Chapter 4 - the test no one could control
Marisol’s suitcase had been searched twice before entering the guest wing.
The device had not been there.
Now it rested beneath her folded clothes, wrapped in a silk handkerchief embroidered with Paulina’s initials.
Diego looked at the evidence spread across the guest-room table.
“This is too obvious,” he said.
The security chief nodded.
“Someone wants us to know she was framed.”
Marisol stood near the bed with Valentina behind her.
“Or Paulina believes you will think exactly that.”
Diego picked up the handkerchief.
“Either way, the device is back.”
The screen had been damaged. The folders remained visible, but most files would not open.
The audio recording in the Valentina folder displayed an error message.
One file survived.
A list of medical laboratories, each followed by a payment amount.
The largest payment, $75,000, had been made to a private genetic-testing clinic.
Diego recognized it immediately.
It was the same clinic Paulina had recommended for Valentina’s paternity test.
“We won’t use them,” he said.
Paulina appeared at the guest-room door.
“Use whichever laboratory you want. I have nothing to hide.”
No one had heard her approach.
Diego moved between her and Valentina.
“How did you get past security?”
“I live here.”
“You are a guest here.”
Paulina’s face hardened.
“Until this morning, I was your future wife.”
“Until this morning, I had never seen proof that my mother knew about Valentina.”
Paulina looked at the damaged device.
“Proof supplied by Marisol.”
“The device came from a hidden compartment built before Marisol worked here.”
“Then Elena prepared this manipulation.”
Diego stared at her.
“Why would my mother invent a granddaughter?”
“To prevent our families from merging. She never trusted my father.”
“Perhaps she had a reason.”
Paulina inhaled slowly.
“I came to tell you my father wants the paternity test completed today. His board will not continue merger negotiations while this scandal exists.”
“This is not his decision.”
“It becomes his decision when Alvarado Industries needs his financing.”
Diego gave the handkerchief to the security chief.
“Escort Paulina to the east wing. Restrict her access to the network.”
Paulina laughed in disbelief.
“You cannot confine me.”
“You may leave the property whenever you choose.”
“And let Marisol take my place?”
Marisol’s voice was steady.
“I do not want your place.”
Paulina turned toward her.
“You always wanted it.”
“I wanted Diego.”
The honesty silenced the room.
Marisol looked at Diego.
“I loved him. I left because I believed staying would put our child in danger. I did not come back to steal a mansion, a company, or an engagement.”
Diego’s anger softened into something more painful.
“Then why did you let me believe you stopped loving me?”
“Because Elena told me the person watching us needed to believe it too.”
Paulina’s eyes narrowed.
“Convenient.”
Diego opened the door.
“Take her downstairs.”
The security team escorted Paulina away.
An hour later, a mobile medical team from a university hospital arrived. Diego selected them through a judge who had once worked with his mother’s foundation.
Samples were collected from Diego and Valentina under camera supervision. Duplicate sets were sealed and sent to two separate laboratories.
Valentina watched Diego rub the inside of his cheek with a swab.
“Does it hurt?”
“No.”
She considered this.
“Mommy said brave people can still be scared.”
“Your mother is right.”
“Are you scared?”
Diego glanced at Marisol.
“Yes.”
Valentina held out her hand.
He took it.
Her fingers were tiny around his.
“What are you scared of?” she asked.
“That I lost something important before I knew I had it.”
Valentina leaned closer.
“You found me now.”
Marisol turned away, wiping her eyes.
The first results would take forty-eight hours.
The second laboratory promised confirmation within seventy-two.
Diego moved Marisol and Valentina into Elena’s old private suite because it had no active network connections. Paulina objected from the staircase, but Diego ignored her.
That night, he sat alone in his mother’s library with the damaged device.
He replayed the last open file.
The list of laboratories included dates stretching back four years. Beside the $75,000 payment was a code.
GV-0517.
Valentina’s initials and birth date.
Diego searched company records.
The payment had not come from Paulina.
It had come from the Alvarado Family Trust.
Authorized under Diego’s own digital signature.
He had never approved it.
Another document appeared in the folder.
It was a paternity report dated three years earlier, when Valentina was six months old.
The result stated that Diego was not her father.
The report bore his name.
May you like
And beneath it was a second signature.
Marisol Vega.
