CHAPTER 1 — "THE BABY WHO BELONGED TO NO ONE"
The luxurious maternity wing of Santa Mónica Hospital had witnessed thousands of miracles.
Healthy babies.
Happy parents.
Families beginning new lives.
But on that suffocating July afternoon...
Room 402 became the scene of something no one inside the hospital would ever forget.
Outside, the Monterrey sun burned so fiercely that the streets shimmered beneath waves of heat.
Inside...
The air felt colder than a morgue.
Nurses passing the room slowed their steps after hearing angry voices echo through the hallway.
Everyone recognized the man shouting.
Dr. Diego Garza.
Thirty-four years old.
One of the city's most respected radiologists.
Brilliant.
Calm.
Known for saving lives without ever raising his voice.
But today...
He looked like a man possessed.
His expensive navy suit was wrinkled from hours spent pacing the room.
His hands trembled.
His jaw remained locked so tightly that veins bulged beneath his skin.
Every few seconds, his eyes drifted toward the transparent hospital bassinet beside the window.
The newborn slept peacefully...
Completely unaware that his very existence had just shattered two powerful families.
Diego swallowed hard.
"No..."
"This can't be happening."
Across the room, Valeria Garza lay exhausted on the hospital bed.
Only twelve hours earlier she had endured sixteen agonizing hours of labor.
Now she looked almost lifeless.
Dark circles surrounded her eyes.
Sweat soaked her hair.
Her hands still shook from the medication.
Yet the fear in her face had nothing to do with childbirth.
It came from her husband.
She watched him stare at the baby again.
Then back at her.
Again.
And again.
Finally...
He spoke.
His voice was frighteningly calm.
"Tell me the truth."
Valeria burst into tears.
"I already have!"
"He's your son!"
"I swear he is!"
Diego laughed.
Not with humor.
With disbelief.
"My skin is white."
"Yours is white."
"My father, my grandfather, my great-grandfather..."
"All fair-skinned."
"Your entire family came from northern Spain."
"So explain something to me."
He slowly pointed toward the sleeping infant.
"Why is our son dark-skinned?"
Silence.
Valeria's breathing became uneven.
She looked at the baby.
Then at Diego.
Then back at the baby again.
Finally she whispered...
"Genetics isn't always predictable."
"There could be an ancestor..."
Diego slammed his fist against the wall.
The framed landscape painting rattled violently.
"Enough!"
"You expect me to believe some ancestor from centuries ago suddenly appeared today?"
His voice echoed down the corridor.
"You think I'm stupid?"
"I know exactly what happened while I was attending those medical conferences."
"You found someone else."
"You betrayed me."
"You got pregnant."
"And now you're asking me to raise another man's child."
Valeria screamed.
"No!"
"I never cheated on you!"
"I love you!"
"I've never been with anyone else!"
Diego stared into her eyes.
For years, he had trusted that face without question.
The woman beside him had been his best friend before she became his wife.
He had loved her since medical school.
He had believed they were unbreakable.
Now...
He wasn't sure he knew her at all.
Slowly...
He reached for his phone.
"I'm calling GenLife Laboratories."
"The best private DNA lab in northern Mexico."
"The courier will be here tomorrow morning."
"We're ending this."
"Once and for all."
The room fell silent.
Valeria stopped crying.
Instantly.
It happened so suddenly that Diego felt goosebumps spread across his arms.
Seconds earlier she had looked devastated.
Now...
Her expression changed completely.
The panic vanished.
Her eyes became cold.
Careful.
Calculating.
She spoke softly.
Too softly.
"If you order that DNA test..."
"Our marriage ends today."
"I'll sign the divorce papers before they even collect the sample."
"You'll lose everything."
Diego frowned.
Something wasn't right.
Those weren't the desperate words of an innocent woman.
They sounded rehearsed.
Like someone trying to stop a disaster...
Before it reached the laboratory.
For the first time that afternoon...
A terrible thought crossed his mind.
She's afraid of the results.
But not in the way he expected.
Before he could answer...
The heavy wooden door swung open.
Dr. Esteban Villarreal entered carrying a thick leather folder pressed tightly against his chest.
Everyone in Monterrey knew him.
Chief of Obstetrics.
Chief of Medical Genetics.
Forty years of experience.
The kind of physician who never showed emotion.
Today...
His face was completely drained of color.
He closed the door behind him.
Locked it.
Looked first at Diego.
Then at Valeria.
Neither of them noticed that his hands were shaking.
"I need both of you to remain calm."
Neither spoke.
Dr. Villarreal slowly opened the folder.
"We performed an emergency genetic screening."
"It wasn't because anyone requested a paternity test."
"It was ordered after the baby's blood work revealed an extremely unusual incompatibility."
Diego crossed his arms.
"Read it."
Valeria's lips parted.
"No..."
The doctor hesitated.
He had delivered thousands of babies.
He had pronounced deaths.
Diagnosed terminal illnesses.
Nothing had prepared him for the report now lying in his hands.
Finally...
He forced himself to continue.
"The laboratory has confirmed..."
"There is absolutely no possibility..."
"...that Dr. Diego Garza is this child's biological father."
Diego closed his eyes.
He had expected those words.
Even so...
They hit him like a knife.
But before anyone could react...
The doctor turned another page.
His breathing became uneven.
"There is something else."
His voice cracked.
"Something I've never seen in my entire career."
Valeria's face went completely white.
She already knew.
Somehow...
She already knew.
Dr. Villarreal slowly raised his eyes.
"According to the hospital's genetic analysis..."
"...Valeria Garza is not the baby's biological mother either."
The room became so silent that even the heart monitor seemed unbearably loud.
Diego stared at his wife.
Valeria stared at the floor.
Neither noticed that the doctor had not yet reached the final page of the report.
Because hidden there...
Was one sentence that would expose not just an affair—
But a conspiracy so horrifying it would destroy one of Monterrey's most powerful families forever.
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END OF CHAPTER 1
➡️ Part 2: Dr. Villarreal reveals a hidden laboratory code linked to Room 402, and Diego discovers that two newborns vanished from the maternity ward exactly three hours before his son was born...
