CHAPTER 3:The Child They Wanted Erased
No one answered.
Alejandro replayed the recording.
Again.
Again.
Every replay made Esther's expression harder.
Finally she sighed.
"You deserve to know."
Marcela grabbed her mother's arm.
"Mother!"
"Enough."
Esther ignored her.
She walked toward the window.
Thirty years earlier...
Alejandro's grandfather had built the Aranda fortune.
But the inheritance came with one condition.
The family estate could never pass to an adopted bloodline.
Only biological descendants could inherit controlling ownership.
Years ago...
Doctors secretly informed Esther that Alejandro was sterile after a childhood illness.
She never told him.
Instead...
She bribed the family physician to falsify every medical record.
When Valeria became pregnant...
Everything fell apart.
If Alejandro couldn't father children...
Whose baby was she carrying?
Rather than allow the truth to destroy the Aranda empire...
Esther chose another solution.
Convince everyone Valeria was mentally unstable.
Force a miscarriage.
Remove the scandal.
Then quietly dissolve the marriage.
Alejandro felt physically sick.
"I was never sterile."
Esther lowered her eyes.
"No."
"You recovered."
"But we never repeated the tests."
The room spun.
Years.
Entire years.
Built on a lie.
Valeria finally spoke.
"I learned the truth six weeks ago."
"I found the original medical files."
"I wanted to tell you."
"But they found out first."
She rolled up her sleeve.
Another bruise.
"They said every time I refused..."
"...they'd hurt me again."
Alejandro turned slowly toward Marcela.
"You took the photograph."
She smiled nervously.
"It was only to make you suspicious."
"You were never home."
"You were easy to manipulate."
Alejandro's eyes hardened.
He reached into his pocket.
Pressed one button.
His security chief answered instantly.
"Seal every exit."
"No one leaves this house."
Marcela's face lost all color.
Because she suddenly understood—
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Alejandro no longer intended to protect his family.
He intended to expose them.
