Chapter 4 - The Bargain Made in Secret
Diego stared at Marisol as if he had not understood her.
“What?”
Marisol pressed one hand over Valentina’s hair.
“Your father offered to help me.”
“But his help came with conditions.”
Diego’s voice was quiet.
“What conditions?”
“He wanted Valentina raised as a Villaseñor.”
“He said your family could give her everything I could not.”
“He offered me an apartment and money.”
“In exchange for what?”
Marisol looked directly at him.
“For signing away my rights.”
Diego’s face went cold.
“My father would never do that.”
Paulina crossed her arms.
“Now she is insulting a dead man.”
Marisol shook her head.
“I am telling you what happened.”
“He said the family could not survive another scandal.”
“He believed people would accuse me of trapping you.”
“I told him I would live in one room and work three jobs before I gave away my daughter.”
Diego looked at Valentina.
The child had placed her stuffed rabbit on the floor and was trying to push the golden button into its fabric paw.
“Did he threaten you?”
“No.”
“He became angry.”
“But before I left, he apologized.”
Marisol wiped a tear from her cheek.
“He said he had spent his entire life protecting the family name.”
“He said he no longer knew whether he was protecting the family or destroying it.”
Diego lowered the nurse’s statement.
“Why did the nurse say there was shouting?”
“Because I shouted.”
“I told him Valentina was not a problem to be hidden.”
“I told him she was his granddaughter.”
Diego closed his eyes.
Those words sounded like something his father would have needed to hear.
Paulina stepped between them.
“This is an excellent story.”
“Unfortunately, your father cannot defend himself.”
Diego opened his eyes.
“Neither can your brother.”
Paulina stiffened.
“What does that mean?”
“Tomás disappeared six months after my father died.”
“He emptied several accounts and left Mexico.”
“That is what we were told.”
Paulina looked away.
Diego noticed.
“Do you know where he is?”
“No.”
“You answered too quickly.”
“I have not spoken to Tomás in years.”
Gabriel returned from the security office.
“Sir, there is something you need to see.”
Diego followed him into the study.
Marisol remained near the doorway.
Paulina tried to walk upstairs.
Gabriel’s men blocked her.
A security video appeared on the study monitor.
The recording was four years old.
It showed the service entrance of Diego’s former office building.
A younger Paulina stepped out of a black car.
She entered using an employee access card.
The timestamp was two days after Marisol mailed her first letter.
Diego looked at Paulina.
“You said you barely knew me then.”
“Our families did business together.”
“That does not explain why you entered my office after midnight.”
Paulina said nothing.
Gabriel changed the camera angle.
Tomás appeared in the hallway.
He handed Paulina a stack of envelopes.
She opened one.
Then another.
Then she stopped at a cream envelope with blue handwriting.
Marisol’s letter.
The video showed Paulina reading it.
It showed her removing the ultrasound photograph.
It showed her placing everything inside her handbag.
Diego watched without moving.
Paulina’s shoulders dropped.
“You misunderstood what happened.”
Diego turned toward her.
“The camera recorded you stealing a letter about my unborn child.”
“Tomás told me Marisol was dangerous.”
“Tomás worked for your father.”
“He said she was trying to ruin the company.”
“So you decided to erase my daughter?”
Paulina’s voice rose.
“I was protecting you.”
“You did not even love me then.”
Paulina looked at him with tears in her eyes.
“I had always loved you.”
Diego shook his head.
“No.”
“You loved the future you thought my name could give you.”
Police sirens sounded beyond the mansion gates.
Paulina looked toward the windows.
Panic finally broke through her composure.
“You cannot have me arrested.”
“You stole private correspondence.”
“You conspired to hide a child.”
“And you threatened that child this morning.”
Paulina backed toward the staircase.
“This family will destroy you for choosing her.”
Diego glanced at Marisol.
“Then perhaps this family deserves to be destroyed.”
The front doors opened.
Two officers entered with Gabriel.
Paulina’s eyes moved desperately around the room.
Then she looked at Valentina.
A strange smile appeared on her face.
“You think the DNA test changes everything?”
She nodded toward the child.
“You should ask Dr. Salazar whose sample he actually tested.”
Diego’s expression froze.
May you like
Paulina began to laugh.
And from the hallway behind them, Dr. Salazar suddenly collapsed to the floor.
