Chapter 2: The DNA Test The mansion did not sleep that night. Behind its polished marble walls, every hallway carried whispers. Servants who had worked for the Villaseñor family for decades suddenly found themselves speaking in hushed voices. "Did you hear?" "They say Señor Diego has a daughter." "I always wondered why he treated that little girl differently." "Poor Marisol..." "And Miss Paulina?" "She's furious." Within a single afternoon, the atmosphere inside the mansion had changed completely. The invisible maid was invisible no longer. Marisol sat quietly on the edge of the luxurious guest room bed. She had never imagined sleeping in one of the mansion's bedrooms. The room alone was larger than the apartment where she had once struggled to raise Valentina. Cream-colored walls. Floor-to-ceiling windows. Fresh flowers. A king-sized bed. Soft lamps casting warm light across polished hardwood floors. Everything felt wrong. She didn't belong here. Valentina, however, explored the room with childlike wonder. "Mommy!" She bounced excitedly onto the bed. "It goes boing!" Marisol couldn't help smiling. For the first time in years... Her daughter laughed without worrying someone would tell her to be quiet. That alone nearly broke her heart. Across the mansion... Paulina slammed the bedroom door so hard that one of the paintings tilted sideways. She threw her engagement ring onto the vanity. "This is insane." Her reflection stared back at her through the mirror. She had spent months carefully building the perfect future. Magazine interviews. Luxury galas. Business charity events. Every newspaper already referred to her as Diego Villaseñor's future wife. Now... Everything was threatened by a maid. "No..." she whispered. "Not a maid." "A mistake from his past." She grabbed her phone. After scrolling through her contacts, she selected one number. "Ricardo." The man answered immediately. "You sound upset." "I need information." "What kind?" "Everything." "About Marisol Herrera." There was a pause. "The maid?" "Yes." "I don't care how." "I want every record." "Family." "Medical history." "Friends." "Debt." "Employment." "If she has one stain on her past..." Paulina smiled coldly. "...I'll find it." "I'll start tonight." She ended the call. Then slowly picked up the engagement ring again. "No one..." she whispered to herself. "...takes my future away." Meanwhile... Diego sat alone inside his study. The lights remained off. Only the moon illuminated the room through enormous windows. His eyes rested on an old photograph lying inside an unlocked drawer. Twenty-four-year-old Diego. Twenty-two-year-old Marisol. Both smiling beside an old taco stand after getting caught in the rain. He remembered that day perfectly. She laughed because his expensive shoes had been ruined. He laughed because she insisted street tacos tasted better than five-star restaurants. She had been right. He remembered promising her something. "I don't care if I become rich one day." "I'll never become the kind of man who forgets people." His chest tightened. Had he become exactly that? His phone buzzed. It was his assistant. "Sir, I've arranged the DNA appointment for tomorrow morning." "Good." "There is one more thing." "What?" "The laboratory director asked whether the matter should remain confidential." Diego answered without hesitation. "Completely confidential." "I don't want anyone outside this family to know." He hung up. Unaware... Someone already did. Inside the servants' quarters... Rosa quietly knocked on Marisol's door. She entered carrying a tray. Soup. Fresh bread. Warm milk for Valentina. Marisol immediately stood. "You didn't have to do this." Rosa smiled. "Actually..." "I wanted to." She sat beside Marisol. "We all knew something wasn't right." Marisol looked surprised. "What do you mean?" Rosa laughed softly. "Have you never noticed?" "Noticed what?" "The boss." "He always slowed down whenever Valentina was nearby." Marisol looked away. "I thought I imagined it." "No." "He never realized he was doing it." "Sometimes he'd walk into the kitchen asking for coffee." "The moment he saw Valentina..." "He'd completely forget why he came." Marisol smiled sadly. "He always loved children." "No." Rosa shook her head. "He barely noticed anyone else's." Silence settled between them. Finally Rosa asked the question no one else dared ask. "Do you still love him?" Marisol closed her eyes. Love. Such a dangerous word. After four years of loneliness... After endless nights wondering why he had disappeared... After convincing herself to hate him... Why did hearing his voice still make her heart race? "I don't know anymore." Rosa gently squeezed her hand. "I think you do." The next morning... A black luxury SUV waited outside the mansion. Diego opened the rear door. Valentina stared at him uncertainly. "Mommy?" "It's okay." Marisol lifted her into the car. Diego sat across from them. The ride remained silent. Until... Valentina suddenly leaned toward him. "Mister?" He smiled. "Yes?" "Can rabbits wear seat belts?" He blinked. "What?" She held up her stuffed rabbit. "He'll be safe." Diego laughed. A genuine laugh. One he hadn't made in months. "We should definitely buckle him in." Valentina nodded seriously. "He gets scared." Together... They fastened the seat belt around the old stuffed rabbit. Marisol watched quietly. Something inside her ached. Not because of pain. Because she had imagined this moment thousands of times. A father laughing with his daughter. She had simply never believed it would become real. The laboratory occupied the top floor of one of Diego's own medical buildings. Everything had been prepared. No waiting. No paperwork. The director personally greeted them. "The samples will take approximately forty-eight hours." Diego nodded. "Thank you." Valentina looked around curiously. "So many stickers." The nurse smiled warmly. "I only need one tiny poke." Valentina frowned. "Will it hurt?" "Just a little." She looked toward Diego. "Mister?" "Yes?" "You go first." He laughed. "Deal." Without hesitation, Diego rolled up his sleeve. The nurse collected his blood sample. He looked at Valentina. "My turn is finished." The little girl took a deep breath. "Okay..." She squeezed her rabbit tightly. The needle barely touched her arm. She didn't cry. Instead she proudly announced, "I was brave." "You certainly were." Diego smiled. Very brave. As the nurse labeled both samples, she quietly handed them to the laboratory technician. Two names. Diego Villaseñor. Valentina Herrera. The envelopes disappeared behind a secure laboratory door. Inside those samples... Lived the answer capable of changing every future. Outside... None of them noticed a black sedan parked across the street. Inside sat Ricardo. Camera in hand. He snapped photograph after photograph. Diego. Marisol. Valentina. The laboratory entrance. The building sign. Every image carefully documented. He smiled. Then dialed Paulina. "They're taking a DNA test." Paulina remained silent for several seconds. Finally she spoke. "Perfect." "If the result proves she's his daughter..." Ricardo frowned. "You still sound pleased." Paulina looked out the window of her penthouse, her eyes cold as polished steel. "If she's truly Diego's daughter..." She said each word slowly. "...then we don't stop the truth." "We control it." Ricardo's expression darkened. "And if the child becomes an obstacle?" Paulina answered without the slightest hesitation. "Then obstacles..." "...have a way of disappearing." Far away, inside the laboratory, little Valentina laughed as Diego helped her rabbit "recover" from its imaginary injection. Neither father nor daughter had any idea... That someone had already begun planning how to tear them apart before the DNA results could ever bring them together. End of Chapter 2

14 chapters