Chapter 7 - two fathers on paper
The two reports used samples collected at the same time.
One proved Diego was Valentina’s father.
The other excluded him completely.
Paulina leaned against the staircase as if she had expected the contradiction.
“This is why reputations should not be destroyed by a single laboratory,” she said.
Diego ignored her.
“Gabriel, compare the chain-of-custody records.”
The first laboratory had received the correct samples.
The second reported that Valentina’s sample belonged to an adult male.
“The sample was switched,” Gabriel said.
Paulina lifted one shoulder.
“Or the first test was manipulated.”
Marisol stepped closer to Diego.
“Valentina never left my sight during collection.”
“The switch happened after transport,” Gabriel replied.
Diego called the courier company. The driver who transported the second set had not arrived at work and was not answering his phone.
Security footage showed the courier van stopping for twelve minutes in an underground parking structure owned by de la Vega Medical Holdings.
Paulina’s confidence faded.
Diego looked at her.
“Your family’s property.”
“My father owns hundreds of buildings.”
“Your father’s company paid the clinic that created the false report three years ago.”
“That proves nothing about me.”
“No,” Diego said. “But your reaction does.”
“What reaction?”
“You knew about the second result before Gabriel announced it.”
Paulina’s lips parted.
“I guessed.”
“You said it reached a different conclusion.”
“Because your attorney looked concerned.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“I had not opened the report.”
The servants nearby exchanged glances.
Paulina straightened.
“This family is turning against me because of a woman who disappeared and returned with a convenient child.”
Valentina began to cry again.
Marisol carried her toward the guest wing.
Paulina called after them.
“Running away has always been your greatest talent.”
Diego moved in front of Paulina.
“Say one more word to her.”
Paulina met his eyes.
“Or what?”
“Our engagement ends now.”
The sentence echoed across the foyer.
Paulina stared at him as if he had spoken in another language.
“You don’t mean that.”
“I do.”
“You cannot cancel six years of planning in one morning.”
“You cancelled four years of my daughter’s life.”
“You have no proof I was involved.”
“I have enough proof to know I cannot marry you.”
Her face went still.
“Do you remember what your company was worth when my father rescued it?”
“He did not rescue it. He purchased influence while my mother was grieving.”
“Without us, Alvarado Industries collapses.”
“Then it will collapse without you.”
Paulina stepped closer.
“You think Marisol will save you? She has no education, no family name, and no idea how your world works.”
“She survived your world while protecting a child.”
Paulina lowered her voice.
“You have always mistaken weakness for innocence.”
“And you have always mistaken silence for permission.”
He removed the engagement ring from the chain Paulina had insisted he wear during preparations and placed it on the marble table.
Paulina looked down at it.
Then she looked toward the guest wing.
“This is not over.”
“No,” Diego said. “It is finally beginning.”
Paulina left the foyer and called her father.
Within an hour, Sebastián froze a $200 million credit facility supporting Alvarado Industries. Three banks requested immediate meetings. Two board members resigned.
Financial news outlets reported that the Alvarado and de la Vega merger had collapsed after an unidentified woman appeared with a child claiming to be Diego’s daughter.
Marisol saw the headlines.
“They will blame Valentina.”
“They will blame me,” Diego said.
“You could lose the company.”
“I already lost something more important.”
She looked at him.
“You cannot repair three years by destroying everything else.”
“I am not destroying it. Sebastián is proving my mother was right.”
Gabriel entered the library with a sealed evidence bag.
“The courier was found.”
“Alive?” Diego asked.
“Yes. He says two men stopped him in the parking structure and forced him to exchange the package.”
“Can he identify them?”
“He identified one.”
Gabriel placed a photograph on the desk.
The man was Ricardo Valez, the Alvarado mansion’s former security director.
He had worked for Elena.
He had also been driving her car on the day she died.
Marisol touched the edge of the photograph.
“Elena said Ricardo was the only person she trusted.”
Diego stared at the image.
“Then why did he switch the DNA sample?”
Gabriel opened a second envelope.
“Because he says Valentina’s real genetic profile would expose another secret.”
May you like
“What secret?”
“According to Ricardo, Diego, you are not Elena Alvarado’s biological son.”
