Chapter 13 - The Truth Marisol Still Hid
After the police left, silence filled the mansion.
Valentina fell asleep in Diego’s arms.
Marisol stood near the window.
She knew the question was coming.
Diego carried Valentina to bed.
He tucked the repaired rabbit beneath her arm.
Then he returned to the hallway.
“Did you know this was my house before you applied?”
Marisol did not lie.
“Yes.”
Diego absorbed the answer.
“You told me you discovered it on your first day.”
“I did not know when I first saw the advertisement.”
“But before the interview, I learned the property belonged to you.”
“Why did you still come?”
Marisol looked toward Valentina’s bedroom.
“Because I had tried everything else.”
“I sent letters.”
“I called.”
“I waited outside your office.”
“I went to your father.”
“After he died, every door closed.”
“So you entered my house.”
“Yes.”
“Under the name Marisol Cruz instead of Marisol Herrera.”
“Cruz was my mother’s name.”
“I used it because Arturo had debts and legal problems attached to Herrera.”
Diego’s voice remained controlled.
“Were you hoping I would discover Valentina?”
“Every day.”
“Were you planning to tell me?”
“Every day.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
Marisol’s composure broke.
“Because every day you became more impossible to reach.”
“You walked through the halls surrounded by assistants.”
“You spoke to ministers and investors.”
“You barely remembered the names of the people serving your breakfast.”
“I watched you smile at Valentina and continue walking.”
“I convinced myself that was your answer.”
Diego looked wounded.
“You decided what I felt without giving me the truth.”
“I was afraid.”
“So was I.”
Marisol stared at him.
“You?”
“My father had just died.”
“The company was collapsing.”
“Everyone around me wanted something.”
“I shut down.”
“I became exactly the kind of man who could live beside his own daughter and never see her.”
He stepped closer.
“But you still should have told me.”
“I know.”
“I cannot forgive the years we lost in one night.”
“I am not asking you to.”
“I am asking you not to punish Valentina for my fear.”
Diego shook his head.
“I would never punish her.”
“Or you.”
Marisol looked away.
“The board will want you to remove us from your life.”
“The board already removed me.”
“What?”
“They voted me out this afternoon.”
Marisol stared at him.
“You lost the company?”
“Temporarily.”
“Because of me.”
“Because Arturo used my signature and because I trusted him.”
“Do not carry guilt that belongs to criminals.”
A vehicle entered the driveway.
Gabriel brought in Diego’s aunt, Sofía Villaseñor.
She was seventy years old and had avoided the mansion since Alejandro’s death.
Sofía looked at Marisol.
Then she looked toward Valentina’s room.
“I should have come sooner.”
Diego frowned.
“You knew?”
Sofía sat down.
“Alejandro called me the night before he died.”
“He told me about the baby.”
“He told me Paulina had stolen the letters.”
Diego’s voice sharpened.
“And you said nothing?”
“I was afraid of Armando.”
“Everyone was afraid of Armando.”
“He controlled the loans keeping your company alive.”
“He threatened to expose your father’s financial mistakes.”
Diego stared at her.
“You let me believe my father died without secrets.”
Sofía began to cry.
“I thought silence would protect you.”
Diego laughed bitterly.
“Silence protected everyone except my daughter.”
Sofía opened her handbag.
“There is something else.”
She placed an old key on the table.
“Alejandro kept a second safe.”
“Paulina never found it.”
Inside the safe, Diego discovered signed contracts proving Armando and Arturo had secretly acquired large portions of Villaseñor debt.
They had planned to force Diego into marriage.
Once he married Paulina, her family would merge the companies and take control.
Valentina’s existence threatened that plan.
If Diego had a legal heir outside the Robles family, their control of the Villaseñor estate would never be complete.
May you like
Paulina had not hidden Valentina because of jealousy alone.
She had hidden her because the child stood between the Robles family and an empire.
