THEY THREW HIM INTO A BOTTOMLESS RAVINE TO STEAL HIS $18 BILLION EMPIRE… BUT THE POOREST WIDOW IN THE MOUNTAINS BROUGHT HIM BACK FROM THE DEAD—ONLY TO UNCOVER A CONSPIRACY THAT HAD BEEN BURIED FOR THIRTY YEARS CHAPTER 4 – THE FACE HE COULDN'T REMEMBER
The flashlight beam swept across the cavern.
Once.
Twice.
Then stopped only a few feet away.
Rosaura covered Paquito's mouth with trembling hands.
The little boy's tiny heartbeat pounded against her arm.
The injured stranger—who couldn't even remember his own name—held his breath as voices echoed through the abandoned mine.
"They couldn't have disappeared."
"Keep searching."
Sergeant Mendoza's boots scraped across the stone floor.
"I want every room checked."
"If they're hiding here..."
"...they die here."
The cavern fell into complete silence.
Water dripped steadily from the ceiling.
No one moved.
Not even to breathe.
One of Mendoza's men aimed his flashlight toward the archive room.
Another took a step forward.
Then—
A loud crash echoed from another tunnel.
Everyone spun around.
"It came from the east shaft!"
Three officers immediately ran toward the sound.
Mendoza cursed.
"Go!"
"Hurry!"
Within seconds, the footsteps disappeared into the darkness.
Only after several long minutes did Rosaura dare breathe again.
Paquito whispered so quietly it was almost inaudible.
"Mamá..."
"What made that noise?"
Rosaura didn't answer.
Because she knew.
The collapsing support beams in the abandoned tunnels were old.
The mountain itself had saved them.
This time.
When the echoes finally faded, Rosaura relit the lantern.
The stranger was sitting upright for the first time.
Pain shot through his ribs.
His head felt unbearably heavy.
He looked around the underground archive with confusion.
"What is this place?"
"I..."
He stopped.
The harder he searched his mind...
The emptier it became.
He couldn't remember his own name.
He couldn't remember where he lived.
He couldn't even remember the face of his parents.
Only fragments remained.
Rain.
A steering wheel.
Someone smiling.
Champagne glasses.
Then...
Nothing.
"I don't know who I am."
His voice cracked.
For the first time in his life...
The man who had once commanded thousands of employees looked completely helpless.
Rosaura knelt beside him.
"You don't have to remember today."
"You're alive."
"That is enough."
He stared at her.
No one had spoken to him with such simple kindness in... how long?
He didn't know.
His memory had vanished.
Yet something inside him recognized compassion.
And it hurt.
Because he couldn't remember the last time someone had looked at him without wanting something in return.
While Adrián rested, Rosaura continued searching through the hidden files.
Dust covered decades of forgotten records.
Mining contracts.
Government permits.
Secret financial reports.
Most were old.
But one steel box stood apart from the others.
It was newer.
Locked.
Across the lid was a faded government seal.
RESTRICTED EVIDENCE
She struck the lock with the pickaxe.
It snapped open.
Inside lay dozens of photographs.
The first showed smiling miners outside the San Marcos Mine.
The second...
Bodies covered with white sheets after the collapse.
The third made Rosaura stop breathing.
She recognized one of the men immediately.
Miguel.
Her husband.
He was standing beside another worker...
A young man with familiar eyes.
She slowly turned the photograph toward the stranger.
The moment he looked at it—
His entire body froze.
A violent pain exploded inside his head.
Images flashed before his eyes.
A child laughing.
A mine entrance.
His father placing a helmet on someone's head.
Then...
Blood.
Screaming.
Sirens.
He clutched his temples.
"I know him..."
"I know that man..."
"But how?"
Another memory struck.
A little girl running through a garden.
Someone calling...
"Daddy!"
Then everything disappeared again.
He collapsed to his knees, gasping for air.
"What happened?" Rosaura asked.
"I saw..."
He struggled to breathe.
"A child."
"A mine."
"A man wearing that helmet."
"But every time I try to remember..."
"It feels like my head is breaking apart."
Rosaura helped him sit down.
"Don't force it."
"Memories return when they're ready."
But deep inside...
She knew these weren't random visions.
The photograph had awakened something.
Something powerful.
Meanwhile...
Hundreds of miles away...
Felipe entered Adrián's private office for the very first time.
The massive room overlooked the entire capital.
Mahogany shelves lined the walls.
Family photographs stood on a polished desk.
Felipe smiled.
"Finally."
He walked toward the hidden liquor cabinet.
Poured himself an expensive whiskey.
Then sat in Adrián's leather chair.
"This should have been mine years ago."
His smile disappeared when his assistant hurried inside.
"Sir..."
"The legal department has a problem."
Felipe frowned.
"What now?"
"The inheritance cannot be finalized."
"Without a body..."
"The death certificate cannot be issued."
Felipe slammed the glass onto the desk.
"What do you mean?"
"The search team found the SUV..."
"But not Adrián."
The assistant lowered his voice.
"Some board members are beginning to ask questions."
Felipe's face slowly darkened.
"If they don't find a body..."
"They'll find a living man."
He grabbed his phone.
One number.
Sergeant Mendoza answered immediately.
"I told you to finish this."
Mendoza replied calmly.
"We're close."
Felipe's voice became ice.
"No."
"You are out of time."
"If Adrián breathes another day..."
"We both lose everything."
Back inside the mine...
Paquito wandered quietly through another corner of the archive while Rosaura examined more documents.
The little boy suddenly noticed an old wooden chest hidden beneath a collapsed shelf.
"Mamá!"
"I found something!"
Together they pulled it into the lantern light.
Inside were dozens of cassette tapes.
Old journals.
And one sealed envelope marked in red ink.
TO BE OPENED ONLY IF ADRIÁN VALERIANO IS IN DANGER
Rosaura's hands trembled.
She slowly opened the envelope.
Inside was a handwritten letter.
The first sentence drained every color from her face.
If you are reading this, then they have finally tried to kill my son. Trust no one inside the Valeriano family. The traitor has been among us for decades...
Before she could continue—
A gunshot exploded through the tunnel.
BANG!
The bullet struck the stone wall only inches from Paquito's head.
The child screamed.
Another voice echoed through the darkness.
"I FOUND THEM!"
Flashlights flooded the cavern from three different tunnels.
Mendoza's men had surrounded them.
And this time...
May you like
There was nowhere left to run.
END OF CHAPTER 4
👉 Continue to Chapter 5, where Adrián instinctively protects Rosaura and Paquito despite having no memory of who he is, while the mysterious letter reveals that the conspiracy began long before he was born—and that someone believed dead may still be alive.
