Chapter 1 - The Letters Paulina Should Never Have Had
Paulina stood at the top of the staircase, gripping the sealed envelope so tightly that the paper bent beneath her fingers.
“That is impossible.”
Her voice echoed through the marble hall.
Diego slowly rose from where he had been kneeling beside Valentina.
His eyes moved from Paulina’s face to the envelope in her hand.
Marisol recognized it immediately.
The faded cream paper.
The blue ink.
The small tear near the corner where she had nervously sealed it three years earlier.
Her knees nearly gave way.
“Where did you get that?”
Paulina lifted the envelope higher.
“You mean this?”
She descended one step at a time.
“This is one of the desperate letters you sent Diego after he left you.”
Diego’s expression hardened.
“You knew about those letters?”
Paulina stopped halfway down the staircase.
“I knew she was obsessed with you.”
Marisol shook her head.
“No.”
Her voice was barely audible.
“I sent those letters because I was pregnant.”
Paulina laughed.
“You sent them because you wanted money.”
“That is not true.”
“You appeared after Diego became successful.”
“I tried to contact him before he had any of this.”
Marisol pointed toward the enormous mansion around them.
“Before the companies.”
“Before the hotels.”
“Before anyone knew his name.”
Diego held out his hand.
“Give me the envelope.”
Paulina did not move.
“There are things inside it you may not want to read.”
“Give it to me.”
His voice dropped.
Paulina walked down the remaining steps and placed the envelope in his hand.
Diego turned it over.
His name was written across the front in Marisol’s handwriting.
The mailing date was three years earlier.
The envelope had never been opened.
Diego looked up.
“How did you get an unopened letter addressed to me?”
Paulina’s face tightened.
“It was stored with old correspondence.”
“Where?”
“In your former office.”
Diego stared at her.
“That office was emptied before we started dating.”
Paulina’s lips parted.
For the first time, she had no immediate answer.
Marisol held Valentina closer.
“I sent seven letters.”
Diego looked at her sharply.
“Seven?”
“And I called your office more times than I can remember.”
“I was always told you were unavailable.”
“Sometimes they said you had refused to speak with me.”
Diego’s face changed.
“I never knew you called.”
Marisol’s eyes filled with tears.
“The last time I tried, a woman answered.”
“She told me you knew about the baby.”
“She said you wanted nothing to do with either of us.”
Paulina folded her arms.
“Anyone could have answered that phone.”
Marisol looked directly at her.
“I never heard her name.”
“But I remember her voice.”
The room went silent.
Paulina’s confidence slipped for half a second.
Diego saw it.
“Was it her?”
Marisol swallowed.
“Yes.”
Paulina’s face turned cold.
“This is ridiculous.”
“You are trusting the word of a maid because her daughter happens to resemble you.”
Diego looked down at Valentina.
The little girl stood silently with the golden button in one hand and her stuffed rabbit in the other.
Diego crouched beside her again.
“What is your full name?”
Valentina looked at Marisol before answering.
“Valentina Marisol Cruz.”
Diego’s eyes remained on her face.
“How old are you?”
“Three.”
“When is your birthday?”
Valentina carefully counted on her fingers.
“October twelve.”
Diego went completely still.
Marisol knew why.
That date was almost exactly nine months after the last night they had spent together.
Paulina saw the calculation happening in his eyes.
She rushed toward him.
“Diego, do not let this woman manipulate you.”
He stood and stepped away from her.
“I want a DNA test.”
Marisol’s chest tightened.
“You think I’m lying?”
“I think all of us have lived inside a lie.”
He looked at Valentina again.
“And I refuse to let it continue for one more day.”
Paulina grabbed his arm.
“You cannot be serious.”
Diego pulled away.
“I am calling Dr. Salazar.”
“He will come here.”
“The test will be done tonight.”
Paulina stared at him with open panic.
Then she looked at the unopened envelope still in his hand.
For the first time, Marisol understood that Paulina was not afraid of the DNA test.
She was afraid of what Diego might find inside the letter.
Diego slid his finger beneath the seal.
Paulina suddenly lunged forward.
“No!”
Diego stopped.
Everyone stared at her.
Paulina’s hand remained frozen in the air.
May you like
Diego’s voice became dangerously calm.
“What exactly is inside this envelope that you do not want me to see?”
