Chapter 2: The Man Who Stole Three Years
The Villaseñor mansion had never felt so divided.
Downstairs, the servants moved carefully, whispering only when they were certain no one important was nearby.
Upstairs, behind the closed doors of the master suite, Paulina Robles stood before a full-length mirror, her reflection revealing none of the fury burning inside her.
She slowly removed the diamond engagement ring from her finger.
Not because she intended to return it.
Because she needed to remind herself why she had fought so hard to earn it.
Power.
Security.
A future beyond anything she had known growing up.
She slipped the ring back on.
"No little girl," she murmured, "is taking that away from me."
Meanwhile, on the first floor, Diego walked beside Marisol in silence.
The hallway leading to the blue guest suite overlooked the estate's central courtyard, where fountains sparkled beneath the afternoon sun.
Years ago, Diego had imagined filling this home with laughter.
Instead, it had become a monument to business meetings, charity galas, and lonely dinners.
Now, for the first time in years, the quiet felt different.
Almost hopeful.
He stopped outside the suite.
Isabel, the elderly housekeeper, opened the door.
"I've prepared everything, Señor."
Fresh flowers stood beside the window.
Tiny dresses had already been arranged neatly inside the wardrobe.
Children's books rested on the bedside table.
Someone had even found a small rocking horse from the mansion's storage room.
Marisol stared in disbelief.
"This is... too much."
Isabel smiled warmly.
"No child should feel unwelcome."
Valentina's eyes grew wide.
"So big!"
She ran inside, her tiny feet disappearing across the thick cream-colored carpet.
She laughed as she discovered the rocking horse.
"Mama! Horse!"
The innocent excitement in her voice echoed through the room.
Marisol covered her mouth.
She had spent three years raising her daughter inside cramped servant quarters barely large enough for one narrow bed.
Seeing Valentina smile so freely made every sacrifice worthwhile.
Diego quietly watched them.
Then spoke.
"We need to talk."
Marisol nodded.
She knew this moment could no longer be delayed.
They sat in a private sitting room connected to the guest suite while Valentina remained nearby, happily drawing pictures with colored pencils Isabel had brought.
Diego folded his hands together.
"Start from the beginning."
Marisol looked down at the cup of untouched tea before her.
"I found out I was pregnant two weeks after you disappeared."
"I didn't disappear."
"I know that now."
Silence settled again.
She took a slow breath.
"I tried calling you."
"No answer."
"I visited your apartment."
"You were gone."
"I went to your office."
"They told me you had accepted a project overseas."
Diego frowned deeply.
"I never authorized anyone to tell you that."
"I believed them."
She smiled bitterly.
"What else could I think?"
"The man I loved suddenly vanished."
"I was pregnant."
"I had no family."
"I assumed..."
Her voice cracked.
"...that you had chosen another life."
Diego leaned back slowly.
His mind raced.
Three years earlier, his life had been chaos.
His father had suffered a severe heart attack.
Within days Diego had taken control of the Villaseñor Group.
He worked nearly eighteen hours every day.
Business rivals attacked from every direction.
Lawsuits.
Hostile takeovers.
Political pressure.
He barely remembered sleeping.
But through all of it...
He had never stopped searching for Marisol.
He had returned to their apartment after three exhausting weeks.
She was gone.
Neighbors claimed she had moved away.
Her phone had been disconnected.
He hired a private investigator.
Nothing.
It was as though she had vanished into thin air.
"I searched for you."
Marisol looked up sharply.
"What?"
"For almost a year."
"No..."
"I did."
"I thought you left me."
She stared into his eyes.
There was no hesitation.
No deception.
Only grief.
The same grief she had carried all these years.
One terrible realization struck them both simultaneously.
Neither had abandoned the other.
Someone had made certain they never found each other.
Across the city...
Inside an elegant office overlooking Paseo de la Reforma...
A middle-aged man nervously adjusted his expensive tie while reading an email.
Subject: Urgent Internal Inquiry.
Requested by: Diego Villaseñor.
His hands immediately began trembling.
"Impossible..."
He opened the message.
Review all personnel records connected to Villaseñor Arquitectos from three years ago.
Including dismissed reception staff and archived visitor logs.
The man's face drained of color.
Eduardo Salazar had once managed human resources at Diego's former architectural firm.
Today he served as vice president of another Villaseñor subsidiary.
Three years earlier...
A frightened young pregnant woman had arrived asking to see Diego.
Eduardo remembered her perfectly.
He also remembered refusing to let her inside.
Because someone had paid him not to.
A very generous payment.
One million pesos.
In exchange for a simple lie.
"Diego no longer works here."
"He moved overseas."
"Don't waste your time."
Eduardo had convinced himself it wasn't a serious matter.
Just a wealthy businessman ending a relationship.
People lied every day.
Life moved on.
Until today.
Now Diego was reopening the past.
Eduardo reached for his phone.
Only one person could help him.
Paulina answered on the second ring.
"You sound nervous."
"He knows."
Paulina straightened instantly.
"What do you mean?"
"He's reviewing records from three years ago."
Silence.
Then...
"How much does he know?"
"I don't know."
"But if he reaches the archived security footage..."
Paulina closed her eyes.
She remembered that day vividly.
She had not yet met Diego.
Back then she had worked as executive assistant to his father.
She admired Diego from afar.
Brilliant.
Handsome.
Already destined to inherit billions.
When she discovered a young woman asking for him every afternoon, curiosity turned into jealousy.
She secretly followed Marisol.
Learned about the pregnancy.
Then made a decision that would alter four lives forever.
She paid Eduardo.
She bribed the receptionist.
She arranged for Marisol's phone messages to disappear before Diego ever received them.
One lie became ten.
Ten became a hundred.
Within weeks, the lovers had vanished from each other's lives.
Paulina believed the story had ended forever.
Until a little girl carrying Diego's eyes walked into his mansion.
Her voice became cold.
"Destroy anything that connects you to this."
"I can't."
"You'd better."
"If Diego discovers we worked together..."
"He won't."
"Listen carefully."
"If anyone asks..."
"You never met me."
She ended the call.
For the first time in years...
Fear replaced confidence.
Back at the mansion, Valentina climbed onto the sofa carrying a sheet of paper.
"Daddy?"
The word slipped out naturally.
Without hesitation.
Marisol froze.
Diego looked at the child.
She held out her drawing proudly.
It showed three people standing beneath a bright yellow sun.
One woman.
One little girl.
One very tall man.
Above them, written in uneven childish letters Isabel had helped her trace earlier that morning, were three words.
Mama
Me
Daddy
Diego accepted the drawing carefully.
His vision blurred.
He had signed billion-dollar contracts without his hands shaking.
He had negotiated with presidents.
Faced hostile investors.
Built skyscrapers across Mexico.
Yet this simple drawing nearly broke him.
He knelt before Valentina.
"Who taught you that word?"
She pointed innocently toward him.
"I think."
"You think?"
She nodded.
"When you smile..."
"...my heart feels warm."
Marisol quietly turned away, unable to hide her tears.
Diego looked at the drawing once more.
Then at the little girl before him.
He reached out slowly.
"May I give you a hug?"
Valentina answered by wrapping both tiny arms around his neck before he had even finished asking.
In that embrace, three lost years could not be recovered.
But perhaps...
The years ahead still could.
Neither of them noticed the hidden security camera in the hallway.
Nor the figure standing in the monitoring room downstairs, watching every second.
Paulina.
Her expression was completely emotionless.
She pressed the pause button on the screen, freezing the image of Diego embracing Valentina.
Then she whispered a single sentence that chilled the empty room.
May you like
"If I can't have him..."
"...none of you will."
