Chapter 7 - THE WOMAN WHO TOOK THE MONEY
Samantha Reeves lived in Wisconsin.
Small house.
Two-car garage.
Basketball hoop above the driveway.
Nothing about it looked like a woman who had supposedly received millions to disappear.
We contacted her through counsel.
At first, she refused.
Then Elena sent the DNA report.
Samantha called five minutes later.
“Where did you get that?”
“Someone named Ellie.”
Silence.
Then:
“Dolores’s sister.”
“You know her?”
“Yes.”
“Will you speak to Laura?”
Another silence.
Finally:
“Yes.”
We met by video.
Samantha looked tired.
Not frightened.
Tired in the way people look after carrying the same story too long.
She told me Diego was twenty-four when they dated.
She got pregnant.
He panicked.
Then became excited.
At least temporarily.
He attended one ultrasound.
Bought a crib.
Told her he wanted to be a father.
Then Dolores found out.
Everything changed.
“She told Diego the baby would ruin his future.”
“Why?”
“Arturo’s trust.”
The trust already existed.
Arturo had apparently designed the grandchild provision while Samantha was pregnant.
He wanted to force Diego to grow up.
If the baby was Diego’s, the trust would shift power away from Dolores.
Exactly what she feared now.
“What did she offer you?”
Samantha laughed.
“Everyone assumes money.”
“It wasn’t?”
“Not at first.”
Dolores threatened her.
Family lawyers.
Custody battle.
Claims Samantha used drugs.
Claims she was unstable.
Claims Diego would take the baby.
Familiar.
Too familiar.
Then they offered settlement.
$300,000.
Samantha refused.
Then something happened.
“What?” I asked.
She looked down.
“My mother got sick.”
Cancer.
No insurance coverage for an experimental treatment.
Dolores offered to pay.
All of it.
In exchange, Samantha dismissed the paternity case, accepted confidentiality, and agreed never to contact Arturo.
My throat tightened.
“You took the deal.”
“Yes.”
“Do you regret it?”
“Every day.”
“Did your mother survive?”
“No.”
Silence.
The money bought six months.
Maybe that mattered.
Maybe not.
Life rarely gives clean moral choices.
“Did Diego agree?”
Samantha’s face hardened.
“He signed.”
There it was.
Again.
Not only Dolores.
Diego.
He signed away public recognition of his son.
Then married me a year later without telling me.
“Does Mateo know?”
“He knows Diego is his biological father.”
“How old is he?”
“Nine.”
My throat tightened.
A little boy.
My baby’s half brother.
Paola’s possible child’s half brother.
A family hidden by paperwork.
Then Samantha said something unexpected.
“Diego contacted me last month.”
I froze.
“What?”
“He asked whether I still had the DNA report.”
“Why?”
“He said he needed proof he had fathered a child before his vasectomy.”
The room went silent.
Why would that matter?
Samantha continued.
“He said his mother was trying to change trust documents.”
My skin prickled.
“What did you tell him?”
“That I had copies.”
“What did he want?”
“An original.”
“Did you give it?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because he said something strange.”
“What?”
“He said if Laura got pregnant, Dolores would use the vasectomy against her.”
I stopped breathing.
Diego knew before my pregnancy?
Samantha corrected:
“This was about three weeks before you announced.”
Maybe I was already pregnant and didn’t know.
But Diego couldn’t have known either.
Unless—
I remembered him asking why I was tired.
Watching me refuse coffee.
Touching my stomach once in bed.
Maybe he suspected.
Samantha continued.
“He said he needed the old paternity result to protect himself.”
“Not me.”
“No.”
Of course.
Always himself.
Then Elena asked:
“Did he mention Paola?”
Samantha shook her head.
“No.”
“Did he mention his mother’s twin?”
That changed Samantha’s face.
“Yes.”
“What?”
“Ellie helped me years ago.”
“How?”
“She warned me not to sign the first settlement.”
Interesting.
Dolores buried.
Ellie exposed.
Family twins on opposite sides.
“What happened between them?”
Samantha looked at me.
“Arturo.”
My stomach tightened.
“What about him?”
“Before Dolores married Arturo, he dated Ellie.”
I almost laughed.
Of course.
Everything had to be worse.
Arturo married one identical twin after dating the other.
Samantha continued.
“Ellie always believed Dolores married him for the trust.”
“Did Arturo love Ellie?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why does this matter now?”
“Because Ellie claims Arturo changed the trust before he died.”
Elena leaned forward.
“What change?”
“A codicil.”
“Where?”
“Missing.”
“What did it say?”
Samantha didn’t know.
But Dolores had searched for it for years.
And according to Ellie, the amendment changed who controlled the assets if Dolores concealed a biological grandchild.
I sat back.
If true, Mateo’s hidden paternity could do more than embarrass Dolores.
It could remove her entirely.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
A woman said:
“Laura, this is Ellie.”
Same voice as Dolores.
Almost.
Now that I knew, I heard differences.
Softer.
Less polished.
“You left the envelope.”
“Yes.”
“Why help me?”
“Because my sister has destroyed enough women to keep control of money that was never meant to belong to her.”
“What did Arturo’s amendment say?”
Silence.
Then:
“I have it.”
My heartbeat accelerated.
“Where?”
“With me.”
“Why not give it to the trustees?”
“Because the last lawyer I trusted tried to sell it back to Dolores.”
I looked at Elena.
Then Ellie said:
“If you want the truth, come to San Diego.”
“No.”
Elena shook her head firmly.
Ellie almost laughed.
“Good. At least you’re smarter than Samantha and Paola.”
“What do you want?”
“To meet somewhere public. With counsel.”
Better.
Then she added:
“And bring Diego’s prenatal DNA consent form.”
I frowned.
“What prenatal DNA consent form?”
Silence.
“Ellie?”
“Laura, didn’t anyone tell you?”
My stomach tightened.
“What?”
“Diego signed one before he filed for divorce.”
“That’s impossible. He refused prenatal testing.”
“Now he refuses.”
She paused.
“But three weeks ago, he secretly submitted a DNA sample for comparison against your pregnancy.”
I stopped breathing.
“How?”
“He used a private lab.”
“Did he have my blood?”
Ellie answered:
“No.”
“Then what did he compare?”
A long silence.
“An embryo sample.”
The room went cold.
“I never had an embryo sample taken.”
“I know.”
“Then whose?”
May you like
Ellie whispered:
“That’s what you need to find out.”
