Chapter 13 - WHAT SHE CHOSE TO REMEMBER
Two years passed.
Isabella turned ten.
The scars on her hands faded.
Some memories didn't.
But she learned that remembering something wasn't the same as living inside it.
She became obsessed with animals.
Especially dogs.
One afternoon, she came home carrying a muddy puppy.
“No.”
I said it immediately.
“Daddy.”
“No.”
“He doesn't have a home.”
“We have expensive rugs.”
“He's sad.”
“We have expensive furniture.”
“He likes you.”
The muddy animal immediately jumped on me.
Isabella smiled.
“See?”
His name became Rocket.
My expensive rugs never recovered.
I didn't care.
One night, Isabella found the old purple notebook.
The one she'd written in during those months.
She brought it downstairs.
“Should we burn it?”
I asked.
She shook her head.
“I want to keep it.”
“Why?”
“So I remember.”
I worried.
Then she explained.
“Not Beatriz.”
She touched one page.
“Me.”
I waited.
“I want to remember that I made it.”
That was the moment I realized my daughter no longer saw herself as the child kneeling in garbage.
She saw that child as someone she'd rescued.
With help.
With time.
With truth.
Later that year, I established the Elena Vega Foundation.
Its purpose was simple.
Support children experiencing abuse inside wealthy or powerful families.
Because money hides things.
Reputation hides things.
Beautiful houses hide things.
I knew that now.
Our first center opened in Málaga.
Isabella attended the ceremony.
A reporter asked why I'd created it.
I looked at my daughter.
“Because sometimes the children who appear to have everything are the ones nobody thinks to ask if they're okay.”
I didn't tell Isabella's story publicly.
That belonged to her.
Not me.
Afterward, she asked, “Will this help kids like me?”
“Yes.”
She smiled.
“Good.”
That night, we ate pizza on the terrace.
Rocket stole half a slice.
Rosa shouted at him.
Javier defended him.
Isabella laughed so hard she nearly fell off the swing.
I watched them.
This was wealth.
Not the villa.
Not the company.
Not the bank accounts.
This.
Then my phone rang.
Prison administration.
Alejandro Vega had suffered a medical emergency.
May you like
He was dying.
And he had requested to see me.
