Chapter 13 - Daniel’s Worst Mistake
Daniel stared at the photograph.
“I don’t remember this.”
Valeria’s expression turned hard.
“That doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.”
I stepped away from him.
“Were we married?”
He looked at the date written on the back.
Three months after our wedding.
His face collapsed.
“Camila…”
“Were we married?”
“Yes.”
The word barely came out.
I felt nothing at first.
That was worse than anger.
Valeria wiped her eyes.
“He was drunk.”
I looked at her.
“Was it consensual?”
She hesitated.
“Yes.”
Daniel shut his eyes.
He didn’t ask her to soften it.
He didn’t say he had been confused.
He didn’t blame alcohol.
“I cheated on you,” he said.
I laughed once.
It sounded strange in the small room.
“You forgot?”
“I forgot her face. I didn’t forget that something happened.”
My stomach turned.
“You knew?”
“I woke up in a hotel room. I knew I had done something.”
“And you never told me.”
“No.”
The numbness broke.
I slapped him.
The sound cracked through the room.
A nurse stepped inside.
Valeria looked away.
Daniel didn’t touch his cheek.
“I deserved that.”
“Don’t make this easier by agreeing.”
“I’m not.”
“You held me while I cried because I thought I couldn’t get pregnant.”
He lowered his head.
“You knew you might already have a child.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You suspected.”
“Yes.”
That was the mistake.
Not fear.
Not confusion.
A choice.
He had protected his marriage by lying to me.
Ricardo had protected the family name by stealing a child.
Teresa had protected herself by helping destroy Valeria.
Different crimes.
Same habit.
Silence the person who could expose you.
I walked out of the room.
Daniel didn’t follow.
That afternoon, investigators confirmed the adoption records.
Valeria’s daughter had been renamed Luciana.
She lived with a couple in Monterrey.
She was safe.
Loved.
The adoption itself had been illegal, but the adoptive parents had not known.
Valeria cried when she saw a recent photograph.
Daniel stared at the child’s face.
She had his smile.
Sofia’s smile.
My anger became something heavier.
Sofia had a sister.
Daniel had a daughter.
And I had been living inside a marriage with a locked room in the middle of it.
That night, Daniel returned to the protected apartment.
His bag was packed.
“I’ll stay somewhere else.”
I stood in the doorway.
“Yes.”
He nodded.
“Sofia asked for you.”
His face broke.
“I know.”
“But you don’t get to use her to stay.”
“I won’t.”
He placed his wedding ring on the kitchen table.
I looked at it.
“I didn’t ask for that.”
“I don’t know what else to do.”
“Start by telling the full truth.”
He nodded.
Then his phone rang.
It was Ricardo.
Daniel answered on speaker.
His father sounded calm.
“You’re upset now. You’ll understand later.”
“Where are you?”
“Your daughter is with me.”
Daniel looked toward Sofia’s bedroom.
She was asleep inside.
Ricardo laughed softly.
May you like
“Not that daughter.”
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