Chapter 2 - THE DAUGHTER HE NEVER MENTIONED
Nine years.
I kept staring at the document as if the number might rearrange itself.
Alejandro had told me Claudia’s baby was one.
He had made that sound like the beginning of their betrayal.
It wasn’t.
Apparently, it had started nearly a decade earlier.
“What is the child’s name?”
Rebecca looked down.
“Lucia Moreno.”
Claudia’s last name.
“Birth date?”
She told me.
I did the math automatically.
Lucia had been conceived during the year Alejandro and I celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary.
That summer, Claudia came with us to Wisconsin for a long weekend.
I remembered the photographs.
The wine.
The boat.
Alejandro grilling steaks while Claudia laughed beside him.
I had thought we were three old friends.
Maybe I had been the only friend there.
“Where did this document come from?”
“A benefits form connected to a company Alejandro registered.”
I frowned.
“What company?”
Rebecca turned the laptop toward me.
VANCE STRATEGIC HOLDINGS LLC.
Registered three years earlier.
Managing member:
Alejandro Vance.
I had never heard the name.
“What does it do?”
“We’re finding out.”
“Am I attached to it?”
“Not directly.”
The word directly frightened me.
Rebecca continued.
“There are transfers from one of your jointly accessible household accounts into accounts connected with the company.”
“How much?”
“Enough that I don’t want to guess until we trace everything.”
I felt suddenly nauseated.
For years, I had transferred a generous monthly household allowance into an account Alejandro managed.
Mortgage payments.
Travel.
Insurance.
Maintenance.
Family support.
I had never questioned every dollar because the money represented a tiny fraction of my trust income.
That was exactly why Alejandro may have believed I never would.
“What about Lucia?”
Rebecca enlarged the document.
“She appears as his daughter.”
“Is there a DNA test?”
“Not here.”
“Could he be lying?”
“Possibly.”
But why claim a secret child on a private business benefits application if she wasn’t his?
Then another memory surfaced.
Nine years earlier, Claudia disappeared for almost seven months.
She said she had accepted a temporary marketing contract in Seattle.
When she returned, she had gained some weight and cut her hair.
She told me the job had been miserable.
She never mentioned pregnancy.
I closed my eyes.
“My God.”
Sofia reached for my hand.
“Do you remember something?”
“Claudia left Chicago the year Lucia was born.”
Rebecca’s expression sharpened.
“Where is Lucia now?”
I didn’t know.
I had heard Claudia mention a niece named Lucy occasionally.
A little girl she supposedly helped care for because her sister struggled financially.
I thought of birthday gifts I had purchased.
Books.
A pink bicycle.
A tablet for remote school.
Had I unknowingly bought presents for my husband’s daughter?
My phone rang.
Alejandro.
Everyone looked at the screen.
Rebecca said, “You don’t have to answer.”
I did.
His voice came quickly.
“Camila?”
I stayed silent.
“Camila, are you awake?”
“Yes.”
The line went quiet.
Not relief.
Shock.
“You remember me?”
Every muscle in my body turned cold.
“Yes, Alejandro.”
Another pause.
“Do you remember this morning?”
I looked at Rebecca.
She nodded slightly.
I answered:
“Every word.”
Alejandro exhaled.
Then, incredibly, he said:
“I think we should wait before making any major decisions. You just had brain surgery.”
I almost smiled.
“You seemed comfortable asking me to sign divorce papers before it.”
“That was a mistake.”
“No.”
I looked at the document showing Lucia’s name.
“The mistake was assuming I didn’t know about your daughter.”
Silence.
Complete silence.
May you like
Then Alejandro whispered:
“Who told you about Lucia?”
