Chapter 3 - THE SAFE BEHIND THE PORTRAIT
Paulina ran toward the private study.
Several servants followed at a distance.
No one wanted to miss what had been discovered.
No one wanted to be seen watching.
Diego stood behind his father’s desk.
A large portrait had been pulled away from the wall.
Behind it was a steel safe.
The door was open.
Documents covered the carpet.
Old contracts.
Private photographs.
Bank records.
Sealed envelopes.
And in Diego’s hand was a file marked with Marisol’s full name.
MARISOL ORTEGA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
Paulina stopped in the doorway.
Diego looked at her.
“Come inside.”
She remained where she was.
“I don’t know anything about that file.”
“I didn’t ask what you knew.”
He opened the folder.
The first page was a private investigator’s report.
Marisol’s address.
Her work history.
Her medical appointments.
Her pregnancy.
Her daughter’s birth.
Everything had been documented.
Every detail.
Every movement.
Don Esteban had watched them for years.
Diego turned the page.
A hospital photograph of newborn Valentina was clipped to the report.
On the back, someone had written one sentence.
Possible Villaseñor heir.
Diego’s hand began to shake.
Marisol appeared behind Teresa.
She had left Valentina with another trusted housekeeper in the library.
When she saw the photograph, she covered her mouth.
“They were watching us.”
Diego looked at her.
“You didn’t know?”
“No.”
“I moved three times.”
“They found you every time.”
Marisol’s face crumpled.
Paulina stepped forward.
“Your father investigated everyone.”
“That proves nothing.”
Diego pulled another paper from the file.
It was a copy of the forged letter.
Below it was an internal note.
DELIVERED.
RECIPIENT COMPLIANT.
NO FURTHER CONTACT ATTEMPTS.
Diego read the words aloud.
Marisol’s knees weakened.
Teresa caught her arm.
Diego turned another page.
Then stopped.
A payment authorization.
Five hundred thousand pesos.
Recipient: Arturo Cárdenas.
Purpose: personal family matter.
Authorized by Don Esteban Villaseñor.
Approved by Paulina Robles.
The room went completely silent.
Diego raised the document.
Paulina stared at it.
“That is not my signature.”
“It looks exactly like your signature.”
“It was forged.”
“By whom?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe someone forged both our names?”
Paulina’s voice rose.
“Your father manipulated everyone.”
“Maybe he manipulated me too.”
Diego studied her.
“Were you involved with my father before we met?”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
Teresa spoke from behind Marisol.
“That is another lie.”
Paulina turned toward her.
“You need to stop talking.”
Teresa trembled.
But this time, she did not step back.
“I served dinner in this room many times.”
“You met with Don Esteban for nearly a year.”
Paulina’s eyes narrowed.
“I worked with his foundation.”
Teresa shook her head.
“You came after midnight.”
“You used the side entrance.”
“You told the guards not to record your name.”
Paulina laughed coldly.
“This is pathetic.”
Diego opened another envelope.
Inside were photographs.
Paulina entering the mansion four years earlier.
Paulina sitting beside Don Esteban at a private restaurant.
Paulina handing Arturo a folder.
Paulina standing outside the hospital where Valentina was born.
Marisol stared at the last image.
Her face drained of color.
“You were there.”
Paulina said nothing.
Marisol stepped closer.
“You were outside the hospital.”
Paulina’s jaw tightened.
“I don’t remember.”
“You were there the day Valentina was born.”
“I said I don’t remember.”
Marisol’s voice shook with rage.
“I was alone.”
“I was terrified.”
“My daughter could barely breathe.”
“And you were watching us?”
Paulina turned toward Diego.
“Your father sent me.”
Diego’s eyes hardened.
“So you admit it.”
“I admit nothing.”
“You just said he sent you.”
Paulina’s composure finally cracked.
She pointed toward Marisol.
“She was a risk.”
Marisol stared at her.
“A risk?”
“To the family.”
“To Diego’s future.”
“To the company.”
Diego took one slow step toward her.
“You decided my daughter was a threat before she was even born?”
Paulina realized she had gone too far.
She changed her tone.
“I was protecting you.”
“You didn’t know me.”
“I knew what your father wanted for you.”
