Chapter 2 - THE SISTER WHO NEVER DIED
Alejandro turned slowly.
“What did you say?”
Beatriz took one step toward him.
“Alejandro, this is not the place.”
He laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“My dead sister just sent a child to my wedding with a letter.”
He held up the envelope.
“I think this is exactly the place.”
Victoria looked between them.
“Someone needs to explain what’s happening.”
Beatriz ignored her.
“Elena.”
The old woman’s voice sharpened.
“You have overstepped your place.”
Elena’s tears disappeared.
Something harder replaced them.
“My place?”
She looked around the ballroom.
“For sixteen years, I kept my place.”
Beatriz’s jaw tightened.
“And you were paid well for your loyalty.”
“No.”
Elena shook her head.
“I was paid for my silence.”
A murmur rolled through the guests.
Victoria stared at Alejandro.
“You knew about this?”
“No.”
He looked at Elena.
“Start talking.”
Elena glanced down at Noah.
The boy was shaking.
“Not in front of him.”
Alejandro immediately softened his voice.
“Okay.”
He turned toward his chief of security.
“Daniel.”
A tall man in a dark suit stepped forward.
“Yes, sir.”
“Clear the ballroom.”
Victoria’s father, Senator Richard Sinclair, stood.
“Absolutely not.”
Alejandro looked at him.
Richard lowered his voice.
“There are donors here.”
“I don’t care.”
“There are cameras outside.”
“I don’t care.”
“This wedding is being covered by every major social outlet in New York.”
Alejandro stepped closer.
“My sister may be alive.”
Richard stopped talking.
Alejandro looked around the room.
“Everyone out.”
The orchestra stopped playing.
Guests began gathering their belongings.
Whispers spread like fire.
Victoria grabbed Alejandro’s arm.
“You can’t destroy our wedding over a maid’s story and some random child.”
He looked down at her hand.
“Let go.”
She did.
Twenty minutes later, only the immediate family remained.
Alejandro.
Victoria.
Beatriz.
Elena.
Noah.
Daniel.
And Richard Sinclair, who refused to leave.
Alejandro sat at a long table.
He placed the sealed letter in front of him.
“Tell me everything.”
Elena remained standing.
“Your sister Isabella disappeared sixteen years ago.”
“She died in a car accident.”
“That’s what you were told.”
“By my grandmother.”
Elena looked at Beatriz.
“Yes.”
Alejandro’s eyes shifted to the old woman.
Beatriz’s expression remained controlled.
“Isabella was unstable.”
Elena laughed bitterly.
“That’s what you told everyone.”
“She was.”
“She was pregnant.”
Alejandro froze.
Victoria turned sharply.
“What?”
Elena continued.
“Your sister was nineteen.”
“She fell in love with a man your grandmother hated.”
Alejandro remembered fragments.
Arguments behind closed doors.
Isabella crying.
His father shouting.
His grandmother saying the family would survive the embarrassment.
“What man?”
“Gabriel Reyes.”
Alejandro’s jaw clenched.
He knew the name.
His father’s former driver.
Beatriz spoke coldly.
“He was an opportunist.”
“He loved her.”
“He wanted money.”
Elena turned toward her.
“He died protecting her.”
Silence.
Alejandro stood.
“Gabriel died?”
Elena nodded.
“Three weeks after Isabella disappeared.”
“How?”
“A hit-and-run.”
Alejandro looked at his grandmother.
Beatriz didn’t move.
Elena stepped closer.
“Isabella believed it wasn’t an accident.”
Beatriz slammed her palm against the table.
“That is enough.”
Noah jumped.
Alejandro’s expression changed instantly.
“Do that again around the boy and you leave.”
Beatriz stared at him.
He stared back.
For the first time in his life, she looked away.
Alejandro reached for the letter.
Elena grabbed his wrist.
“Wait.”
He looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because Isabella made me promise something.”
“What?”
“That you wouldn’t read it unless the wedding was truly happening.”
Alejandro glanced toward Victoria.
Victoria’s face tightened.
“What does that mean?”
Elena looked at Alejandro.
“She knew who you were going to marry.”
Victoria stepped forward.
“That’s impossible.”
Elena said nothing.
Alejandro frowned.
“How could Isabella know Victoria?”
Noah slowly raised his head.
“Because my mom has pictures of her.”
Everyone looked at him.
Victoria went still.
Noah reached into his backpack again.
He pulled out a photograph.
Elena’s face collapsed.
Alejandro took it.
It showed Victoria standing outside a small house.
Beside her was Isabella.
May you like
And on the back, written in black ink, were four words.
SHE FOUND ME FIRST.
