PART 2 — THE SECRET BEHIND THE BABY PAPERS
PART 2 — THE SECRET BEHIND THE BABY PAPERS
The room stopped moving.
At least that was how it felt.
Everyone was looking at the same document.
Everyone except me.
Because I couldn't.
I couldn't look down.
I already knew whatever was written there would hurt.
My hand moved instinctively over my belly.
My son.
My baby.
The only innocent person in this entire nightmare.
"What is that?"
My voice came out smaller than I wanted.
My father didn't answer immediately.
That scared me more than anything.
Because my father always had answers.
He always knew what to do.
But now...
He looked like a man carrying a truth he hated.
"Valeria..."
"No."
I shook my head.
"Tell me."
He looked at me.
"I found this three weeks ago."
Three weeks.
The same day I found the folder in Santiago's office.
The same day I realized my husband was planning to take my child.
"You knew?"
My father lowered his eyes.
"I knew someone was trying to harm you."
My heart tightened.
"And you didn't tell me?"
His silence was an answer.
I stepped back.
The room suddenly felt too large.
Too cold.
"I trusted you."
Those words hurt him.
I saw it.
But they were true.
For months, I thought I had no one.
I thought I had to fight alone.
And now I discovered the one person who could have helped me...
Had also kept secrets.
Santiago watched us.
And slowly...
A smile returned.
Not the old arrogant smile.
Something darker.
Because he saw a crack.
He saw a family breaking.
"Interesting."
Everyone looked at him.
He laughed softly.
"All this time, everyone thought I was the villain."
He pointed at my father.
"But he was hiding things too."
My father turned.
"Do not compare yourself to me."
Santiago's smile disappeared.
Because he knew.
He had lost.
My father's lawyer, Elena, stepped forward.
"Mr. Rivas, you are not in a position to make accusations."
Santiago ignored her.
His eyes stayed on me.
"Valeria."
My stomach turned hearing my name from him.
"I know I made mistakes."
Mistakes.
That word almost made me laugh.
He called cruelty a mistake.
"You abandoned me during childbirth."
"You threatened my baby."
"You tried to take him from me."
His face tightened.
"Because you lied to me."
I stared.
"About what?"
He didn't answer.
And that was strange.
For once...
He looked uncertain.
My father noticed.
"What did you find?"
Santiago looked at him.
Then back at me.
"There was another reason I married you."
The air disappeared from my lungs.
I felt my father's anger before he even spoke.
"What did you say?"
Santiago looked away.
"I didn't know everything at first."
A pause.
"But I knew Valeria Mendoza was not just a teacher."
My blood ran cold.
"No."
He continued.
"I saw your medical records."
My eyes widened.
"My?"
"Your pregnancy records."
He looked at me.
"And the private hospital information."
I couldn't breathe.
Only a few people knew where I delivered.
Only a few.
"Who told you?"
No answer.
Again.
Someone else.
Another betrayal.
My father moved closer.
"Answer her."
Santiago stayed silent.
Then Beatriz spoke.
Everyone turned.
"I did."
My heart stopped.
His mother.
Of course.
The woman who hated me from the beginning.
The woman who watched me suffer.
She stepped forward slowly.
"I found out who you were before Santiago did."
The room became silent.
I looked at her.
"You knew?"
She smiled faintly.
"Your mother was careless."
My father's expression changed.
"Don't mention her."
Beatriz ignored him.
"Years ago, your mother and I knew each other."
I froze.
"My mother?"
"Yes."
That single word destroyed everything I thought I knew.
My mother had died when I was young.
The past was always simple.
Too simple.
But now...
Every answer created more questions.
"What did my mother have to do with you?"
Beatriz looked at me.
"She knew the truth."
"About what?"
She hesitated.
Then said:
"About the Salazar family."
My father stepped forward.
"Enough."
But Beatriz laughed.
"You're still protecting her."
She looked at me.
"Did he tell you everything, Valeria?"
I looked at my father.
His face told me enough.
No.
He hadn't.
"What didn't he tell me?"
No one spoke.
Then Elena quietly opened another file.
"This concerns your mother's death."
My heart stopped.
"My mother's death?"
I grabbed the chair beside me.
"What does she mean?"
My father looked away.
And for the first time in my life...
I saw fear in my father's eyes.
Not anger.
Not sadness.
Fear.
Elena placed a photograph on the table.
An old photograph.
My mother.
Young.
Smiling.
Standing beside another woman.
Beatriz.
I stared.
Impossible.
They knew each other.
They weren't strangers.
They were connected.
My whole life had been built on a lie.
"Your mother discovered something," my father finally said.
His voice was quiet.
"Something about the Rivas family."
I looked at Santiago.
Then Beatriz.
Then my father.
"What?"
He hesitated.
Then:
"The Rivas and Salazar companies were never enemies."
A pause.
"They were partners."
The room froze.
"Years ago, our families built an agreement."
"What agreement?"
My father looked at my belly.
"The first child born from either family would inherit both."
I felt sick.
My hand went over my stomach.
"No."
He continued.
"Your marriage to Santiago was not an accident."
I stared.
"What are you saying?"
My father looked broken.
"Someone planned it."
The words echoed.
Someone planned it.
My marriage.
My pregnancy.
My entire life.
Santiago looked at me.
For the first time...
He didn't look like a winner.
He looked like another victim.
"I didn't know."
I laughed softly.
A broken laugh.
"You expect me to believe that?"
He shook his head.
"No."
A pause.
"But it's true."
Then Elena's phone rang.
She answered.
Listened.
And her face changed.
"What happened?"
My father asked.
She slowly lowered the phone.
"The hospital records were accessed."
My blood froze.
"What records?"
She looked at me.
"Your baby's."
Silence.
"Someone tried to change the birth registration."
My father's jaw tightened.
"Who?"
Elena looked down at her phone.
Then said:
"The request came from inside Grupo Salazar."
Everyone froze.
Including my father.
Because the person trying to steal my baby...
Was not outside the family.
It was someone close.
May you like
Someone with access.
Someone we trusted.
