Chapter 10: The Daughter They Erased
Chapter 10: The Daughter They Erased
Valentina's tiny arms wrapped tightly around Diego's neck.
"Daddy..."
She whispered the word again, almost experimentally, as though trying to decide whether it belonged.
This time, Diego answered without hesitation.
"I'm here."
The little girl smiled.
It was a simple moment.
But for Diego, it felt like reclaiming years that had been stolen.
Still...
His mind remained trapped by the sentence his grandmother had just spoken.
You had an older half-sister.
That evening, after Valentina had fallen asleep, Diego knocked softly on Doña Elena's bedroom door.
"Come in."
The old woman sat beside the fireplace, an old leather album resting on her lap.
She had already made up her mind.
Twenty-five years was long enough.
No more lies.
No more silence.
Diego sat opposite her.
"I need the truth."
She nodded.
"You deserve it."
She gently opened the album.
The first photograph showed a young man in his twenties.
Elegant.
Confident.
Handsome.
"My father."
"Yes."
"Fernando Villaseñor."
She turned another page.
A young woman appeared beside him.
She couldn't have been older than twenty.
Dark hair.
Warm smile.
Bright eyes filled with hope.
"This..."
Doña Elena whispered,
"...is Sofía Morales."
Diego stared at the picture.
She looked strangely familiar.
Not because he remembered her.
Because something about her smile reminded him of Valentina.
"Who was she?"
The old woman took a long breath.
"She worked as a receptionist in one of your grandfather's construction offices."
"Your father met her there."
"They fell in love."
"Were they married?"
"No."
"Your grandfather refused."
"Why?"
"Because Sofía came from a poor family."
Silence.
"Your grandfather believed the Villaseñor name belonged only with wealthy families."
Diego clenched his jaw.
"So he forced them apart."
"He tried."
"But by then..."
Doña Elena looked down at the photograph.
"Sofía was already pregnant."
Diego slowly leaned back.
"My father had a child."
"Yes."
"A little girl."
"What was her name?"
Doña Elena's voice almost broke.
"Isabella."
The room fell silent.
"For nearly two years..."
she continued,
"Fernando secretly visited Sofía and Isabella."
"He paid their rent."
"He spent every free afternoon with his daughter."
"He wanted to acknowledge her publicly."
"What stopped him?"
"Your grandfather."
Doña Elena closed the album for a moment.
"He threatened to cut Fernando out of the company."
"And?"
"He didn't care."
"So what happened?"
The old woman closed her eyes.
"The factory fire."
Diego frowned.
"What does that have to do with them?"
"Everything."
"The fire destroyed more than a building."
"It destroyed the family."
She looked into Diego's eyes.
"After the accident..."
"Your grandfather blamed Fernando."
"He said the scandal would ruin the company."
"He demanded Fernando leave Sofía forever."
Diego whispered,
"And he agreed?"
"No."
"He refused."
"Then?"
The old woman's hands trembled.
"Three weeks later..."
"...Fernando's car went off a mountain road."
Diego stopped breathing.
"My father's accident..."
She nodded.
"It wasn't an accident."
The words hung in the air.
Heavy.
Unbelievable.
"You think someone killed him?"
"I don't know."
"The investigation was closed within days."
"But nothing ever made sense."
Diego stood and walked toward the window.
His father had died when he was five.
He remembered almost nothing.
Only fragments.
A warm laugh.
A strong hand holding his.
A promise to teach him how to ride a bicycle.
Now...
Everything felt different.
"What happened to Sofía?"
Doña Elena swallowed.
"I tried to help her."
"I truly did."
"But after Fernando died..."
"She disappeared."
"And Isabella?"
"No one ever found them."
Diego turned sharply.
"No one looked?"
"I hired investigators."
"For years."
"Nothing."
"It was as though they vanished."
The old woman reached into the album.
Carefully removing a folded letter.
"This arrived six months after Fernando's funeral."
The paper had yellowed with age.
The handwriting was delicate.
She handed it to Diego.
It read:
Elena,
Please don't look for us anymore.
Isabella deserves a life without the Villaseñor name.
Promise me she'll never become part of this family.
That name has already taken enough from us.
Goodbye.
Sofía.
Diego folded the letter carefully.
"Did you believe it?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Because..."
Doña Elena looked toward the fire.
"Sofía would never have written 'goodbye.'"
"You think someone forced her?"
"I've wondered that every day for twenty-five years."
Meanwhile...
Across the city...
Inside the abandoned warehouse...
The mysterious man unlocked an old metal cabinet.
Inside sat dozens of carefully labeled boxes.
He selected one marked:
1989
Inside lay children's drawings.
Hospital bracelets.
Tiny shoes.
A faded pink ribbon.
Finally...
He picked up a family photograph.
A young Sofía smiled while holding baby Isabella.
Standing beside them...
Was a teenage boy.
Perhaps twelve years old.
His arm protectively wrapped around the little girl.
The mysterious man gently brushed dust from the picture.
His voice was barely audible.
"I promised I'd protect you."
"And I failed."
He looked toward Isabella's smiling face.
"But I won't fail again."
He carefully turned the photograph over.
On the back, written in childish handwriting, were four words:
My big brother Adrián.
The man closed his eyes.
For the first time...
His identity became clear.
He wasn't working for Adrián Salazar.
He was Adrián Salazar.
The little boy who had survived the factory fire.
The teenager who had promised to protect his little sister.
The man who had spent twenty-five years believing the Villaseñor family had destroyed everyone he loved.
Back at the mansion...
Gabriel Ortega burst into Diego's study without knocking.
"I found something."
Diego immediately looked up.
"What?"
Gabriel dropped a newly printed report onto the desk.
"I finally identified the visitor at the gate this morning."
"The man who delivered the pendant?"
"Yes."
"Who is he?"
Gabriel's expression turned grave.
"He disappeared fifteen years ago."
"And before that..."
"He testified in the factory fire investigation."
Diego frowned.
"What did he testify?"
Gabriel looked directly at him.
"He claimed..."
"...he saw someone deliberately lock the factory exits before the fire spread."
Silence.
"Why wasn't that in the official report?"
Gabriel answered quietly.
"Because someone removed his testimony from the court record."
Outside the study window...
Lightning flashed across the dark sky.
The past was no longer whispering.
May you like
It was screaming.
End of Chapter 10
