Chapter 4: The Ghost From The Past
Chapter 4: The Ghost From The Past
For several minutes, nobody spoke.
The mansion that had once been filled with music and laughter now felt like a place where every wall was hiding a secret.
Alejandro stood in the middle of the room.
Unable to move.
Unable to understand.
“My father?”
The words came out quietly.
Lucia nodded.
“I didn’t want to believe it either.”
Alejandro looked away.
His father.
The man who raised him.
The man who taught him how to build an empire.
The man whose portrait still hung in the main hallway.
A man everyone respected.
A man Alejandro had spent his entire life trying to make proud.
“He’s been dead for six years.”
“I know.”
Lucia wiped her tears.
“But death doesn’t erase what someone did.”
Alejandro looked at Emma.
She was sitting quietly now.
Holding her rabbit.
Listening to conversations she was too young to understand.
And that hurt him more than anything.
A child should not have to carry the weight of adult mistakes.
He walked toward her.
Kneeling down.
“Emma.”
She looked at him.
“Are you angry?”
The question surprised him.
“Why would I be angry?”
She lowered her eyes.
“Because everyone is fighting because of me.”
Alejandro felt his heart break.
“No.”
He gently touched her hand.
“You are the reason I finally know the truth.”
Emma looked at him.
“You’re not leaving?”
The question was small.
But it carried years of fear.
Alejandro shook his head.
“Never.”
Lucia watched them.
And for the first time in ten years…
She believed him.
But the past still needed answers.
The next morning, Alejandro entered his private office.
A room nobody entered without permission.
A room filled with old documents, family records, and memories.
His father’s presence was everywhere.
A photograph sat on the desk.
A younger Alejandro.
Standing beside his father.
Both smiling.
Before everything became complicated.
His assistant, Daniel, entered.
“Sir.”
Alejandro didn’t turn.
“Tell me everything you found.”
Daniel placed a file on the desk.
“We checked the old communication records.”
“And?”
Daniel hesitated.
“There were deleted messages.”
Alejandro looked at him.
“From ten years ago?”
“Yes.”
A cold feeling moved through him.
“Who accessed them?”
Daniel looked uncomfortable.
“The system shows your father’s private security account.”
Silence.
Alejandro slowly turned.
“My father deleted Lucia’s calls?”
“Yes.”
The answer was devastating.
“But there’s more.”
Alejandro opened the file.
Daniel continued.
“Your father also transferred money to someone during that period.”
“Who?”
Daniel placed another document.
A name.
Alejandro stared.
His expression changed.
“No.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Sir?”
“That’s impossible.”
The name on the paper belonged to someone Alejandro trusted.
Someone who had worked beside him for years.
His father’s former lawyer.
A man who was still connected to the company.
“Find him.”
“Immediately?”
Alejandro’s eyes hardened.
“Immediately.”
Meanwhile, Lucia sat in the garden with Emma.
The morning was peaceful.
Almost too peaceful.
Emma was drawing again.
“What are you making?”
Lucia asked.
The girl smiled.
“A family.”
Lucia looked at the paper.
Three people.
Then she noticed something.
There was a fourth person.
A small figure standing far away.
“Who is that?”
Emma shrugged.
“I don’t know.”
Lucia’s heart tightened.
“Why did you draw them far away?”
Emma looked at the picture.
“Because they’re sad.”
Lucia didn’t know what to say.
Children noticed things adults tried to hide.
“You know,” Emma whispered.
“What?”
“I like him.”
Lucia smiled softly.
“Who?”
“Alejandro.”
The name still felt strange.
Because for ten years, he had been a missing piece of their lives.
“He’s trying.”
Lucia looked down.
“Yes.”
“He looks at me like I’m important.”
Lucia felt tears in her eyes.
“Because you are.”
Emma smiled.
Then she asked:
“Did you love him?”
Lucia froze.
Children always asked the questions adults avoided.
She looked toward the mansion.
“I did.”
A pause.
“Do you still?”
Lucia didn’t answer.
Because the truth was complicated.
Love did not disappear just because someone hurt you.
But it changed.
It became something mixed with pain.
Hope.
And fear.
Before she could answer, Alejandro appeared.
And he had heard.
Lucia stood quickly.
“How long were you there?”
“Long enough.”
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Alejandro looked at Emma.
“Can I borrow your mom for a minute?”
Emma nodded seriously.
“Don’t make her cry.”
Alejandro almost smiled.
“I’ll try.”
When they walked away, Lucia looked at him.
“What did you find?”
Alejandro’s expression became serious.
“Your calls were deleted.”
Lucia stopped breathing.
“By who?”
“My father.”
Her face changed.
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
Alejandro shook his head.
“You don’t apologize.”
He looked at her.
“I do.”
Lucia looked surprised.
“I spent ten years believing you left me.”
His voice cracked.
“But you were waiting for me.”
She looked away.
“I was.”
“And I wasn’t there.”
The honesty hurt.
But it was the first time he had admitted it.
Not as a businessman.
Not as a powerful man.
As someone who had made mistakes.
“I hate that I missed everything.”
Lucia looked at him.
“First steps.”
She swallowed.
“First words.”
A tear fell.
“Her first day of school.”
Alejandro closed his eyes.
“I know.”
“No.”
Her voice softened.
“You don’t.”
A long silence.
Then he said:
“Teach me.”
Lucia looked confused.
“What?”
“Teach me everything I missed.”
The answer broke something inside her.
Because she had imagined this moment many times.
But never believed it would happen.
“You want to know?”
“Yes.”
“Everything?”
“Yes.”
She studied him.
“You’re really serious.”
Alejandro nodded.
“About Emma.”
A pause.
“And about you.”
Lucia looked away.
Because those words were dangerous.
They opened a door she had spent years closing.
That afternoon, Alejandro made a discovery that changed everything.
The lawyer they were searching for had disappeared.
But before disappearing, he sent one message.
To Alejandro.
Only three words.
“I protected you.”
Attached was a file.
Alejandro opened it.
Inside was a recording.
A conversation from ten years ago.
His father’s voice.
Clear.
Cold.
“I will not allow my son to destroy his future for a woman who has nothing.”
Alejandro froze.
Then another voice.
The lawyer.
“What about the child?”
A pause.
Then his father answered:
“The child will be handled.”
Alejandro’s blood ran cold.
The recording continued.
“Make sure Alejandro believes Lucia left.”
A silence.
Then:
“He cannot know the truth.”
The recording ended.
Alejandro stood motionless.
His entire life had been built on a lie.
A lie created by the person he trusted most.
And then another sound came.
A message notification.
A photo appeared on his phone.
It was Emma.
Taken from outside the mansion.
Someone was watching them.
Below it was a message.
“You found the past.”
Another message appeared.
“Now protect your future.”
Alejandro’s face changed.
Because he knew one thing.
The enemy was not gone.
The person who destroyed his family ten years ago…
May you like
Was still alive.
And they were coming for Emma.
