Chapter 15 - THE LETTER
Renata looked nothing like the woman from the wedding.
Her hair was tangled.
Her eyes were hollow.
Her clothes were dirty.
But her voice was calm.
“You always arrive too late.”
Alejandro stopped halfway up the stairs.
“Put the knife down.”
Renata smiled.
“Why?”
“Because police are outside.”
“I know.”
“Then this is over.”
“No.”
She held up Mariana’s letter.
“This is where it started.”
Alejandro kept his eyes on her hands.
“What does it say?”
“You don’t know?”
“No.”
Renata laughed.
“Your mother protected you.”
Elena stood near the front door.
“Renata.”
Renata looked down.
“You should have burned it.”
Elena’s face tightened.
“I should have given it to my son.”
“Yes.”
Renata looked back at Alejandro.
“Then maybe none of this would have happened.”
Alejandro climbed one step.
“Give me the letter.”
“No.”
“Renata.”
“She wrote about me.”
“I know.”
“She made me sound insane.”
“You locked an eight-year-old in a restroom on your wedding day.”
Renata flinched.
“You ruined that day.”
“You did.”
“She ruined it.”
“Lucía?”
Renata’s eyes changed.
“She was never supposed to find the phone.”
Alejandro went still.
“So that’s why you locked her away.”
“I needed time.”
“You terrified her.”
“She wouldn’t stop crying.”
“You broke her mother’s photograph.”
“She kept waving Mariana in my face!”
“She is a child grieving her mother.”
“She was destroying everything!”
Alejandro stared at her.
“No.”
His voice remained quiet.
“She was exposing you.”
Renata’s face twisted.
She raised the knife.
Police shouted from outside.
Alejandro didn’t move.
“Put it down.”
Renata looked at the letter.
Then toward the window.
For a second, Alejandro thought she might jump.
Instead, she tore open the envelope.
“No!”
Elena shouted.
Renata pulled out the pages.
Alejandro moved.
Renata struck a lighter.
The corner of the letter caught fire.
Alejandro lunged.
He knocked the lighter away.
Renata swung the knife.
It cut his sleeve.
He grabbed her wrist.
They hit the wall.
The burning letter fell.
Elena rushed forward and stamped out the flame.
Police stormed upstairs.
“DROP THE KNIFE!”
Renata screamed.
“She stole my life!”
Officers pulled her away.
Alejandro stumbled backward.
Renata fought them.
“HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE MINE!”
Alejandro stared at her.
“I was never yours.”
She froze.
The words seemed to hurt more than the handcuffs.
“You never even knew me.”
Renata’s face collapsed.
Police led her downstairs.
She looked back once.
Alejandro felt nothing.
Not love.
Not pity.
Not even hatred.
Only relief that Lucía would never again have to live under the same roof as her.
Elena handed him the damaged letter.
The edges were burned.
Most of the pages survived.
Alejandro opened it.
Mariana’s handwriting filled the first page.
My love,
If you are reading this, then something happened before I found the courage to tell you everything.
Alejandro sat down.
His hands shook.
He continued.
I need you to know that none of this is your fault.
Renata has been following our family.
She believes you belong to her.
I have tried to reason with her.
It only made things worse.
Yesterday she threatened Lucía.
Alejandro stopped.
Tears blurred the page.
Elena sat beside him.
He kept reading.
If anything happens to me, protect our daughter first.
Not my reputation.
Not your anger.
Not revenge.
Lucía.
Always Lucía.
Alejandro pressed the letter against his forehead.
For four years, he had wondered what Mariana’s final thoughts had been.
Now he knew.
Their daughter.
Then he reached the final paragraph.
There is one more thing I have never told you about Renata.
Alejandro lowered the page.
May you like
The next sentence changed the case again.
Renata wasn’t alone when she threatened me.
