Chapter 4 - The Third Baby
Nobody spoke for nearly a minute.
Then Valeria said:
“Who was the third baby?”
Lucia sat down.
Her face had turned white.
Gabriel looked at her.
“You know.”
“No.”
“Lucia.”
“I said no.”
But fear had already answered for her.
Sofia crouched in front of her.
“Please.”
Lucia began shaking.
“There wasn’t supposed to be a third child.”
Valeria frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Lucia looked at Gabriel.
Then at Ernesto.
“Isabella gave birth to twins.”
Ernesto stumbled backward.
“No.”
“One girl was registered.”
“And the other?”
“Hidden.”
“Why?”
Lucia’s eyes filled.
“Because Mateo was the father.”
The silence was devastating.
Ernesto looked as though someone had stabbed him.
Sofia whispered, “My mother had a child with Mateo?”
Lucia shook her head quickly.
“No. Not willingly.”
Ernesto’s expression transformed.
Rage replaced shock.
“What did he do to her?”
Lucia would not describe it.
She didn’t need to.
Ernesto understood.
His hands curled into fists.
Valeria had never seen hatred like that.
Lucia continued.
“Isabella discovered she was carrying twins late in the pregnancy. One was yours, Ernesto. One was Mateo’s.”
“That’s medically—”
“Possible,” Marco interrupted quietly. “Extremely rare. Different conception events days apart. The physicians documented it.”
Ernesto looked sick.
“Isabella wanted the second baby protected from Mateo. So only Sofia was officially recorded.”
“What happened to the other girl?” Valeria asked.
Lucia shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Mateo had apparently taken her during the hospital chaos.
For twenty years, nobody knew where she had gone.
Until now.
Ernesto looked at Marco.
“Find Mateo.”
“We’ve tried.”
“Try harder.”
Sofia suddenly stood.
“No.”
Everyone turned.
“No more men with guns deciding what happens to us.”
Her voice shook, but she continued.
“For twenty years, everybody made decisions for us. Our mothers. You. Gabriel. Mateo. Marco.”
She pointed at the brass key.
“If that opens evidence, we go to the authorities.”
Ernesto immediately said, “No.”
Sofia laughed bitterly.
“Exactly.”
“It could destroy both families.”
“Maybe they deserve to be destroyed.”
The words landed hard.
Valeria walked beside her.
“I agree.”
Gabriel stared at his daughter.
“Valeria—”
“You don’t get a vote.”
He stopped.
“You had twenty years.”
Lucia almost smiled.
The girls decided to retrieve the evidence themselves.
But Geneva was impossible without attracting attention.
Marco suggested another option.
Isabella had created a duplicate archive.
“Where?”
“A monastery outside Santa Esperanza.”
Ernesto stared at him.
“How do you know?”
“Because I helped her hide it.”
Again, another secret.
By afternoon, Valeria and Sofia left with Lucia and two trusted guards.
Ernesto and Gabriel remained behind deliberately.
Mateo was watching them.
If the two dons moved, he would know.
The monastery sat high in the mountains.
Quiet.
Ancient.
Far from San Aurelio.
A nun named Sister Catherine greeted Lucia.
“You came.”
Lucia embraced her.
“You knew Isabella?”
Sister Catherine looked at Valeria and Sofia.
“I knew all three mothers.”
Valeria frowned.
“Three?”
Sister Catherine realized her mistake.
Lucia looked alarmed.
“What do you mean?”
The nun sighed.
“Come inside.”
In a private chapel, Sister Catherine opened a wooden chest.
Inside were letters.
Dozens.
All written by Isabella.
One was addressed:
TO MY THREE DAUGHTERS.
Sofia’s hands trembled as she opened it.
My girls,
If you are reading this, then the truth has survived longer than our fear.
Sofia, you were born first.
You are Ernesto’s daughter.
Alessandra, you came seven minutes later.
Your father is Mateo.
Valeria, you were born that same night to Lucia and Gabriel.
But from the moment I held you while Lucia was being treated, I loved you too.
We changed your names.
We changed your records.
We tried to change your destinies.
I pray we did not destroy them instead.
Valeria stopped reading.
“Alessandra.”
The third girl had a name.
Sister Catherine nodded.
“Isabella came here with her once.”
“When?”
“Seventeen years ago.”
Sofia looked up sharply.
“She had her?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn’t she bring her home?”
“She tried.”
The nun looked toward the door.
“Mateo found them.”
“What happened?”
“He took Alessandra.”
“And Isabella?”
“She followed.”
Ernesto had been wrong.
Isabella had not chosen Mateo.
She had spent twenty years trying to stay close to the daughter he controlled.
Valeria immediately called Ernesto.
When he heard the truth, he said nothing for several seconds.
Then:
“I’m bringing my wife home.”
But Sister Catherine wasn’t finished.
“There’s something else.”
She removed a photograph.
Three girls stood together.
Approximately five years old.
Sofia.
Valeria.
And another girl.
Valeria stared.
“I remember this place.”
Sofia looked at her.
“So do I.”
They had met before.
As children.
Their mothers had secretly reunited them.
Sister Catherine turned the photograph over.
A date was written on the back.
Below it:
IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO US, FIND ALESSANDRA AT THE HOUSE OF BLUE WINDOWS.
Valeria frowned.
“Where is that?”
Lucia gasped.
“I know.”
They drove for two hours.
The House of Blue Windows was an abandoned villa near the coast.
They entered cautiously.
Dust covered everything.
But upstairs, they found a bedroom.
Someone had been there recently.
Clothes.
Books.
Photographs.
Three medallions drawn repeatedly in a notebook.
Then Sofia noticed the wall.
Dozens of photographs of Ernesto.
Gabriel.
Valeria.
Sofia.
Marco.
Lucia.
Every one taken secretly.
At the center was a recent photograph of Isabella.
Underneath it, someone had written:
MOM, I’M SORRY.
Valeria heard movement downstairs.
“Someone’s here.”
They turned.
A young woman stood in the doorway.
Dark hair.
Gray-green eyes.
A scar along her jaw.
She looked almost exactly like Sofia.
She held a pistol.
“Don’t move.”
Sofia whispered:
“Alessandra?”
The woman’s eyes filled with tears.
For one second, the weapon lowered.
Then footsteps thundered downstairs.
Alessandra looked terrified.
“You shouldn’t have come.”
“Mateo sent us.”
“No.”
“He said—”
“He wanted you here.”
Alessandra grabbed Sofia’s arm.
“Run.”
The windows shattered.
Men stormed the villa.
Lucia screamed.
Alessandra shoved the sisters toward a hidden doorway.
“Go!”
Valeria grabbed her.
“Come with us!”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
Alessandra looked toward the approaching men.
Then she whispered:
“Because Mateo thinks I’m still working for him.”
A voice came from downstairs.
“Alessandra!”
Mateo.
She pushed the girls into the passage.
“Go!”
Sofia refused.
“He’s your father.”
Alessandra’s expression hardened.
“No.”
May you like
She raised her weapon toward the stairs.
“He’s my jailer.”
