PART 36: THE DAUGHTER SHE CHOSE<\/p>\n
The room went completely silent.<\/p>\n
My mother stared at Victoria.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe is my daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Victoria\u2019s smile sharpened.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou raised her. That does not make her yours.\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt the walls closing around me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat are you saying?\u201d<\/p>\n
Victoria tapped her cane against the floor.<\/p>\n
Forty years earlier, she had given birth to a daughter in secret. By then, she was already the head of the Vargas empire, and her enemies were watching everything she did.<\/p>\n
To protect the baby, she arranged an exchange.<\/p>\n
Elena\u2019s newborn daughter was declared dead.<\/p>\n
Victoria\u2019s daughter was placed in Elena\u2019s arms.<\/p>\n
Me.<\/p>\n
My entire childhood had been built on a lie.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho was Elena\u2019s real baby?\u201d Julian asked.<\/p>\n
Victoria looked toward Patricia.<\/p>\n
Patricia\u2019s gun slipped from her hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
My mother covered her mouth.<\/p>\n
Patricia was her biological daughter.<\/p>\n
Dr. Keller had not sent Patricia into our family merely for revenge.<\/p>\n
He had returned the child Victoria stole.<\/p>\n
But instead of telling Elena the truth, he had raised Patricia to hate us.<\/p>\n
Patricia\u2019s face crumbled.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll these years, I thought nobody wanted me.\u201d<\/p>\n
My mother stepped toward her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStay away from me!\u201d<\/p>\n
Victoria laughed softly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is touching, but we have business to finish.\u201d<\/p>\n
She ordered her men to take the black ledger.<\/p>\n
Mateo refused to release it.<\/p>\n
One guard struck him across the face.<\/p>\n
The book fell open.<\/p>\n
A photograph slid from between its pages.<\/p>\n
Victoria holding two newborn babies.<\/p>\n
On the back, Ernesto had written a date\u2014and one sentence:<\/p>\n
ONLY ONE CHILD WAS EXCHANGED.<\/p>\n
I picked up the photograph.<\/p>\n
Victoria\u2019s expression changed.<\/p>\n
For the first time, she looked afraid.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf only one child was exchanged,\u201d I said, \u201cthen Patricia cannot be Elena\u2019s daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ernesto raised his head from the pillow.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe isn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
My mother turned toward him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen where is my child?\u201d<\/p>\n
Ernesto pointed at Victoria\u2019s silver cane.<\/p>\n
Adrian seized it before the guards could react.<\/p>\n
He twisted the handle.<\/p>\n
A hidden compartment opened.<\/p>\n
Inside was a tiny hospital bracelet.<\/p>\n
The name printed on it was faded but readable.<\/p>\n
BABY GIRL VARGAS.<\/p>\n
And beneath it was a current photograph.<\/p>\n
The woman in the picture stood beside Victoria.<\/p>\n
She had been present at every funeral.<\/p>\n
Every trial.<\/p>\n
Every family gathering.<\/p>\n
Always quiet.<\/p>\n
Always watching.<\/p>\n
Mr. Morris.<\/p>\n
Except Mr. Morris was not a man.<\/p>\n
The identity belonged to Victoria\u2019s private investigator, Margaret Morris\u2014the woman who had supposedly helped us uncover every secret.<\/p>\n
She had been guiding us toward Victoria from the beginning.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s Elena\u2019s daughter,\u201d Ernesto whispered.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour real sister.\u201d<\/p>\n
Victoria suddenly pressed a button on her ring.<\/p>\n
An alarm sounded.<\/p>\n
Metal shutters slammed over the windows.<\/p>\n
Gas began pouring through the vents.<\/p>\n
Her armed men rushed out and locked the door behind them.<\/p>\n
Through the glass, Victoria smiled at us.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou wanted the whole truth,\u201d she said. \u201cNow you can be buried with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the room filled with white gas, the heart monitor failed.<\/p>\n
The lights went out.<\/p>\n
Then a voice came through the hospital speaker.<\/p>\n
Margaret Morris.<\/p>\n
\u201cGet down. I\u2019m coming for my family.\u201d<\/p>\n
PART 36: THE DAUGHTER SHE CHOSE The room went completely silent. My mother stared at Victoria. \u201cShe is my daughter.\u201d Victoria\u2019s smile sharpened. \u201cYou raised her. That does not make … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3860"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3875,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3860\/revisions\/3875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}