“What he wanted?”
Diego’s laugh was empty.
“He wanted control.”
“And you helped him.”
Paulina shook her head.
“I helped preserve the company.”
“You helped erase a child.”
“No one erased her.”
“She lived three floors beneath me.”
“She had food.”
“She had shelter.”
Marisol flinched as though struck.
Diego’s face became dangerous.
“You think that was mercy?”
Paulina looked around the room.
For the first time, she understood she had lost the servants.
Every face watching her held the same expression.
Disgust.
She raised her voice.
“Do not pretend any of you are innocent.”
“You all knew that child was living here.”
“You all kept quiet.”
Teresa lowered her eyes.
Others did the same.
Paulina turned back toward Diego.
“This family survives because unpleasant decisions are made.”
“Your father understood that.”
“And so do I.”
Diego removed his engagement ring from the chain around his neck.
He had worn it there during business travel because Paulina once said she liked the gesture.
He placed it on the desk.
Her eyes locked onto it.
“What are you doing?”
“Our engagement is over.”
The words were calm.
Final.
Paulina stared at him.
“No.”
Diego did not react.
“You don’t get to do this.”
“I just did.”
“Our families have contracts.”
“Lawyers will handle them.”
“My father will destroy you.”
Diego stepped closer.
“Tell him to try.”
Paulina looked at the ring.
Then at the servants.
Humiliation flooded her face.
She picked up the ring.
For one second, it looked as though she might throw it.
Instead, she closed her fist around it.
“This is not over.”
Diego’s expression did not change.
“It ended the moment you called my daughter a problem.”
Paulina moved toward the door.
Ramón appeared in the hallway.
He had just returned.
Paulina stopped.
Diego looked at him.
“Do you have the result?”
Ramón nodded.
Dr. Salazar stood beside him holding a sealed envelope.
Marisol’s breath caught.
Diego opened it.
His eyes moved across the page.
Then he looked at Valentina, who had followed the housekeeper into the hallway.
The little girl held her stuffed rabbit in one hand.
The golden button remained in the other.
Diego’s voice softened.
“Ninety-nine point nine percent.”
Marisol closed her eyes.
Tears slipped down her face.
Diego knelt in front of Valentina.
She looked at him curiously.
“What does that mean?”
Diego struggled to speak.
“It means I’m your father.”
Valentina stared at him.
“My papá?”
He nodded.
Her small face changed.
Not joy.
Not excitement.
Confusion.
Then fear.
She stepped backward.
“No.”
Diego froze.
Valentina grabbed Marisol’s skirt.
“My papá left us.”
The words tore through the room.
Diego looked up at Marisol.
She looked devastated.
“I never told her your name.”
“She only knew he was gone.”
Diego slowly stood.
Paulina smiled faintly from the doorway.
The pain on Diego’s face gave her a final piece of satisfaction.
Then Dr. Salazar cleared his throat.
“There is something else.”
Diego turned.
The doctor held a second page.
“This was not part of the paternity test.”
“What is it?”
Dr. Salazar looked toward Marisol.
“When I processed Valentina’s sample, the laboratory found an abnormal substance in her system.”
Marisol went pale.
“What substance?”
“A sedative.”
The room fell silent.
Marisol shook her head.
“That’s impossible.”
“She has never taken one.”
Dr. Salazar’s expression became grave.
“The amount is small.”
“But it has been administered repeatedly.”
Diego looked toward Paulina.
She was already backing away.
Ramón moved in front of the door.
Diego’s voice dropped.
“Who has been giving my daughter sedatives?”
No one answered.
Then Teresa suddenly gasped.
She looked toward the tray of warm milk Valentina drank every night.
Her face filled with horror.
“The kitchen bottles.”
Marisol stared at her.
“What bottles?”
Teresa covered her mouth.
“The ones Señora Paulina ordered us to add to Valentina’s milk.”
Paulina spun toward the door.
Ramón blocked her path.
And from the library came the sound of glass shattering.
Valentina screamed.
When Diego ran inside, he found the little girl collapsed beside the table.
Her stuffed rabbit lay on the floor.
And someone had cut open its back.
May you like
Hidden inside the toy was a tiny black recording device.
Its red light was still blinking.
