Chapter 6 - THE CHILD BEFORE OUR MARRIAGE
Diego had a child.
The sentence followed me all the way back to Elena’s office.
I wanted it to be another manipulation.
A bluff.
Something Dolores invented to scare me away from the trust.
Then Elena found the court file.
Sealed paternity action.
Nine years earlier.
One year before Diego married me.
Mother:
Samantha Reeves.
Child:
Mateo Reeves.
Father alleged:
Diego Alvarez.
Case dismissed voluntarily.
No final adjudication.
I stared.
“Why was it dismissed?”
“We need the sealed record.”
“Did Diego know?”
“He was served.”
My chest tightened.
He absolutely knew.
I remembered our second date.
I asked whether he had ever gotten anyone pregnant.
He laughed.
“Not that I know of.”
Now that sentence felt different.
Dolores called again.
This time I answered on speaker with Elena.
“So Mateo is Diego’s son?”
“He might be.”
“Was there a DNA test?”
Silence.
“Dolores.”
“Yes.”
My heart stopped.
“And?”
Another pause.
“He was Diego’s.”
I closed my eyes.
Then the trust already had a first biological grandchild.
Why had nobody activated the clause?
Elena asked exactly that.
Dolores’s voice changed.
“Samantha accepted a settlement.”
“What settlement?”
“Confidential.”
“So you paid the mother to disappear?”
“That is a vulgar way to describe a negotiated family arrangement.”
I almost laughed.
“How much?”
No answer.
Elena said:
“If a verified biological grandchild already existed, the trustee may have had duties under Arturo’s instrument.”
Dolores went quiet.
That mattered.
“Did Arturo know?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because he would have transferred everything.”
There it was.
Dolores had concealed her grandson from her own husband to preserve control.
Not just from me.
From Arturo.
I whispered:
“You committed fraud against the trust.”
Her voice sharpened.
“Be careful.”
“No. You be careful.”
She hung up.
Elena immediately began tracing the old settlement.
Then Paola arrived unexpectedly.
She looked terrified.
“Diego knows about Mateo.”
“He always knew.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“I mean he knows you know.”
My stomach tightened.
“What happened?”
“He went to Dolores’s house.”
“So?”
“They were screaming.”
“About what?”
“Who contacted you.”
I frowned.
“You mean Dolores told me.”
“No.”
“Then?”
Paola shook her head.
“Dolores says she didn’t.”
That stopped me.
I replayed the hallway.
Dolores had said:
You still don’t understand what Arturo did.
Then:
Diego already has one.
She had absolutely told me.
Unless—
Paola showed me a message from Dolores.
I NEVER SPOKE TO LAURA AFTER COURT.
I stared.
“That’s impossible.”
“You saw her?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Outside the courthouse.”
Paola went pale.
“Dolores was with me.”
Silence.
“What?”
“We left through the parking garage together.”
I looked at Elena.
“Could she have gotten back upstairs?”
“Maybe.”
“No. Paola says they were together.”
“For how long?”
“Almost an hour.”
I remembered the woman.
Same hair.
Same pearl earrings.
Same perfume.
Same voice.
Maybe.
Or maybe I was so exhausted I saw what I expected.
My skin prickled.
“Does Dolores have a sister?”
Paola looked confused.
“I don’t know.”
Elena started searching.
Dolores Alvarez.
Maiden name:
Navarro.
Sibling records.
One sister.
Identical twin.
Elena looked up.
“Oh.”
Name:
Elena Navarro.
My attorney blinked.
“Unfortunately, we share a first name.”
I barely heard her.
“Where does she live?”
“San Diego.”
“Relationship with Dolores?”
Unknown.
Then Paola whispered:
“Diego once mentioned an Aunt Ellie.”
I stopped breathing.
Dolores had an identical twin.
One I had never met.
One who apparently knew about the trust.
One who might have approached me outside court pretending to be Dolores.
Why?
The answer arrived the next morning.
A courier delivered an envelope to Elena’s office.
No return address.
Inside:
The original DNA report from Mateo Reeves’s paternity case.
Probability of paternity:
99.99%.
Diego.
Attached was a handwritten note.
DOLORES PAID TO BURY THIS.
ARTURO NEVER KNEW.
IF LAURA’S BABY IS DIEGO’S, DO NOT LET DOLORES BURY ANOTHER CHILD.
Signed:
ELLIE.
Then a second page.
A current address.
Samantha Reeves.
May you like
And beneath it:
ASK HER WHAT HAPPENED THE NIGHT SHE AGREED TO DISMISS THE CASE.
