Chapter 5 - THE FIRST LIE
Diego stared at the photograph until his vision blurred.
Four years earlier.
Paulina had always claimed they first met at a charity gala two years ago.
That was a lie.
He enlarged the image.
His mother sat across from Paulina.
Between them was a folder.
Diego recognized it.
M.V.
The same folder he had found empty.
He called Paulina.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
He walked upstairs.
Her bedroom door was open.
Closets empty.
Suitcases gone.
Paulina had left.
Diego immediately called security.
“When did Ms. Robles leave?”
“Twenty minutes ago, sir.”
“Did she take anything from the house?”
A pause.
“Three suitcases.”
“Check the cameras.”
Diego returned downstairs.
Marisol was reading to Valentina.
He handed her the phone.
Marisol saw the photograph.
Her face changed.
“You recognize this?”
She nodded slowly.
“Paulina came to my apartment once.”
Diego froze.
“What?”
“Before Valentina was born.”
“You never told me.”
“I didn’t know who she was.”
“What did she say?”
Marisol’s voice trembled.
“She said she was your fiancée.”
Diego felt sick.
“She showed me photographs.”
“What photographs?”
“You and her together.”
“We weren’t together.”
“I know that now.”
Marisol looked down.
“She told me the wedding was already planned.”
“And you believed her?”
“She knew things about you.”
“What things?”
Marisol looked into his eyes.
“The scar beneath your shoulder.”
Diego stopped breathing.
Only a few people knew about that scar.
His mother.
His childhood doctor.
And Marisol.
“How did Paulina know?”
Marisol shook her head.
“She said you told her.”
Diego walked toward the window.
His mother had orchestrated everything.
But why?
Why Paulina?
Why destroy Marisol?
Then his security chief called.
“Sir.”
“Yes?”
“We reviewed the footage.”
“And?”
“Ms. Robles removed something from your mother’s old sitting room.”
Diego’s jaw tightened.
“What?”
“A wooden document box.”
“When?”
“Approximately twelve minutes before she left.”
Diego knew the box.
His mother kept her private correspondence inside it.
He immediately called Paulina again.
This time she answered.
“Give me the box.”
Paulina laughed softly.
“So you finally figured it out.”
“Where are you?”
“You should be asking what’s inside.”
Diego gripped the phone.
“What did my mother do?”
Paulina paused.
Then delivered the sentence that changed everything.
May you like
“Your mother didn’t just keep Marisol away from you, Diego.”
“She paid me to help her do it.”
