Chapter 12 - THE SECRET IN INÉS’S PAST
Nobody spoke.
The warning remained on the screen.
“THE NEXT SECRET WILL DESTROY INÉS VALCÁRCEL.”
Leandro looked at her.
“What are they talking about?”
Inés didn’t answer.
Because for the first time that night…
She was afraid.
Not for herself.
For Noa.
The people behind this knew things they shouldn’t know.
Things about her.
Things about her past.
Things she had spent years trying to forget.
Mariana noticed her expression.
“Inés…”
“You know something?”
Mariana hesitated.
“Yes.”
Everyone turned.
Inés looked at her.
“What?”
Mariana lowered her voice.
“The reason they chose you.”
The room became silent.
“What do you mean?”
Mariana looked at Noa.
“Your daughter wasn’t randomly placed into your life.”
Inés felt her heart stop.
“No.”
“Yes.”
Leandro stepped closer.
“Explain.”
Mariana took a breath.
“Six years ago, when the babies were moved, someone needed a person they could trust to raise one of them.”
Inés shook her head.
“I adopted Noa legally.”
“Yes.”
“But I never knew any of this.”
“I know.”
Mariana’s eyes filled with sadness.
“Because they made sure you never would.”
Inés felt anger rising.
“Who?”
Mariana looked toward the ballroom.
Toward the people who had been smiling all night.
“Someone who knew your family.”
Inés froze.
“My family?”
Then a memory came back.
A conversation from years ago.
A person telling her:
“You should take this baby. She needs someone like you.”
At the time, Inés thought it was kindness.
Now she realized it might have been a plan.
Leandro looked at her.
“Who gave you Noa?”
Inés swallowed.
“I was told she was abandoned.”
“By who?”
She closed her eyes.
Then whispered a name.
A name nobody expected.
“Your father’s private assistant.”
The room went silent.
Because that meant the person who had connected everything…
Was someone who had been dead for six years.
Mariana looked terrified.
“That’s impossible.”
Inés shook her head.
“No.”
She looked at the old photograph.
“Because I remember her.”
Everyone waited.
“Her name was…”
Before she could finish, the lights suddenly went out again.
A loud crash came from the hallway.
Security rushed outside.
Seconds later, a guard returned holding a small envelope.
“Ms. Valcárcel…”
Inés opened it.
Inside was a single photograph.
Her.
Holding baby Noa for the first time.
On the back of the picture were six words written by hand.
“You never knew whose child you saved.”
Inés looked up.
Because someone had just opened a door to a secret buried for years.
And behind that door…
May you like
Was the truth about Noa’s real identity.
To be continued…
