CHAPTER 5 SUBJECT SEVEN
The crown door began to unlock.
One metal bolt slid back.
Then another.
Alejandro turned toward the sound and raised his pistol.
“Get behind me.”
Valeria pulled Mateo close.
Luna remained standing beside the glass chamber, staring at the woman inside.
The woman looked exactly like Elena.
The same dark hair.
The same high cheekbones.
The same shape of her eyes.
But the scar across her face matched Luna’s.
And the terror in her expression was real.
“Don’t trust the girl,” she mouthed again.
Valeria looked down at Luna.
The child’s small smile had disappeared.
She now appeared frightened and confused.
“Why is she calling you Mother?” Alejandro demanded.
The woman behind the glass lifted one trembling hand.
A medical tube entered her wrist.
Several wires ran from her chest to the machines beside the bed.
She pointed toward Luna.
Then she shook her head.
Not my daughter.
The final lock on the crown door clicked open.
Alejandro moved toward it.
“Esteban, can you stand?”
Esteban was slumped against one of the empty glass stations.
Blood continued to spread beneath his hand.
“I can shoot.”
“That wasn’t what I asked.”
“It is all you need.”
He raised his pistol with his uninjured arm.
The door opened several inches.
White light spilled through the gap.
No one entered.
Alejandro aimed at the opening.
“Show yourself.”
Silence.
Then a small mechanical device rolled into the chamber.
Valeria recognized the blinking light.
“Get down!”
The device exploded with a burst of sound and blinding light.
Valeria covered the children.
Alejandro fired twice toward the doorway.
Men rushed inside.
They wore black uniforms without insignias.
Their faces were hidden behind tactical masks.
The first attacker raised his rifle.
Alejandro shot him in the leg.
The man fell, but a second soldier stepped over him.
Esteban fired.
The bullet struck the second man’s shoulder.
More attackers entered.
Alejandro overturned a steel table and used it as cover.
“Take the children to the far wall!”
Valeria grabbed Mateo.
Luna did not move.
She remained beside the glass room, watching the scarred woman.
“Luna!”
The girl pressed her hand against the glass.
The woman inside began striking the other side with both palms.
Go.
Luna finally turned.
Valeria dragged both children behind one of the empty medical stations.
Gunfire filled the chamber.
Bullets shattered glass containers.
Medical fluid sprayed across the floor.
Alejandro fired with precise, controlled movements.
One attacker fell near the doorway.
Another retreated behind the wall.
Esteban attempted to stand.
His injured leg gave way.
A masked soldier appeared beside him and kicked the pistol from his hand.
Esteban grabbed the man’s ankle.
The soldier struck him across the face with the rifle.
Alejandro aimed, but another attacker fired first.
The bullet struck the steel table inches from his head.
“Esteban!” Alejandro shouted.
The attacker raised his rifle toward Esteban’s chest.
Before he could fire, Mateo ran from cover.
“Stop!”
His voice cracked through the chamber.
Everyone froze for half a second.
Mateo threw the red toy car.
It struck the attacker’s mask.
The man turned toward the child.
Alejandro fired.
The bullet hit the attacker high in the shoulder and threw him backward.
Valeria rushed forward and pulled Mateo behind the medical station.
“What were you thinking?”
Mateo stared at Esteban.
“He saved me.”
Valeria looked toward the wounded security chief.
The boy remembered the car attack.
He remembered Esteban pulling him from the wreckage.
Whatever else Esteban had done, Mateo did not believe he was the enemy.
The lights suddenly turned red.
A mechanical voice filled the chamber.
“Containment failure.”
The glass room holding the scarred woman began to fill with white vapor.
She pressed both hands against the glass.
Her mouth opened in a silent scream.
Alejandro saw her.
“What are they doing?”
One of the masked men retreated through the crown door.
A voice spoke through a radio attached to his vest.
“Terminate Subject One.”
Alejandro’s face changed.
