PART 5 – THE FILE THEY TRIED TO ERASE
PART 5 – THE FILE THEY TRIED TO ERASE
Rodrigo did not sleep that night.
The theft itself was unsettling.
But it wasn't the missing folder that haunted him.
It was the question.
Why Santiago?
The child was healthy now.
The investigation against Verónica was nearly complete.
The poison had been identified.
The man who planted it had confessed.
The case should have been over.
Yet someone had risked breaking into one of the most secure corporate archives in Mexico...
...to steal a single medical file.
Nothing else.
Not contracts.
Not financial records.
Not company secrets worth billions.
Only Santiago's history.
That made no sense.
Unless...
The file itself contained something far more valuable than anyone had realized.
Detective Alejandro Ruiz arrived before sunrise.
Forensic technicians dusted every cabinet.
Security experts reviewed dozens of surveillance cameras.
Nothing.
The burglar had entered without triggering a single alarm.
Even more disturbing...
The electronic locks showed no signs of being forced.
"They had authorized access," one technician finally admitted.
Rodrigo frowned.
"Impossible."
Ruiz wasn't so certain.
"Not impossible."
"Someone inside helped them."
Silence spread across the archive room.
Every employee suddenly became a suspect.
Meanwhile...
Across the city...
Nicolás sat alone inside the university library.
The missing pages from the toxicology paper refused to leave his mind.
He requested older editions.
Different universities.
Different languages.
Every copy was incomplete.
Always the last chapter.
Always removed.
It was as if someone had spent years erasing every trace of the same research.
His professor noticed his frustration.
"What exactly are you looking for?"
Nicolás hesitated.
"The original conclusion."
The professor sighed.
"I tried finding it years ago."
"You did?"
"Someone classified the project."
"Who?"
"I was never told."
"What was the research about?"
The professor lowered his voice.
"They were studying how certain airborne botanical compounds could slowly weaken the immune system without leaving obvious chemical traces."
Nicolás's heartbeat quickened.
"Why?"
"No one knows."
"They claimed it was for agricultural safety."
The professor looked unconvinced.
"I never believed that."
That afternoon...
Ruiz requested access to Santiago's hospital records.
Every scan.
Every blood test.
Every prescription.
He wanted to compare them with the stolen corporate copies.
A nurse looked confused.
"Detective..."
"What?"
"Some files are missing."
Ruiz stared at her.
"What do you mean missing?"
"They were here last week."
"Now they're gone."
"Digitally deleted."
Every backup.
Every server.
Every printed copy.
Gone.
Someone wasn't stealing evidence anymore.
Someone was erasing history.
At the Santillán mansion...
Mariana tried not to panic.
She kept reminding herself that Santiago was safe.
Healthy.
Laughing.
Playing.
But mothers sensed danger before anyone else.
That evening, while folding laundry in Santiago's room...
She noticed something strange.
One toy sat facing the window.
A wooden rabbit.
Its head had been turned toward the garden.
She was certain she hadn't left it that way.
She smiled nervously.
Probably Santiago.
She reached down to move it.
Something rattled inside.
Her smile disappeared.
The toy was heavier than before.
Rodrigo opened it carefully.
Inside...
Was a tiny memory card.
No note.
No fingerprints.
Only the card.
Ruiz immediately examined its contents.
The screen filled with security footage.
Not from the mansion.
Not from the hospital.
From a laboratory.
A hidden camera recorded dozens of cages containing animals exposed to different airborne substances.
Scientists in white coats observed quietly.
One voice said,
"Subject Twenty-One survived seven weeks."
Another replied,
"Increase concentration."
The date in the corner stopped everyone cold.
Five years earlier.
Years before Santiago had even been born.
Then another image appeared.
A company logo.
Only visible for less than one second.
Rodrigo froze.
"I know that emblem."
Ruiz looked up.
"Where?"
Rodrigo answered almost in disbelief.
"It belonged to Helix Biotechnologies."
Ruiz searched the database.
Nothing.
"No such company exists."
Rodrigo nodded slowly.
"Not anymore."
"It disappeared twelve years ago."
Late that night...
Rodrigo drove alone.
One address kept returning to him.
An abandoned research facility outside the city.
Helix had once rented the property before suddenly shutting down.
Officially...
The company had gone bankrupt.
Unofficially...
Rumors claimed every employee had vanished within weeks.
The gate hung open.
Weeds covered the parking lot.
Broken windows reflected the moonlight.
Inside...
Everything had been stripped.
Desks.
Computers.
Laboratory equipment.
Gone.
Only dust remained.
Until Nicolás noticed something scratched beneath an old examination table.
Three letters.
R.
S.
He looked toward Rodrigo.
"Your initials?"
Rodrigo shook his head.
"No."
Then realization struck.
"Raúl Santillán."
"My father."
Both men stared silently.
Rodrigo had never known his father had any connection to Helix.
Back at the detention center...
Verónica requested an emergency meeting with Detective Ruiz.
"I'll talk."
Ruiz leaned forward.
"About who?"
"The woman."
"What woman?"
"The one you haven't found."
Ruiz switched on the recorder.
Verónica looked toward the security camera.
Then shook her head.
"Turn it off."
Ruiz refused.
She smiled sadly.
"Then I'm already dead."
Suddenly...
Every light inside the interview wing went dark.
Emergency generators failed.
Guards shouted.
Doors slammed.
The blackout lasted only thirty-four seconds.
When power returned...
Verónica remained sitting exactly where she had been.
Her eyes open.
Her body motionless.
A thin trickle of blood ran from one ear.
The prison doctor arrived seconds later.
He checked her pulse.
Nothing.
No wound.
No struggle.
No poison detected.
Just one impossible conclusion.
Cardiac arrest.
Ruiz didn't believe it for a second.
As officers sealed the room, he noticed something almost invisible beneath Verónica's fingernail.
A tiny strip of paper.
He carefully removed it with tweezers.
Only two handwritten words appeared.
"Trust Nicolás."
Ruiz stared at the message.
Across the city...
Nicolás suddenly awoke from a nightmare.
He sat upright, breathing hard.
He didn't know why.
But for the first time since joining the Santillán family...
May you like
He felt that someone...
...was already inside the house.
