CHAPTER 12 THE TWIN HIDDEN FROM THE WORLD
The words remained hanging in the air.
Your twin.
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
Mariana stared at Mateo, waiting for him to take back what he said.
To laugh.
To say it was a mistake.
Anything.
But he didn't.
Because he knew the truth.
And the truth had already destroyed enough lives.
"My twin?"
Mariana's voice was barely audible.
Mateo nodded slowly.
"Yes."
She looked at Gabriel.
"Did you know?"
Gabriel looked devastated.
"No."
His answer came immediately.
"I swear to you, I didn't know."
Mariana searched his face.
For once, she believed him.
Because Gabriel looked like a father who had just discovered he had lost another child.
"Where is this person?"
Santiago asked.
Mateo looked down.
"I don't know."
"How can you not know?"
Mateo clenched his fists.
"Because Rodrigo made sure nobody knew."
He took a deep breath.
"When we were born, my mother was told she had lost one child."
Mariana froze.
"Lost?"
Mateo nodded.
"That was the story."
"But it wasn't true."
Twenty-eight years earlier...
The Salcedo mansion was celebrating the birth of the next generation.
But behind closed doors, a different story was unfolding.
Rodrigo was already planning his future.
He knew Gabriel's children represented a threat.
As long as Gabriel's bloodline existed...
He could never fully control the empire.
So he made a decision.
One child would disappear.
One child would be raised without knowing who they were.
And the Salcedo family would continue pretending nothing happened.
Back in the vineyard, Mariana struggled to understand.
"So my entire life..."
She looked around.
"Everything was a lie."
Mateo nodded sadly.
"Yes."
"The family."
"The name."
"The history."
"All of it."
Mariana looked at Nico.
The thought suddenly terrified her.
"They almost did the same thing to him."
Nobody answered.
Because everyone knew she was right.
The Salcedos didn't just destroy adults.
They destroyed children.
Meanwhile, at the Salcedo mansion...
Elena stood inside her private room.
The same room where she had hidden decades of secrets.
She opened a locked drawer.
Inside was a small wooden box.
She stared at it for several minutes.
Then she opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Two babies.
A newborn boy.
A newborn girl.
Both wrapped in white blankets.
Elena touched the image.
For a moment, regret appeared in her eyes.
Then it disappeared.
Because Elena Salcedo had survived by burying emotions.
Her phone rang.
She answered.
"Is everything ready?"
A man's voice replied:
"Yes."
"Will she come?"
Elena looked at the photograph.
"She will."
"And when she does..."
She closed the box.
"Everything ends."
Back at the vineyard, Mariana received another message.
Unknown number.
A photograph appeared.
Her breath stopped.
It was an image of a young woman.
Around her age.
Same dark hair.
Same eyes.
Same small scar near the eyebrow.
A person who looked almost exactly like her.
Under the picture was a single sentence:
SHE HAS ALWAYS BEEN CLOSER THAN YOU THOUGHT.
Mariana stared at the phone.
"Who sent this?"
Santiago checked the number.
"Encrypted."
Gabriel looked at the photograph.
His face changed.
Because he recognized something.
"What?"
Mariana asked.
Gabriel pointed at the necklace the woman was wearing.
A small silver symbol.
"I know that."
"What is it?"
Gabriel's voice became quiet.
"The symbol of my mother's family."
Mariana looked confused.
"But my grandmother died before I was born."
Gabriel shook his head.
"No."
A pause.
"She disappeared."
The mystery became deeper.
Another missing person.
Another erased history.
Another generation of secrets.
The Salcedo family wasn't hiding one crime.
They were hiding an entire legacy.
That night, Mariana couldn't sleep.
She stood outside the vineyard, looking at the dark fields.
Santiago approached.
"You okay?"
She smiled bitterly.
"Do I look okay?"
"No."
She looked at him.
"For my entire life, I thought I knew who I was."
A pause.
"Now I don't even know my own family."
Santiago stood beside her.
"You know one thing."
"What?"
"You survived."
Mariana looked at him.
"You keep saying that."
"Because it's true."
He looked toward the vineyard.
"They tried to erase you."
"But they failed."
Suddenly, a sound came from the old building.
A door opening.
Everyone turned.
Gabriel grabbed a weapon.
Mateo moved beside him.
Santiago whispered:
"Someone is inside."
They entered carefully.
The room was empty.
Except for one thing.
A file placed on the table.
Mariana walked toward it.
Her name was written on the cover.
MARIANA SALCEDO — SUBJECT 02
Her hands shook.
"What is this?"
Santiago opened it.
Inside were medical records.
Photographs.
Documents.
And a page titled:
PROJECT MIRROR
Mariana read the first line.
Then froze.
Because it said:
"The two daughters must never meet."
Everyone stared.
"The two daughters?"
Mateo whispered.
"No..."
Mariana turned the page.
The final document revealed a name.
The name of the woman in the photograph.
The name of her twin.
ISABELLA SALCEDO.
The room went silent.
Mariana felt the world collapse.
Her sister...
The woman she had hated.
The woman who stood beside Rodrigo.
The woman who watched her family destroy her...
Was not just her sister.
She was her twin.
Before anyone could react, Mariana's phone rang.
It was Isabella.
Mariana answered slowly.
"Why are you calling me?"
A long silence.
Then Isabella whispered:
"Because I finally remembered."
Mariana froze.
"Remembered what?"
Isabella's voice trembled.
"The night they took you away from me."
A pause.
"And Mariana..."
Her voice broke.
"I know who ordered our mother's attack."
The call suddenly disconnected.
And on the other end of the line...
Isabella was no longer alone.
May you like
Someone was standing behind her.
Someone Mariana thought was gone forever.
