That night, the Jardines del Silencio cemetery , on the outskirts of City , was shrouded in relentless rain. The sky was so dark that the few lanterns that were lit barely illuminated the dirt paths, as if they were about to give up.
No one in their right mind would go near that place at midnight.
No one… except Tomás , a night taxi driver in his late fifties, who was taking shelter from the rain under the rusty roof of an old caretaker’s hut, abandoned for years.
Tomás had been driving at night for over twenty years. His life was simple and worn, like the yellow Nissan Tsuru he had always driven. His wife had died young; his only son died in a traffic accident at the age of ten. Since then, Tomás lived in silence, working nights and returning to a rented room, asking nothing more of life than to survive.
As he was about to start the engine to leave—the rain was too heavy—he heard something that froze him to the spot.
A faint groan , coming from the back of the cemetery.
Tomás felt a chill.
In a place like that, at that hour, a human voice was more terrifying than any ghost.
But the sound returned, broken and pleading:
— Help me… please…
Tomás took out his cell phone, turned on the flashlight, and carefully made his way among the soaked gravestones. The light flickered in the rain.
Then he saw her.
A woman lay against a marble tomb. Her elegant clothes were torn and covered in mud. Her long hair clung to her pale face. Between her legs, blood mingled with the rainwater and trickled slowly.
She was pregnant.
” Sir…” she whispered, her voice breaking, ” the baby… is coming…”
Tomás froze.
I had never helped in a birth.
I was just a taxi driver.
But in that woman’s eyes there was no resignation.
There was a desperate will to live .
“Calm down… calm down, please,” said Tomás, trembling. “Can you take a deep breath?”
She nodded, crying.
—Please… don’t let my son die…
Tomás tried to call emergency services, but there was no signal. Between contractions, the woman murmured, almost unconscious:
—My name is… Valeria Mendoza … president of the Mendoza Group …
Thomas opened his eyes in disbelief.
Even someone like him had heard that name: one of the most powerful businesswomen in the country, known to the press as “The Iron Lady” .
And now she was there?
Abandoned in a cemetery?
“I was betrayed… by my husband… and my partners,” she sobbed. “They wanted me… and this baby… to disappear…”
A cry of pain cut through the night.
There was no time.
Tomás took off his jacket and spread it out on the wet ground. His hands were trembling, his heart was pounding.
“Listen carefully,” he said, swallowing hard. “Hold on. For your daughter.”
The cry of a newborn broke the silence of the cemetery.
Thomas fell to his knees and wept without shame.
She was a girl.
Small. Fragile.
But alive.
Valeria, exhausted, squeezed Tomás’s hand.
—Thank you… if I don’t survive… please… save my daughter…
He lost consciousness.
Valeria did not die.
But he disappeared.
That same night, Tomás took mother and daughter to a nearby public hospital. At dawn, when he returned, Valeria was gone. All that remained was a thick envelope and a handwritten note.
Tomás, I will carry this debt with me for the rest of my life.
For now, I cannot exist.
Please be silent.
Tomás never spoke about that night.
Ten years passed.
He continued driving his night taxi.
No one knew that he had helped deliver a billionaire’s daughter in a cemetery.
One afternoon, while he was inflating a tire next to the sidewalk, a luxury black car stopped in front of him.
The door opened.
A girl of about ten years old came downstairs. She was wearing a simple white dress. Her gaze was serene, mature for her age.
He watched him in silence.
Then he bowed his head respectfully.
—Good afternoon, sir.
Thomas blinked, confused.
—Do you remember the Jardines del Silencio cemetery ?
Tomás’s heart almost stopped.
A woman got out of the car.
The same face.
But now, without fear.
Valeria Mendoza.
Valeria told him everything.
Ten years ago, her husband and the main shareholders had plotted her death to seize control of the company. She faked her disappearance, secretly gave birth, and waited for the right moment to regain control.
He achieved everything.
And the first thing she did was look for the man who saved her daughter.
“Without you,” she said tearfully, “my daughter wouldn’t exist… nor the woman I am today.”
The girl approached and took Tomás’s hand.
—You are… my savior.
Valeria offered him a house, money, a comfortable life.
Thomas shook his head.
—I’m fine like this… I just ask… to be able to see her from time to time.
Valeria burst into tears.
Ten years after being born in the darkness of a cemetery, a girl returned to find the man who lit the first light of her life.
Amid the noise of the city, an old taxi driver wiped away his tears.
Nobody knew.
But fate…
never forgot.
