Chapter 5 - The Fire of Forty Years Ago
Don Alejandro’s letter related that, forty years ago, when he was just an ambitious young man barely starting his logistics company, he didn't have a fleet of trucks or corporate security. He had one single delivery vehicle and a mountain of debt. One stormy winter night, while returning from a distant city after a failed business meeting, he suffered a catastrophic, horrifying automotive accident. His car careened off a deserted cliff, flipping multiple times before crashing into a deep, rocky ravine.
The vehicle’s fuel tank ruptured, and a ferocious fire immediately broke out. Alejandro was trapped inside, his legs crushed under the dashboard, consciousness slipping away as smoke filled his lungs. In those days, he was surrounded by fair-weather friends and business partners who claimed to love him, but on that lonely, burning road, he was completely alone.
Everyone abandoned him. The partners who had promised to stand by him decided the company was a lost cause and fled with the remaining funds. His investors wrote him off as a liability.
Everyone... except Ernesto.
Ernesto was a young mechanic and driver who had been hired just a week prior. He wasn't bound by blood, nor did he have a large salary to protect. Yet, when he saw the flames from the highway, he didn't run away. He scrambled down the steep, dangerous ravine without a second thought for his own safety.
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With his bare hands, braving the intense heat and the imminent danger of an explosion, Ernesto smashed the cracked windshield. He dragged Alejandro’s broken body out of the burning vehicle just moments before the entire car exploded into a fireball. He carried the future billionaire up the muddy hill on his back, his own hands and arms suffering severe burns in the process.
He drove him to the nearest hospital and stayed by his side. Alejandro spent months in the intensive care unit, facing multiple surgeries and a mountain of medical bills. During those dark months, the company collapsed into bankruptcy. Alejandro had no money left to pay a salary. Yet, Ernesto never walked away. He took odd jobs at night to buy food for both of them and remained by the hospital bed, acting as a nurse, a guardian, and a brother.
