Chapter 1 - THE NIGHT EVERYTHING I OWNED BEGAN TO FALL APART
At 3:17 a.m., Alejandro stood outside the emergency operating room with blood on his white shirt and a promise burning in his heart.
He had arrived at Mateo's mansion less than twenty minutes after Camila's desperate phone call. The security gate had been locked, and the guards initially refused to let him enter. Alejandro had threatened to call the police, ordered his private security team to cut through the gate's electronic system, and rushed inside with two emergency physicians.
They found Camila unconscious at the bottom of the marble staircase.
Her phone lay several feet away.
Its cracked screen displayed seventeen missed calls to Mateo.
Seventeen times, she had begged her husband to save her.
Seventeen times, he had chosen someone else.
"Get the ambulance ready!" Alejandro shouted.
But Camila's breathing was shallow, and the blood beneath her terrified him more than he wanted to admit.
His lead physician, Dr. Herrera, knelt beside her and checked her pulse.
"We need to move immediately. The mother and baby are both in danger."
Alejandro crouched beside Camila.
"Camila, it's me. You're not alone anymore."
Her eyelids fluttered.
"Alejandro?"
"I'm here."
"Please... my baby."
"We're going to save both of you. I promise."
She tried to speak again, but her eyes closed.
Alejandro lifted her hand and held it until the medical team placed her on the stretcher.
As they rushed her toward the waiting ambulance, he noticed something strange near the staircase.
A small piece of black fabric was caught beneath the broken wooden railing.
It looked like part of a man's jacket.
He barely had time to consider it before the doctors called for him to move.
At the hospital, Alejandro used every connection he possessed to secure the best available surgical team. He called the hospital director personally, authorized whatever treatment was necessary, and waited outside the operating room as the minutes dragged by.
Meanwhile, several miles away, Mateo was still celebrating.
The private club had begun emptying when Valeria leaned against him and whispered, "Let's go to your place. I don't want to spend the rest of the night here."
Mateo smiled.
"Whatever my princess wants."
He reached for his phone, but it had died after hours of being left on airplane mode.
He shrugged.
"Probably Camila trying to ruin another good night."
Valeria laughed.
"You should be grateful I put up with all that drama."
Mateo kissed her forehead.
"You have no idea how much better my life will be when I finally get out of that marriage."
"What are you waiting for?"
"Money. The house. My father's company shares. Camila's family trust."
Valeria sat up.
"Wait. You told me the trust was yours."
"It will be. Once the baby arrives, everything becomes easier. Her father established the trust to protect his grandchildren. With me as the child's father, I can influence how it's managed."
Valeria studied him carefully.
"And if something happened to Camila?"
Mateo frowned.
"Don't start."
"I'm just asking."
"She's perfectly fine. She has doctors, security, and enough money to buy an entire hospital. She's not going anywhere."
He had no idea how wrong he was.
At 5:42 a.m., the surgeon finally emerged.
Alejandro stood so quickly that his chair fell backward.
"How is she?"
"The surgery was difficult," the doctor replied. "She suffered severe internal injuries, and we had to deliver the baby prematurely. Both are alive, but the next twenty-four hours will be critical."
Alejandro closed his eyes.
For the first time that night, he allowed himself to breathe.
"And Camila?"
"She's unconscious. We have stabilized her for now."
"Can I see her?"
"Briefly."
Alejandro entered the recovery room and found Camila surrounded by monitors. Her face was pale, and tubes covered parts of her arms.
He stood beside her bed.
Five years earlier, she had been the one person who had treated him like a human being when Mateo's betrayal had destroyed their friendship.
Now he was the only person who had come when she needed help.
He pulled a chair close.
"You don't owe me anything," he whispered. "Not an explanation. Not gratitude. Nothing. Just wake up."
Outside the room, his attorney called.
"Mr. Reyes, there's something you need to know. Mateo's company is preparing an emergency transfer of several major assets. The paperwork was filed overnight."
Alejandro's expression changed.
"Which assets?"
"The Monterrey property, the investment accounts connected to the family trust, and a controlling interest in the company your former friend runs."
"Can he legally do that?"
"Not without the appropriate signatures. And one of those signatures appears to belong to Camila."
Alejandro looked through the glass at the unconscious woman.
Camila had been fighting for her life while her husband was apparently trying to take control of her inheritance.
"Freeze every transfer," Alejandro ordered. "And find out when those documents were signed."
"Understood."
Alejandro ended the call.
He had spent five years avoiding Mateo because he believed the man wasn't worth another moment of his life.
That decision was over.
If Mateo had used his pregnant wife, her family, and their unborn child to build his fortune, Alejandro would make certain the truth came out.
But before he could destroy Mateo's empire, he needed to discover one thing.
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Was Camila's fall a terrible accident?
Or had someone made sure she would never reach the bottom of those stairs alive?
