Chapter 10 - THE BLOODLINE
Victoria laughed.
It was the sound people make when the truth is too absurd to accept.
“Enough.”
Beatriz watched her.
“Ask your mother.”
“My mother is dead.”
“Exactly.”
Victoria’s face changed.
Alejandro looked at Beatriz.
“Stop speaking in riddles.”
Beatriz sighed.
“Victoria’s mother, Caroline Sinclair, had an affair.”
Richard had known.
Apparently everyone had known except Victoria.
Victoria stared at her.
“With who?”
Beatriz looked at Alejandro.
His stomach dropped.
“No.”
Beatriz smiled.
“With Mateo Moreira.”
Silence.
Victoria turned toward Alejandro.
Neither could speak.
Alejandro felt physically sick.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“Victoria is…”
“Your half-sister.”
Victoria stumbled backward.
Claire caught her.
“No.”
Victoria shook her head violently.
“No.”
Beatriz continued.
“That is why Isabella wrote the letter.”
“She discovered the truth.”
Alejandro looked at his sister.
Isabella nodded slowly.
“I found Caroline’s diary.”
Victoria started crying.
“You knew?”
“I only confirmed it last month.”
Alejandro sat down.
His legs had stopped working.
An hour earlier he had been prepared to marry Victoria.
His sister.
Half-sister.
Victoria covered her mouth and ran.
Claire followed.
Alejandro didn’t.
He couldn’t.
Isabella sat beside him.
“I’m sorry.”
He stared at the empty altar.
“How long did Beatriz know?”
“All along.”
Alejandro looked up.
Beatriz stood between two police officers.
She showed no shame.
“You let us get engaged.”
“Yes.”
“You planned the wedding.”
“Yes.”
“You were going to let me marry my sister.”
Beatriz’s voice stayed calm.
“Genetically, yes.”
Elena gasped.
Alejandro stood so fast the chair fell.
Daniel stepped between them.
“Alejandro.”
Beatriz didn’t flinch.
“Scandal would have been avoided.”
“Scandal?”
He stared at her.
“You think this is about scandal?”
“The marriage could have been quietly annulled later.”
Alejandro lunged.
Daniel caught him.
Beatriz’s expression finally cracked.
Only slightly.
“You think I wanted this?”
“Yes!”
“I wanted control.”
“There it is.”
Beatriz lifted her chin.
“Control is the only reason this family survived.”
“No.”
Alejandro pointed around the destroyed ballroom.
“This family didn’t survive.”
“You killed it.”
Police took her away.
For the first time in Alejandro’s life, Beatriz Moreira left her home without giving an order.
Alejandro remained staring at the doors.
Then Daniel approached.
“There’s something else.”
Alejandro laughed bitterly.
“Of course there is.”
Daniel held up Richard’s phone.
“We unlocked it.”
“And?”
“There are messages from Beatriz.”
Alejandro took the phone.
Most were about Isabella.
Move her tonight.
No contact.
Destroy the letters.
Then one message stopped him.
Do not let Alejandro read the DNA report.
He looked at Daniel.
“What DNA report?”
Daniel swallowed.
“The one Richard ordered six months ago.”
“For who?”
Daniel looked toward Noah.
Alejandro’s heart stopped.
“No.”
Daniel handed him the file.
Noah Moreira-Reyes.
Possible biological father.
Alejandro Moreira.
May you like
Probability.
99.7 percent.
