Chapter 7 - BEATRIZ MOREIRA’S SECRET
The doctors wanted Isabella taken immediately.
She refused.
“Five minutes.”
The paramedic shook his head.
“You inhaled smoke.”
“Five.”
Alejandro sat beside her in the ambulance.
Elena stood outside with Noah, who had arrived with another security vehicle.
The moment he saw his mother, he ran into her arms.
Isabella held him so tightly he started laughing through his tears.
“You found him.”
She looked at Elena.
Elena nodded.
“He found me.”
Isabella kissed Noah’s forehead.
Then looked at Alejandro.
“You need to hear the rest before Beatriz changes the story.”
Alejandro said nothing.
Isabella continued.
“When I got pregnant, Grandmother told me the child would destroy the family.”
“Noah?”
“No.”
She looked at her son.
“My first baby.”
Alejandro frowned.
Noah looked confused.
Victoria stood several feet away.
Elena’s eyes widened.
“First?”
Isabella nodded.
“I had a daughter.”
Alejandro stared at her.
“What?”
“She was born sixteen years ago.”
“Where is she?”
Isabella started crying.
“I don’t know.”
Alejandro felt cold.
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
“Beatriz took her.”
Noah looked at his mother.
“I have a sister?”
Isabella pulled him closer.
“Yes.”
Alejandro stood.
“Start at the beginning.”
Isabella wiped her face.
“When Gabriel died, I was eight months pregnant.”
“I thought the family would kill me too.”
“Elena helped me hide.”
Elena nodded.
“But Beatriz found me.”
Isabella’s voice shook.
“She offered a deal.”
Alejandro’s jaw tightened.
“What deal?”
“My baby would live if I disappeared forever.”
Silence.
“She said the child would be raised somewhere safe.”
Alejandro looked at Elena.
“You knew?”
“No.”
Elena’s voice broke.
“Isabella never told me there was another baby.”
“I was ashamed.”
Isabella cried.
“I let her take my daughter.”
“You were nineteen.”
“I was her mother.”
Alejandro looked away.
The anger in him had nowhere left to go.
“Do you know anything about the family who took her?”
Isabella reached into the blanket around her shoulders.
“Beatriz once mailed me a picture.”
She handed Alejandro a faded photograph.
A little girl.
About six years old.
Brown hair.
Green eyes.
Standing beside a private-school sign.
Alejandro stared at it.
Victoria stepped closer.
Her face changed.
“What?”
Alejandro looked at her.
“You know her.”
Victoria shook her head.
“No.”
“You made that exact face when you recognized Virginia.”
Victoria reached for the photograph.
Alejandro gave it to her.
Her hand started shaking.
“Oh my God.”
“What?”
Victoria looked at her father’s lake house burning behind them.
Then at Isabella.
“I know this girl.”
Isabella stopped breathing.
“Where?”
Victoria’s eyes filled with tears.
“She grew up with me.”
Nobody moved.
“What are you saying?” Alejandro asked.
Victoria stared at the photograph.
“Her name is Claire.”
Isabella covered her mouth.
Victoria continued.
“My parents told everyone she was my cousin.”
Alejandro’s stomach dropped.
“Where is she now?”
Victoria looked at him.
“She’s in New York.”
Alejandro stepped closer.
“Where?”
May you like
Victoria whispered.
“At your wedding.”
