Chapter 7 - IsabellaAlejandro couldn't move.
The woman standing behind Esteban looked older than the photograph, but there was no mistaking the eyes.
Green.
Exactly like his.
She stared at him.
Tears streamed down her face.
“My son.”
The words tore something open inside him.
Alejandro stepped backward.
“No.”
“Please.”
“No.”
He looked at Rafael.
“Who is she?”
Rafael whispered:
“Isabella.”
Alejandro's breathing became shallow.
His whole life had been built on one fact.
His mother was Doña Esther.
His father had loved her.
Their family was the foundation of everything.
Now the foundation had vanished beneath his feet.
Isabella reached into her purse.
She pulled out a small pendant.
The same pendant from the photograph.
“I gave this to your father before I disappeared.”
Alejandro shook his head.
“Why did you leave me?”
Her face collapsed.
“I didn't.”
Silence.
“Your father thought Esther would kill you.”
Alejandro stared at her.
“She wanted his inheritance.”
“No.”
Isabella's eyes filled with tears.
“She wanted power.”
She looked at Valeria.
“And she has been searching for you for years.”
“Searching for me?”
Isabella nodded.
“Because your father left proof that you were his real heir.”
Alejandro laughed bitterly.
“I already have an inheritance.”
“Not the Aranda fortune.”
She leaned closer.
“The Marquez fortune.”
Everyone fell silent.
Isabella explained that her family had owned a financial empire larger than the Aranda business.
When she became pregnant, her father discovered that one of his partners had been stealing money.
That partner was Doña Esther's family.
A confrontation followed.
Isabella's father vanished.
Her brothers died mysteriously.
Isabella was attacked.
She escaped.
But she had been separated from her newborn son.
Your father took you, she said.
He promised to keep you safe.
He married Esther for political reasons, but never loved her.
Alejandro's voice broke.
“So my whole childhood was a lie.”
“No.”
Isabella shook her head.
“Your father loved you.”
She handed him a letter.
Alejandro recognized the handwriting.
The letter was dated one week before his father's death.
My son,
If you're reading this, I failed to protect you.
Esther will tell you that everything I did was for the family. Don't believe her.
Your real inheritance is not money. It is the truth.
Protect your wife. Protect your child.
And never trust the person who benefits from your silence.
Alejandro lowered the letter.
Then he noticed something.
A final line.
The proof is beneath the chapel.
Rafael looked at him.
“There is no chapel.”
Isabella shook her head.
“There is.”
Alejandro stared.
“Where?”
Isabella answered:
“Under this mansion.”
At that exact moment, Alejandro's phone rang.
Doña Esther.
He answered.
Her voice was calm.
“Bring Isabella home.”
Alejandro froze.
“You know where we are.”
“I know everything.”
“You tried to kill Valeria.”
“I tried to protect this family.”
“You killed my father.”
Silence.
Then his mother's voice became cold.
“No.”
She whispered:
“Your father killed himself.”
Alejandro's face tightened.
Then she added:
“But I can prove he wasn't your father.”
The call ended.
Alejandro looked at Isabella.
She was crying.
And for the first time, fear appeared in her eyes.
“My son…”
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“What?”
“She has the DNA results.”
