CHAPTER 4 : THE SECRET IN CAMILA’S BIRTH CERTIFICATE
Daniel arrived at the Brooklyn brownstone shortly after sunset.
It was the first time Mariana had seen him without Renata nearby.
He looked older than she remembered.
Not weak.
Wounded.
He carried a leather folder and the expression of a man who had spent the day watching his life become evidence.
Camila was upstairs with Patricia, who had arrived after learning about the court hearing.
Patricia had not apologized.
She had simply walked into the house carrying soup, crossed herself, and blamed Renata for everything.
Mariana did not correct her.
Not yet.
Daniel sat across from Mariana at the dining table where Alexander had erased her motherhood two nights earlier.
He opened the folder.
Inside were copies of the fraudulent birth certificate, the second passport, and several bank records.
The birth certificate named Daniel Walsh as Camila’s father.
Renata Walsh as her mother.
The document claimed Camila had been born in New Jersey, not New York.
It was a sophisticated forgery.
Not something created on a home computer.
“Why would Renata do this?” Mariana asked.
Daniel stared at the page.
“I think she planned to take Camila to Portugal and claim we were a family.”
“But you weren’t going.”
“She may have assumed I would follow.”
“After discovering the affair?”
“Or before I discovered it.”
Mariana studied him.
“You think Renata was planning to leave Alexander.”
“I think she was planning to leave everyone.”
Daniel placed another document on the table.
A life insurance policy.
The insured person was Daniel.
The beneficiary was Renata.
The value was five million dollars.
“That’s not unusual for someone in my business,” he said. “But the policy was updated six months ago.”
“What changed?”
“The beneficiary structure. Before, part of it went into a trust for my sister’s children. Renata changed it so she received everything directly.”
“Could she do that without you?”
“She forged my signature.”
Mariana leaned back.
The affair was no longer the center of the story.
It was merely one part of something darker.
“Do you think she intended to hurt you?”
Daniel looked at her.
“I don’t know.”
That answer frightened her more than certainty.
The front door opened.
Alexander entered with his attorney.
His tie was loose.
His face was gray.
Patricia hurried downstairs.
“What happened?”
“The judge suspended the trip and ordered both passports surrendered,” Alexander said.
Mariana glanced at Daniel.
“The real passport is already in police custody.”
Alexander noticed him.
For a moment, neither man spoke.
Daniel stood.
Alexander closed the front door.
“You came to my house?”
Daniel gave a bitter smile.
“Your house?”
The words landed exactly where they were intended.
Mariana had purchased the brownstone.
Everyone in the room knew it.
Alexander stepped forward.
“You sent the police after Renata.”
“Renata forged documents using my name.”
“You froze her accounts.”
“My accounts.”
Patricia moved between them.
“This isn’t helping Camila.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You participated in a plan to take a child overseas using a false story.”
Patricia’s face tightened.
“I thought they were going to Aspen.”
“So did Mariana.”
“I didn’t know about Paris.”
Mariana studied her mother-in-law.
Patricia had been cruel.
But the surprise on her face appeared genuine.
Alexander removed his coat.
“Renata called my attorney.”
Everyone turned toward him.
“Where is she?” Daniel asked.
“She wants immunity before she comes in.”
Daniel laughed once.
“Immunity from what?”
“She claims you threatened her.”
“She stole nearly three hundred thousand dollars from me.”
“She says the money belongs to her.”
“She forged my signature.”
Alexander’s attorney raised a hand.
“We should be careful discussing accusations without counsel present.”
Daniel ignored him.
“Did you know about the second passport?”
Alexander stared at the folder.
“What second passport?”
Mariana watched his reaction carefully.
It looked real.
Daniel pushed the copy toward him.
Alexander picked it up.
His face changed as he read.
“This says you’re Camila’s father.”
“It’s false.”
Alexander looked toward the staircase.
“Where is she?”
“Upstairs,” Mariana said.
He lowered his voice.
“Camila cannot see this.”
“Agreed.”
He placed the paper down.
“Why would Renata make this?”
Daniel answered.
“To leave the country.”
“With Camila?”
“Yes.”
“And what?”
“Use my name to avoid suspicion.”
Alexander paced toward the window.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“No,” Mariana said. “It makes perfect sense if she planned to disappear from both of you.”
