PART 32: THE STOLEN SON<\/p>\n
My mother stared at Adrian as though the dead had stepped out of a grave.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s impossible,\u201d she whispered. \u201cI held my baby. He wasn\u2019t breathing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou held someone else\u2019s child,\u201d Isabella said.<\/p>\n
Dr. Keller\u2019s hidden files contained the truth.<\/p>\n
Thirty-eight years earlier, my mother had given birth to healthy twin boys.<\/p>\n
Ricardo was one of them.<\/p>\n
Adrian was the other.<\/p>\n
But Ernesto had discovered that Ricardo\u2019s father was involved in a criminal network that planned to use the family company to launder money. To protect one child, he persuaded Dr. Keller to falsify the birth record and hide Adrian.<\/p>\n
My mother had been told her second son died.<\/p>\n
Dr. Keller secretly raised him.<\/p>\n
Years later, after the accident destroyed Adrian\u2019s memory, the doctor gave him the identity of his own deceased son\u2014Samuel Keller.<\/p>\n
Adrian slowly turned toward Ricardo.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re my brother.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ricardo laughed bitterly.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before anyone could react, he reached beneath his jacket and pulled out a small remote.<\/p>\n
Adrian raised his gun.<\/p>\n
\u201cDrop it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ricardo\u2019s thumb hovered over the red button.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou think I came here without insurance?\u201d<\/p>\n
A timer appeared on his phone.<\/p>\n
Three minutes.<\/p>\n
Police searched the room.<\/p>\n
Then one officer shouted from the basement.<\/p>\n
\u201cExplosives!\u201d<\/p>\n
Panic erupted.<\/p>\n
Julian lifted my wounded mother.<\/p>\n
Gabriel cut Isabella\u2019s restraints.<\/p>\n
Officers rushed everyone toward the front door.<\/p>\n
But Ricardo remained on the floor, smiling.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I cannot have Ernesto\u2019s evidence, nobody will.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adrian seized him by the collar.<\/p>\n
\u201cDisarm it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou built the trigger.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d Ricardo said. \u201cPatricia did.\u201d<\/p>\n
The phone on the table was still connected.<\/p>\n
Patricia had heard everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cPatricia!\u201d I shouted. \u201cTell us how to stop it!\u201d<\/p>\n
Her breathing trembled through the speaker.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a code.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll give it to you\u2014but only if Adrian comes with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adrian looked at the timer.<\/p>\n
Two minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe old Keller clinic.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGive us the code first.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
My mother grabbed the phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is my son. You are not taking him!\u201d<\/p>\n
Patricia\u2019s voice became cold.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was never yours. You buried him before learning his face.\u201d<\/p>\n
One minute remained.<\/p>\n
Adrian reached for the phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll come.\u201d<\/p>\n
Patricia gave him six numbers.<\/p>\n
The officer in the basement entered them.<\/p>\n
The timer stopped with seven seconds remaining.<\/p>\n
Everyone exhaled.<\/p>\n
Then the front windows shattered.<\/p>\n
Smoke grenades rolled across the floor.<\/p>\n
Police shouted.<\/p>\n
Gunfire erupted outside.<\/p>\n
Through the thick smoke, a masked figure rushed into the room and dragged Ricardo toward the rear door.<\/p>\n
I caught one glimpse of the attacker\u2019s face.<\/p>\n
Patricia.<\/p>\n
She had never been far away.<\/p>\n
Adrian ran after her.<\/p>\n
\u201cStop!\u201d<\/p>\n
But before disappearing, Patricia turned and fired.<\/p>\n
The bullet struck Adrian in the chest.<\/p>\n
He fell into my mother\u2019s arms.<\/p>\n
Patricia escaped with Ricardo.<\/p>\n
And as my mother pressed both hands against Adrian\u2019s wound, he opened his eyes and whispered:<\/p>\n
\u201cShe didn\u2019t shoot me to kill me.\u201d<\/p>\n
He pulled a folded note from inside his blood-soaked shirt.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe shot me to deliver this.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the note were four words:<\/p>\n
ERNESTO IS STILL ALIVE.<\/p>\n
PART 32: THE STOLEN SON My mother stared at Adrian as though the dead had stepped out of a grave. \u201cThat\u2019s impossible,\u201d she whispered. \u201cI held my baby. He wasn\u2019t … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3854"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3854\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3879,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3854\/revisions\/3879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}