PART 34: BEFORE MIDNIGHT<\/p>\n
The address led to St. Vincent\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n
It had been abandoned after a fire twelve years earlier.<\/p>\n
At 11:38 p.m., Julian, Isabella, Adrian, and I entered through the emergency doors.<\/p>\n
The electricity was still running.<\/p>\n
Someone had prepared the building for us.<\/p>\n
A trail of fresh blood led toward the elevator.<\/p>\n
Beside it, a security monitor flickered to life.<\/p>\n
Gabriel appeared on the screen.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have twenty-two minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is Ernesto?\u201d Julian demanded.<\/p>\n
\u201cSixth floor. Room 614.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd our mother?\u201d<\/p>\n
Gabriel smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe is exactly where she chose to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
The elevator doors opened.<\/p>\n
Inside was Ricardo.<\/p>\n
His wrists were bound.<\/p>\n
Blood covered his shirt.<\/p>\n
He collapsed at our feet.<\/p>\n
\u201cPatricia betrayed me,\u201d he gasped.<\/p>\n
Adrian grabbed him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is she?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUpstairs\u2014with Gabriel.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho is Gabriel?\u201d<\/p>\n
Ricardo laughed weakly.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou still think Gabriel is one man?\u201d<\/p>\n
He revealed that three people had used the identity over the years.<\/p>\n
Adrian had worn Gabriel\u2019s name while investigating our family.<\/p>\n
The man who accompanied us to the church was someone else.<\/p>\n
And the real Gabriel had supposedly died before Ernesto was poisoned.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen who took our mother?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
Ricardo\u2019s face filled with fear.<\/p>\n
\u201cErnesto\u2019s son.\u201d<\/p>\n
Julian froze.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am Ernesto\u2019s only son.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d Ricardo whispered. \u201cYou\u2019re the son he raised.\u201d<\/p>\n
The elevator doors began closing.<\/p>\n
A shot rang out from the dark corridor.<\/p>\n
Ricardo jerked violently and fell backward.<\/p>\n
Dead.<\/p>\n
We spun toward the shooter, but the hallway was empty.<\/p>\n
The elevator carried us upward.<\/p>\n
Sixth floor.<\/p>\n
Room 614.<\/p>\n
Ernesto lay connected to a heart monitor.<\/p>\n
Older.<\/p>\n
Thin.<\/p>\n
But alive.<\/p>\n
My mother sat beside his bed with a gun pressed to her temple.<\/p>\n
Gabriel stood behind her.<\/p>\n
He removed his mask.<\/p>\n
Julian staggered backward.<\/p>\n
The face underneath looked almost identical to his.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy name is Mateo,\u201d the man said. \u201cErnesto was my father too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Julian stared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy did he hide you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe didn\u2019t hide me. He abandoned me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mateo explained that Ernesto had two families.<\/p>\n
One public.<\/p>\n
One secret.<\/p>\n
While Julian grew up surrounded by wealth, Mateo and his mother lived in poverty. When she begged Ernesto for help, he denied that Mateo was his child.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you created the conspiracy?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
Mateo smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cI created the fear. Greed did everything else.\u201d<\/p>\n
He had manipulated Ricardo.<\/p>\n
Fed Patricia false information.<\/p>\n
Blackmailed Dr. Keller.<\/p>\n
And convinced my mother that killing Ernesto was the only way to save us.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Ernesto survived,\u201d Isabella said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes. And for fifteen years, I kept him alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mateo looked at the clock.<\/p>\n
11:57 p.m.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause tonight, he will finally tell the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n
He injected something into Ernesto\u2019s IV.<\/p>\n
The old man\u2019s eyes opened.<\/p>\n
Julian rushed to his bedside.<\/p>\n
\u201cFather?\u201d<\/p>\n
Ernesto looked at him with tears in his eyes.<\/p>\n
Then he turned toward Mateo.<\/p>\n
\u201cI should have told you years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mateo leaned closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cTold me what?\u201d<\/p>\n
Ernesto struggled to breathe.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are not my son.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mateo\u2019s smile vanished.<\/p>\n
Ernesto lifted one trembling finger and pointed at my mother.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are hers.\u201d<\/p>\n
My mother lowered the gun.<\/p>\n
Her face crumbled.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d she whispered. \u201cThat cannot be true.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ernesto\u2019s heart monitor began screaming.<\/p>\n
And before losing consciousness, he revealed the name of Mateo\u2019s real father.<\/p>\n
\u201cDr. Keller.\u201d<\/p>\n
PART 34: BEFORE MIDNIGHT The address led to St. Vincent\u2019s Hospital. It had been abandoned after a fire twelve years earlier. At 11:38 p.m., Julian, Isabella, Adrian, and I entered … <\/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-3857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3857","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=3857"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3857\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3877,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3857\/revisions\/3877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}