Chapter 3 - The Doctor's Delivery
Within twenty minutes, the Aranda mansion was in a state of high-alert lockdown. Alejandro didn't call the family physician—a man who had been on Doña Esther’s payroll for three decades. Instead, he utilized his own security clearance to summon Dr. Santiago Gomez, a renowned trauma specialist and the head of obstetrics at the military hospital, who also happened to be Alejandro’s closest friend from his university days.
Santiago arrived with two trusted, private nurses. He didn't use the grand front entrance where Doña Esther’s loyal staff stood watching like vultures; he was escorted through the underground garage by Alejandro’s personal, heavily armed security detail.
When Santiago saw Valeria's injuries, his professional detachment cracked.
"This isn't self-inflicted, Alejandro," Santiago said after an hour of meticulous examination and cleaning. He was setting up a localized antibiotic IV drip. "The marks on her wrists are consistent with industrial-grade restraint ties. The lacerations on her legs are chemical burns—specifically, a highly concentrated medical-grade silver nitrate solution used to cauterize tissue, applied deliberately to cause pain without causing fatal hemorrhaging."
Alejandro leaned against the window frame, his knuckles white as he stared down into the courtyard. "And the baby? The needle marks?"
Santiago’s face grew incredibly grim. He pulled out a tablet showing the preliminary blood panel results. "That’s the most sinister part. They weren't trying to terminate the pregnancy, Alejandro. They were injecting her with a specialized cocktail of synthetic teratogens and heavy sedatives. It’s designed to pass through the placental barrier, slowing the fetus's development and altering the genetic presentation in a way that mimics severe congenital defects."
Alejandro felt the room tilt. "Why? Why would my own mother want a deformed grandchild?"
"Because of your father’s will," a soft, trembling voice came from the bed.
Valeria had been given a mild, pregnancy-safe analgesic, and her eyes were finally clear of the immediate fog of terror. She looked at Alejandro, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes.
"What are you talking about, Valeria?" Alejandro rushed to her side, gently taking her uninjured hand. "My father left the real estate empire to me."
"The empire, yes," Valeria whispered, looking toward the door as if the walls themselves had ears. "But your father’s private trust—the Aranda Legacy Trust, which holds forty percent of the offshore liquid assets and the historical land deeds in Puebla—contains a specific clause. Your father knew how cruel your mother could be. He wrote that if you had a healthy, first-born heir, forty percent of the entire family fortune would immediately transfer into a blind trust controlled solely by you and your child, completely cutting Esther and Marcela out of their lifetime stipends."
Alejandro’s mind raced. He remembered the reading of the will five years ago. He had been so focused on taking over the operations of the real estate business that he hadn't paid close attention to the intricate, multi-generational clauses of the private trust.
"But if the child is born with severe, permanent cognitive or physical deformities," Valeria continued, her voice shaking, "the control of the trust remains with the senior matriarch of the family. With Doña Esther. Forever."
"They tried to poison our child to keep their money," Alejandro said, the realization settling into his chest like a block of ice.
"They didn't just try," Valeria sobbed. "They brought a doctor into the house at two in the morning. That’s the man Marcela photographed. It wasn't my lover, Alejandro. It was Dr. Mendoza, your mother’s personal physician. He tied me down. Marcela held my legs while he... while he put the needle in me. They told me if I cried out, or if I told you when you got back from Monterrey, they would ensure the next injection was a lethal dose for both me and the baby."
Alejandro stood up. The silence that followed her words was more dangerous than any explosion. He looked at Santiago. "Can we reverse it? Is the baby safe?"
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"We caught it just in time," Santiago said, adjusting the IV. "The heavy sedatives are clearing her system, and the teratogens hadn't fully bonded with the amniotic fluid yet. We need to detoxify her system immediately, but she cannot stay in this house, Alejandro. She is in active, mortal danger here."
"She’s not staying," Alejandro said, his eyes turning to flint. "And neither am I."
