Chapter 4 - THE BRIDE'S DEMAND
Paulina stepped into the dusty schoolroom and closed the heavy double doors behind her.
The click of the latch sounded incredibly loud in the quiet room.
She walked slowly toward me, her designer heels clicking against the hardwood floor. She held the silver locket up, letting it catch the morning light streaming through the tall windows.
It was my locket. The one Diego had given me in San Aurelio.
“You left your suitcase unlocked this morning,” Paulina said, her voice dripping with mock sympathy. “Such a careless mistake for a mother trying to hide a secret.”
Panic flared hot in my chest.
“You broke into my room,” I said, stepping away from the hidden safe. I quickly moved to block her view of the open panel.
“I am the future mistress of this house,” Paulina sneered. “I don't break into rooms. I inspect them. And what an interesting collection of trash I found under your bed.”
She tossed the manila folder onto a wooden school desk.
The folder spilled open.
Inside were the items from my hidden bundle. The photograph of Diego and me in the snow. The hospital bracelet with Valentina’s name.
And the unopened letter from Don Rafael.
“Give those back,” I demanded, stepping forward, my maternal instinct overriding my fear of the billionaire's fiancée.
“Or what?” Paulina challenged, her eyes narrowing. “You’ll call the police? A homeless maid accusing the Serrano family of theft? They’ll laugh you out of the city.”
She picked up the hospital bracelet, reading the name aloud.
“Valentina Vega. Born precisely eight and a half months after Diego returned from his reckless winter in the mountains.” Paulina threw the bracelet onto the desk in disgust. “You really thought you could just waltz back into his house and demand a payout?”
“I didn't come for money,” I said fiercely. “I came because I need the job to pay for her school.”
“Liar.”
“It’s the truth! I didn't even know Diego owned this mansion. The agency assigned me here.”
Paulina laughed. It was a cold, brittle sound.
“You expect me to believe that is a coincidence? Please. You saw the engagement announcement in the papers. You knew my father’s shipping company was merging with Alcázar Enterprises tomorrow night at the party. You brought his bastard child here to ruin my wedding and extort my family.”
She was projecting.
Suddenly, a realization hit me. A reversal of everything I had assumed.
Paulina wasn't marrying Diego because she loved him. She was marrying him because the Serrano shipping company was failing. I had heard rumors in the city—her father’s empire was drowning in debt. The merger with Diego’s company was the only thing keeping her family out of bankruptcy.
She wasn't afraid of losing Diego's heart. She was afraid of losing his wallet.
“If Diego finds out he has an heir,” Paulina whispered, stepping dangerously close to me, “the merger contracts will have to be rewritten. The press will have a field day. The Serrano name will be humiliated.”
“I have kept this secret for nine years,” I said steadily. “I am not going to ruin his life now.”
“I know you won't,” Paulina smiled sharply. “Because you are going to pack your cheap red suitcase, take your little girl, and leave this mansion tonight through the service gate. And you are never coming back.”
“I have a contract with the agency.”
“I bought the agency this morning,” Paulina countered flawlessly. “You are fired.”
I stared at her. She had the power, the money, and the ruthlessness to destroy me.
“If I leave,” I bargained, my voice trembling, “you give me back the envelope.”
Paulina glanced at the sealed letter from Don Rafael.
“This?” She picked it up. “For Diego, when the child returns. How dramatic.”
She didn't hand it to me.
Instead, Paulina gripped the thick parchment in both hands.
“No!” I shouted.
With one sharp, violent motion, Paulina ripped the sealed envelope completely in half.
Then she tore it again. And again.
She let the shredded pieces of Don Rafael’s final message flutter to the dusty floor like snow.
“Oops,” Paulina smiled maliciously.
I dropped to my knees, desperately gathering the torn pieces of paper, trying to salvage the words written inside.
Paulina looked down at me, utterly satisfied with my humiliation.
“You have until sunset,” Paulina commanded. “If you are still on this property when the engagement party begins, I will personally call Child Protective Services and tell them you are an unfit, mentally unstable mother. With my family’s influence, Valentina will be in a state orphanage by midnight.”
She turned on her designer heel and marched out of the schoolroom.
I knelt on the floor, clutching the shredded pieces of the letter against my chest, tears finally spilling over my cheeks.
I had failed. I had to leave.
I began piecing the torn paper together on the wooden floor, desperate to read whatever Don Rafael had written before I lost it forever.
Diego, the first torn scrap read.
If Marisol has returned, it means the danger has passed. I am sorry I had to lie to you.
I froze.
Lie to him?
I found the next piece and pressed it against the first.
I did not pay her to leave you. I paid the men who threatened to kill her.
My breath caught in my throat.
Nine years ago, I hadn't just run away. Three men in dark suits had cornered me in San Aurelio. They told me if I ever saw Diego again, I would not live to see the winter end. I thought Diego had sent them to get rid of a peasant girl who had become inconvenient.
I found the final, largest piece of the letter.
The Serrano family demanded the arranged marriage nine years ago to save their debts. Paulina’s father sent the thugs to threaten Marisol. I hid her to keep her alive. The Serrano family are thieves, Diego. Do not sign the merger.
I stared at the taped-together words.
Don Rafael hadn't banished me. He had protected me. And Diego had spent nine years thinking I abandoned him for money.
Suddenly, a deep, furious voice echoed from the open doorway.
“What the hell is going on in here?”
I snapped my head up.
Diego stood in the doorway.
He wasn't looking at the shredded letter on the floor.
May you like
He was looking directly at the open steel safe hidden inside the fireplace wall.
And then, his dark eyes slowly moved down to me.