He abandoned his cover and fired at the control panel beside the glass chamber.
Sparks exploded from the screen.
The vapor continued pouring in.
Valeria searched the wall.
“There has to be an emergency release.”
Luna pointed beneath the bed inside the chamber.
“A red handle.”
Alejandro struck the glass with the base of his pistol.
It did not crack.
“Bulletproof.”
Esteban dragged himself toward the controls.
“Power cable,” he gasped. “Cut the main power.”
“Where?”
“Behind the station.”
Valeria crawled toward the machines while bullets continued striking the medical equipment around her.
She found a metal panel and tore it open.
Thick cables filled the space.
“Which one?”
Esteban looked through the smoke.
“The yellow cable.”
There were three yellow cables.
“They’re all yellow!”
“Cut them all.”
Valeria grabbed a surgical instrument from a nearby tray.
The metal handles were not insulated.
She wrapped them in part of her uniform and cut the first cable.
A shower of sparks burned her hand.
She cried out but did not stop.
The second cable snapped.
The chamber lights flickered.
She cut the third.
Everything went dark.
The gunfire stopped.
Emergency lamps activated seconds later.
The white vapor no longer flowed into the glass room.
The woman collapsed against the bed.
Alejandro found the red handle beneath the control unit and pulled it.
The glass door released with a hiss.
He rushed inside.
The woman was barely conscious.
He lifted her from the bed.
“Elena?”
Her eyes opened.
She touched his face.
For one brief moment, something tender passed between them.
Then she whispered, “I’m sorry.”
Alejandro carried her out of the chamber.
Luna moved toward them.
The woman recoiled.
“No.”
The child stopped.
“Mother?”
“I am not your mother.”
Luna’s face crumpled.
Valeria knelt beside her.
The woman looked at Alejandro.
“My name is Luciana.”
The words struck the room like another explosion.
Alejandro stared at her.
“Elena’s sister.”
Luciana nodded weakly.
Alejandro looked toward Luna.
“Then why did she call you Mother?”
“Because that is what they taught her.”
“Who taught her?”
Luciana glanced toward the masked men.
The surviving attackers were withdrawing through the crown door.
Alejandro fired after them.
One bullet struck the wall.
Another hit the locking mechanism.
The door slammed shut.
Esteban dragged himself toward the injured attacker Mateo had distracted.
The man lay unconscious near the entrance.
Esteban pulled off his mask.
Everyone went silent.
The attacker was one of Alejandro’s personal guards.
Tomás Aguilar.
He had served the Ríos family for eleven years.
Alejandro stared down at him.
“How many?”
Esteban understood the question.
“How many of your men are compromised?”
“No.”
Alejandro looked around the laboratory.
“How many years has this been happening beneath my home?”
Luciana coughed violently.
Blood appeared on her lips.
Valeria helped lower her onto a clean section of the floor.
“You need a doctor.”
“No doctors.”
“You’re dying.”
“I have been dying for eighteen years.”
Alejandro crouched beside her.
“Socorro said she saw your body.”
“She saw a body with my face.”
“What does that mean?”
Luciana touched the scar.
“Your father paid a surgeon to make another woman look like me.”
Alejandro’s eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“To convince Elena I was dead.”
“But you survived.”
“I was taken.”
“By Rafael?”
Luciana nodded.
“He needed someone with Elena’s genetic profile.”
“For the fertility project?”
“For the children.”
Mateo and Luna stood together behind Valeria.
Neither spoke.
Luciana looked at them with sorrow.
“Mateo was born naturally,” she said. “Luna was not.”
Alejandro’s jaw tightened.
“Is Luna my daughter?”
Luciana closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Luna stared at Alejandro.
He looked back at her.
The girl appeared too afraid to breathe.
For the first time, Alejandro truly saw her.
The shape of her eyes.
The dark curl in her hair.
The small line between her eyebrows when she was frightened.
He had seen those things before.
In photographs of himself as a child.
