Chapter 13 - THE LAST FILE
Richard survived.
Barely.
Police took him to the hospital under guard.
Claire was questioned and released.
The shooting had clearly been self-defense.
By sunrise, Alejandro stood alone in the library with the last file from Caroline Sinclair’s safe.
His name was written across the front.
ALEJANDRO M.
He didn’t want to open it.
He did anyway.
Inside were medical records.
Birth certificates.
Letters.
And one DNA test from thirty-four years earlier.
Alejandro read it twice.
Then a third time.
Mateo Moreira was not his biological father.
He sat down.
Isabella entered.
“You okay?”
He laughed.
“No.”
She saw the file.
Her face changed.
“You knew?”
“No.”
He handed it to her.
She read.
“Alejandro…”
“Who is my father?”
Isabella searched the papers.
A letter answered.
Caroline Sinclair had written it.
Beatriz,
If Alejandro ever learns what happened between you and Thomas, everything will collapse.
Isabella looked up.
“Thomas?”
Alejandro knew the name.
Thomas Reyes.
Gabriel’s father.
Alejandro stood.
“No.”
Isabella read further.
Thomas Reyes had worked for the Moreira family.
Beatriz had loved him.
Years before she arranged her son Mateo’s marriage.
Years before the family empire became untouchable.
Alejandro stared at the wall.
“Thomas Reyes was Gabriel’s father.”
Isabella understood.
“Oh God.”
Gabriel.
The man Isabella loved.
Had been Alejandro’s nephew through blood?
No.
The generations were tangled.
But one truth stood above everything.
Alejandro Moreira was not who he thought he was.
The Moreira bloodline Beatriz had destroyed lives to protect was already broken by her own secret.
Alejandro laughed.
Then laughed harder.
Isabella watched him carefully.
“What’s funny?”
“She destroyed you because Gabriel wasn’t good enough.”
“She stole Claire.”
“She covered up Dad killing him.”
“She nearly let me marry Victoria.”
He held up the DNA test.
“And I’m not even Mateo’s son.”
Isabella sat beside him.
“The whole thing was a lie.”
“Yes.”
Alejandro looked at her.
“The empire.”
“The name.”
“The blood.”
“All of it.”
Isabella shook her head.
“Not all of it.”
“What’s left?”
“Us.”
Alejandro looked toward the hallway.
Noah was asleep in Elena’s lap.
Claire and Victoria sat together nearby.
Broken.
Exhausted.
Still there.
Isabella squeezed his shoulder.
“That’s family.”
Later that morning, Alejandro visited Beatriz in custody.
She sat across from him behind thick glass.
“You found the file.”
“Yes.”
She closed her eyes.
“Caroline was supposed to destroy it.”
“She didn’t.”
“No.”
Alejandro stared at her.
“Thomas Reyes.”
Beatriz’s expression softened.
For the first time, she looked old.
“I loved him.”
“You loved him?”
“Yes.”
“And then you spent your life destroying his family.”
Her eyes hardened again.
“I chose survival.”
“You chose fear.”
“You know nothing about the world I lived in.”
“Maybe.”
He leaned closer.
“But I know the world you created.”
She looked at him.
“What will you do?”
“Tell the truth.”
Beatriz laughed.
“You’ll destroy the company.”
“Maybe.”
“You’ll lose investors.”
“Maybe.”
“You’ll destroy the Moreira name.”
Alejandro smiled.
“That’s the idea.”
Her face changed.
“You wouldn’t.”
“I already called a press conference.”
“Alejandro.”
He stood.
“You spent your whole life teaching me the name mattered more than people.”
He looked at her through the glass.
“You were wrong.”
He walked away.
Beatriz slammed both hands against the glass.
“Alejandro!”
He didn’t turn.
But outside the detention center, Daniel was waiting.
And the expression on his face stopped Alejandro cold.
“What?”
Daniel held up his phone.
“Someone leaked the documents before us.”
Alejandro frowned.
“Who?”
Daniel showed him the headline.
MOREIRA EMPIRE BUILT ON MURDER, BRIBERY, AND KIDNAPPING.
At the bottom was the source.
Anonymous.
Then Alejandro’s phone buzzed.
One text.
From an unknown number.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT THE PAST BURIED.
May you like
A second message arrived.
NOW I’M COMING FOR THE BOY.
