Chapter 5 - The Heir's Burden
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Within twenty minutes, Rafael’s private security detail had escorted Elena and baby Nicolás to a top-tier private hospital in the city.
The sterile white room was warm and quiet, a stark contrast to the suffocating luxury of the Navarro mansion. Pediatricians thoroughly checked little Nicolás, confirming that despite the terrifying fall, the baby had suffered no physical trauma.
Elena lay in the hospital bed, IV fluids running into her arm, while a female doctor gently applied soothing ointment to her bruised cheek and sprained wrist.
Rafael sat in a armchair beside the bed, holding a warm cup of tea he hadn't touched.
“How long, Elena?” Rafael asked softly, his voice thick with unexpressed grief. “How long has he been hurting you?”
Elena stared out the rain-slicked window at the city lights below.
“It didn't start with physical violence,” she murmured, tears welling in her eyes again. “It was subtle at first. He started questioning my clothes. Then he asked me to stop managing my art gallery. Then it was checking my location twenty times a day.”
She swallowed hard, hugging her arms around her chest.
“During the third month of my pregnancy, he punched a hole through the bathroom door because I answered a call from a male college friend,” she continued. “Afterward, he brought me ninety-nine red roses. He cried. He swore he was just stressed about the company’s new expansion.”
“And you believed him,” Rafael said gently.
“I wanted to,” Elena wept. “I wanted my baby to have a father. I thought I could fix him.”
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Rafael stood up, walked to the side of the bed, and took her uninjured hand in his massive, weathered palm.
“You cannot fix a man who enjoys breaking you, Elena,” Rafael said firmly. “I built an empire so my daughter would never have to bow to anyone. Tomorrow, my lawyers will tear his life apart.”
