Valeria suddenly remembered the unanswered calls, the letter that never arrived, the doorman who claimed that Alejandro refused to see her.
His heart sank.
Perhaps Alejandro hadn't simply ignored the truth.
Perhaps someone had stolen it from him.
Elena finally admitted that, after the divorce, Valeria had gone to Alejandro's house three times.
Alejandro stared intently at Valeria.
“Did you come to find me?”
—Yes —he said—. Three times.
“They told me you didn’t want to see me.”
“They told me that you had ordered them not to let me in.”
Alejandro turned to his mother.
“Where are the letters?”
Elena said nothing.
“Where are they?”
Finally, he confessed.
“I destroyed them.”
Valeria felt something inside her collapse.
"The envelope?" asked Alejandro.
"Yeah."
“Ultrasound scans?”
Elena lowered her gaze. “Yes.”
Alejandro covered his face with both hands.
“You stole five years from me.”
“I was trying to save you.”
"No," she said softly. "You were trying to control me."
Elena insisted that Valeria had taken everything from her.
Valeria laughed bitterly.
“I left without asking for anything. I gave birth alone while your family smiled for the cameras as if I had never existed.”
Alejandro looked devastated.
“Were you alone?”
"Not entirely," she said. "My mother and brother were there. But you weren't. And although lies drove us apart, it was you who closed the first door."
He nodded slowly.
"You're right."
Elena tried to approach the car.
“Let me see them.”
Valeria stood between her and the danger.
“No.”
“They are my grandchildren.”
“They are children who don’t even know your name,” Valeria said. “And no one who has erased evidence of their existence has the right to demand their love.”
Alejandro looked at his mother.
"Leave."
When Elena left, Alejandro looked at Valeria again.
"Forgive me."
"Don't ask me that here," she said.
"I won't ask you to erase five years," he replied. "I just want a chance to earn a position, if you'll allow me."
Valeria remained silent.
She had imagined this moment for years. She had imagined punishing him, rejecting him, making him feel the loneliness she had felt during the fevers, the hospital stays, the first steps, and the Father's Day events with an empty chair.
But revenge did not console her.
Their children deserved more than adult pride.
Mateo, the oldest, rolled down the window.
“Mom… is he our father?”
Alejandro crouched down slowly, keeping his distance.
“I think so,” she said, her voice trembling. “But your mother will decide how we talk about it. I wasn’t there when I should have been.
” “Why?” Mateo asked.
Alejandro swallowed hard.
“Because I made a terrible mistake. I didn’t listen.”
Santiago peeked out.
“My mother always listens.”
Alejandro smiled sadly.
“I should have learned from her.”
Valeria opened the car door.
CONTINUE READING...>>
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