He slowly reached out.
Luna stepped away.
Alejandro lowered his hand.
“Why did Elena hide my daughter from me?”
“She did not know Luna existed until after the birth.”
“That makes no sense.”
“They used Elena’s eggs without her consent.”
Alejandro looked sick.
Luciana continued.
“Your father arranged the procedure years before his death. The embryos were stored. After he died, the project continued.”
“Who continued it?”
“A group of families.”
“Names.”
“I only knew one.”
“Tell me.”
Luciana looked toward the crown symbol on the door.
“The de la Vega family.”
Even Esteban reacted.
The de la Vegas controlled banks, media companies, hospitals, and political campaigns across northern Mexico.
They did not need weapons to destroy people.
They used contracts.
Judges.
Newspapers.
And secrets.
Alejandro stood.
“Why would they create my daughter?”
“To control the Ríos inheritance.”
“I have a son.”
“Mateo was never supposed to survive the attack.”
The boy pressed closer to Valeria.
Alejandro’s face turned cold.
“You’re saying Elena’s murder was meant to kill him too.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Luna had already been created.”
Alejandro paced away from them.
“They planned to replace Mateo with a hidden heir.”
“Not replace him.”
Luciana’s voice weakened.
“Use her to divide your empire.”
Esteban leaned against the broken station.
“A succession war.”
Luciana nodded.
“If Luna’s identity became public, your enemies could claim Elena hid your daughter because you were unfit, dangerous, or involved in illegal medical experiments.”
Alejandro laughed bitterly.
“Truth would not matter.”
“No.”
“The scandal would destroy the business. My allies would choose sides.”
“Your son and daughter would become symbols for rival factions.”
Alejandro looked at both children.
“Someone planned a war using my family.”
“They are still planning it.”
Valeria remembered the list found inside the dead guard’s boot.
Alejandro’s name marked with tomorrow’s date.
“What happens tomorrow?”
Luciana’s eyes widened.
“Tomorrow?”
Alejandro showed her the folded list.
She read his name and the date.
Then fear entered her face.
“The gala.”
“What gala?”
“The San Pedro Children’s Foundation.”
Alejandro stared at her.
The foundation’s annual charity gala was scheduled for the next evening.
Nearly every powerful family in Monterrey would attend.
Governors.
Judges.
Business leaders.
Foreign investors.
Alejandro had planned to make his first public appearance with Mateo since Elena’s death.
“They know I am bringing my son,” he said.
Luciana nodded.
“And they intend to reveal Luna.”
Esteban looked toward the child.
“A public claim.”
“A public execution,” Luciana corrected.
Alejandro’s eyes sharpened.
“They plan to kill Mateo at the gala.”
“And blame Luna’s kidnappers.”
Valeria felt her stomach twist.
“Then we don’t go.”
Alejandro looked at her.
“If I cancel, they will know we discovered the plan.”
“Let them know.”
“And they disappear.”
“That is better than risking your children.”
“They already penetrated my home. They have men inside my security team. Running will only give them time to choose another place.”
Valeria stood.
“You are talking about using Mateo and Luna as bait.”
“I am talking about ending this.”
“They are children.”
“They are already targets.”
“That does not make them weapons.”
Alejandro stepped closer.
“No. It makes them my responsibility.”
“Then protect them.”
“I am trying.”
“By taking them into a room filled with the people who want them dead?”
Alejandro’s eyes hardened.
“By making those people believe they are still in control.”
Valeria shook her head.
“No.”
He stared at her.
“You do not give orders here.”
“Then fire me.”
The room went quiet.
Valeria’s voice trembled, but she did not look away.
“I came to clean your house because my brother needs surgery. I did not come to become part of your war.”
Alejandro said nothing.
“But Mateo trusted me,” she continued. “Luna needs someone she can trust too. I will not stand beside them while you walk them into a trap.”
“You think I want this?”
“I think you are so used to winning that you no longer recognize the difference between courage and revenge.”
