Chapter 4 - A MOTHER'S CONFESSION
Teresa placed the ring on the desk between them.
“You always loved fragile things,” she said. “Your father. Camila. That useless dream of making this family honest.”
Julián kept his voice flat. “Where is my son?”
She smiled without warmth. “You still believe the child is yours?”
The lie was designed to wound, but Camila had warned him about Teresa's favorite weapon: doubt.
Julián pushed the recorder in his pocket deeper. “Tell me what happened.”
“Camila became reckless. She threatened to expose the accounts during the board meeting. Rodrigo tried to stop her. She fought back. She fell.”
“Then why did you stage a funeral?”
“To protect the family.”
“By stealing my child?”
For the first time, Teresa's expression shifted.
Julián saw fear.
She turned toward the door. “There is no child.”
He caught her wrist, not hard, but enough to stop her. “You carried an infant out of the hospital.”
Teresa stared at him. “Ana Lucía should have died in that fire.”
The sentence hung in the room.
Julián released her and stepped back. Teresa realized too late what she had admitted.
Then the office window shattered.
A bullet struck the lamp.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Julián pulled Teresa to the floor as a second shot tore through the wall. Footsteps rushed across the courtyard.
By the time security arrived, the shooter was gone.
But on the balcony, Julián found a navy cuff link engraved with the letter R.
May you like
Rodrigo had made his next move.
And Teresa whispered from the floor, “He'll kill us both before he lets you find that baby.”
