red button—rejecting the ghost forever.