Alexander stopped.
His attorney quietly asked to speak with him privately.
They entered the office.
Patricia sat beside the fireplace, gripping her rosary.
Daniel turned toward Mariana.
“There’s something else.”
He pulled a smaller envelope from the folder.
“Police found this beneath the spare tire.”
Inside was a photograph.
Renata stood beside a man Mariana had never seen.
He was tall, dark-haired, and perhaps ten years older than her.
They were standing in front of a marina.
The date printed on the back was six weeks earlier.
Next to the date was a handwritten address in Lisbon.
“Who is he?” Mariana asked.
“His name is Vincent Moretti.”
“How do you know?”
“He worked for me.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“Until I fired him for embezzlement.”
The room became very still.
Daniel explained that Vincent had managed international purchasing for his construction company.
Three years earlier, an audit uncovered fraudulent invoices and payments routed through shell companies in Portugal.
Vincent disappeared before charges could be filed.
Daniel’s investigators believed he was living somewhere in Europe.
“And now Renata has been meeting him,” Mariana said.
“Yes.”
“Did Alexander know?”
“I doubt it.”
“What does Vincent want?”
“Money.”
Daniel looked toward the office door.
“And possibly revenge.”
The office door opened.
Alexander stepped out alone.
His attorney remained inside making a call.
Alexander looked at Daniel.
“Renata says she’ll surrender tonight.”
“Where?”
“She wants Camila brought to her.”
“No,” Mariana said immediately.
Alexander turned.
“She says Camila is the only person she trusts.”
“She forged a passport to remove her from the country.”
“She claims Vincent forced her.”
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“There it is.”
Alexander looked between them.
“You know who Vincent is?”
Daniel held up the photograph.
Alexander took it.
His face went white.
“You’ve seen him,” Mariana said.
Alexander did not answer.
“Where?”
He sank into a chair.
“Three months ago.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Where?”
“At a hotel bar.”
“With Renata?”
“Yes.”
The confession cracked through the room.
Alexander rubbed both hands over his face.
“She told me he was an investor.”
“An investor in what?” Mariana asked.
“In a hospitality project in Portugal.”
Daniel swore quietly.
Alexander continued.
“Renata said we could invest, move there eventually, start over.”
Mariana stared at him.
“We?”
He looked ashamed.
“Renata and me.”
“So this was never a Christmas trip.”
“At first, it was.”
“When did it change?”
“A few weeks ago.”
“Were you planning to return?”
Alexander did not answer.
Patricia whispered his name.
Mariana felt strangely calm.
The man she had supported through unemployment, debt, and failure had planned to take his daughter to Europe and build a new life with his ex-wife.
And he had intended to leave Mariana behind inside the house she paid for.
“What about Camila’s school?” Mariana asked.
“We were going to handle it after the holiday.”
“You were going to remove her from school?”
“It wasn’t final.”
“You bought international tickets.”
“Renata bought them.”
“You planned to board the plane.”
Alexander looked at the floor.
Mariana nodded slowly.
“At least now you’re telling the truth.”
His eyes filled with something that resembled panic.
“I made a mistake.”
“No. You made a plan.”
“Mariana—”
“Don’t.”
The doorbell rang.
Everyone froze.
Daniel’s phone vibrated.
A message appeared.
He read it once.
Then turned the screen toward Mariana.
It was from Renata.
Bring Camila to Pier 11 at 9:00 p.m. Come alone. If police appear, you will never see me again.
Below the message was a photograph taken through the brownstone’s front window.
It showed Mariana, Daniel, Patricia, and Alexander standing inside the dining room.
Someone was watching the house.
Alexander rushed toward the curtains.
Daniel pulled him back.
“Don’t.”
Mariana looked at the timestamp.
The photograph had been taken less than one minute earlier.
Then the lights went out.
Patricia screamed.
Glass shattered somewhere upstairs.
Camila cried out.
Mariana ran toward the staircase.
A shadow moved across the second-floor landing.
She reached Camila’s room and found the window open.
Cold air poured inside.
The curtains snapped in the wind.
Camila was gone.
May you like
On her pillow lay a single handwritten note.
You said she wasn’t your daughter. Now prove it.
