Chapter 5 - THE MAN AT THE GATE
Three months passed.
Valentina expected Rodrigo to remind her that their agreement was temporary.
He never did.
Instead, he built a crib.
Mateo painted it.
Tomás carved Sofía's name into the headboard.
Then one afternoon, a black SUV stopped at the gate.
A man stepped out.
Valentina saw him from the porch.
Every bit of color disappeared from her face.
Mateo noticed.
“You know him?”
Valentina picked up Sofía.
“Go inside.”
The man approached.
“Valentina.”
She didn't answer.
His name was Esteban Cruz.
Her older brother.
The last person she wanted to see.
“I heard you landed somewhere comfortable.”
“What do you want?”
Esteban smiled toward the house.
“Nice place.”
“Leave.”
“I came because Mama's sick.”
Valentina froze.
“You said she never wanted to see me again.”
“That was before.”
“Before what?”
Esteban's eyes moved toward the ranch.
Before money.
Valentina understood.
Rodrigo arrived on horseback from the north pasture.
He dismounted.
“Problem?”
Esteban smiled.
“Family matter.”
Rodrigo looked at Valentina.
“Is he welcome here?”
“No.”
Rodrigo turned back.
“Then it's not a family matter anymore.”
Esteban's smile vanished.
“You think because you've got money—”
“Leave.”
Something in Rodrigo's voice ended the conversation.
Esteban returned to his SUV.
Before climbing inside, he looked at Valentina.
“You always were good at finding somebody to rescue you.”
The SUV disappeared down the road.
Mateo had heard everything.
That night, he found Valentina crying quietly beside Sofía's crib.
He almost walked away.
Instead he stepped inside.
“Was that really your brother?”
“Yes.”
“Why does he hate you?”
Valentina wiped her face.
“He doesn't hate me.”
“Sounded like it.”
She smiled sadly.
“Sometimes people can love you and still hurt you.”
Mateo understood that better than a ten-year-old should.
May you like
He sat beside her.
And for the first time, Valentina told someone at El Nogal where she had really come from.