The words hit him.
Esteban watched closely.
Luciana looked almost amused despite her pain.
Alejandro turned away.
Before he could answer, the unconscious attacker on the floor began to laugh.
Tomás Aguilar opened his eyes.
Blood ran from the corner of his mouth.
Alejandro pointed the pistol at him.
“Why are you laughing?”
Tomás smiled.
“Because you still think tomorrow is the attack.”
Esteban grabbed his collar.
“What does that mean?”
Tomás looked toward Luna.
“The gala was only the distraction.”
Alejandro pressed the gun against his forehead.
“Where is the real attack?”
Tomás smiled wider.
“Already inside your house.”
A low alarm began sounding through the laboratory.
Not the mansion security alarm.
A different tone.
Slow.
Mechanical.
A screen flickered on beside the empty stations.
Numbers began counting down.
Ten minutes.
Nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds.
Valeria stared at the timer.
“What happens when it reaches zero?”
Luciana tried to sit up.
Her face went white.
“The incineration system.”
Alejandro looked around the underground facility.
“They’re going to destroy the laboratory.”
“No,” Luciana whispered.
“They are going to destroy the north wing.”
Esteban’s expression changed.
“The mansion is above us.”
“Not only the mansion.”
Luciana pointed toward the reinforced ceiling.
“There is a chemical reservoir beneath the house.”
“What kind of chemicals?”
“The kind that leave no evidence.”
Alejandro grabbed his radio.
“Evacuate the estate!”
Only static answered.
Tomás laughed again.
“The gates are locked.”
“You opened them for the attackers.”
“No.”
Tomás turned his head toward Mateo.
“He did.”
Mateo stared at him.
Alejandro struck Tomás across the face.
“Do not speak to my son.”
Tomás spat blood onto the floor.
“You still don’t understand what Subject Eight is.”
Valeria stepped in front of Mateo.
“He is a child.”
“He is a key.”
Alejandro looked at the biometric door.
The system had recognized Mateo’s hand.
“What did you do to him?”
Tomás smiled.
“We taught the house to obey him.”
The countdown reached nine minutes.
A second screen activated.
Security footage appeared.
The mansion’s main hall.
Kitchen staff stood frozen beneath the watch of armed guards.
Servants had been forced onto their knees.
Doña Socorro lay on a medical stretcher beside them.
A man wearing a white suit entered the camera frame.
He faced the lens.
He was in his late sixties, with silver hair and an elegant posture.
Alejandro recognized him immediately.
Governor Santiago de la Vega.
The most publicly respected man in Nuevo León.
Santiago smiled into the camera.
“Alejandro, I assume you have found Luciana.”
Alejandro stared at the screen.
Santiago continued.
“You have eight minutes to bring Luna to the main hall.”
Luna grabbed Valeria’s hand.
“Come alone,” Santiago said. “If you attempt to escape, every employee in the mansion dies.”
The camera moved across the terrified servants.
Several armed men stood behind them.
Then it stopped on Doña Socorro.
Santiago placed a pistol against her head.
“And if you refuse, I will begin with the woman who helped your wife betray us.”
The screen went black.
Alejandro turned toward the children.
Mateo looked at him.
Luna looked at Valeria.
The countdown reached eight minutes.
Then the unconscious attacker spoke one final time.
“You have another problem.”
Alejandro aimed the gun at him.
“What?”
Tomás looked toward Luciana.
“That woman is not Elena’s sister.”
Luciana’s face went still.
Tomás smiled.
“She is Subject One.”
The lights above Luciana’s medical station flickered on.
A metal plate became visible beneath the bed.
ELENA RÍOS — SUBJECT 01
Alejandro slowly looked at the woman with his wife’s face.
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I can explain.”
The countdown continued.
May you like
Seven minutes and forty seconds.
And somewhere above them, Governor Santiago de la Vega cocked his pistol beside Doña Socorro’s head.
