Chapter 4 - Bloodlines and Betrayal
Renata sat in the drawing room under the watchful eye of two security guards. Her manicured nails were bitten down, and her immaculate silk dress was rumpled. When the heavy double doors opened and Santiago walked in, followed by Mateo and two uniformed officers from the federal investigation unit, her heart dropped into her stomach.
“Santiago!” she cried out, jumping up. “This has gone far enough! You can’t keep me in this house against my will! My father will sue you into oblivion!”
“Your father is currently being detained at his office by federal agents,” Santiago said flatly, taking a seat in an armchair across from her. He placed a thick stack of financial documents and communication logs onto the glass table between them.
Renata gasped, her face turning pale. “What... what is that?”
“This is the paper trail of your family’s systemic fraud,” Santiago explained smoothly. “Along with evidence of extortion, intimidation, and unlawful conspiracy involving Camila and my daughter.”
“I didn’t do anything!” Renata shouted, tears of rage finally spilling over her mascara. “It was your father’s idea! He didn't want a poor, nobody girl from Puebla inheriting the Alcázar fortune! He wanted someone with status for you!”
“My father is dead,” Santiago said coldly. “And his mistakes ended the day he died. But you... you knew Lucía was my daughter. You watched her live in small, unheated rooms. You watched her wear hand-me-down clothes while you bought designer bags with my money. And today, you tried to throw a three-year-old child out onto the street.”
“She’s a bastard child!” Renata spat, dropping her delicate persona entirely. “She’s nothing! A maid’s mistake!”
Santiago stood up so fast the chair behind him rattled. The air in the room felt suddenly dangerous.
“She is an Alcázar,” Santiago said, each word weighed down with absolute authority. “She is the sole heir to everything I own. And you are a criminal.” He looked at the officers. “Take her away.”
Renata screamed and thrashed as the officers placed handcuffs around her wrists, pulling her toward the exit. Her screams echoed down the marble hallway, fading only when the front doors were shut firmly behind her.
Upstairs, Camila stood near the window, watching the police vehicles pull out of the long gated driveway. She felt a strange lightness in her chest, but the anxiety remained. Years of living in fear could not be erased in a single afternoon.
The door to the suite opened softly, and Santiago walked in. He looked exhausted, but his eyes softened instantly when he saw Camila and Lucía. Lucía was sitting on a plush rug, playing with a set of wooden building blocks that the house staff had brought up for her.
“It’s over,” Santiago said gently, stopping a few feet away from Camila. “Renata and her family will never touch you or Lucía again. They are going to prison.”
Camila wiped a tear from her cheek. “Santiago… what happens now? I don’t know how to exist in this world. I’m a maid. I clean houses. I don’t belong in a palace like this.”
Santiago took a step closer, reaching out to gently touch her cheek, wiping away a stray tear with his thumb.
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“You never belonged in the laundry room, Camila,” he whispered softly. “You were the woman I loved. The woman whose disappearance broke my heart. You are the mother of my child, and if you will let me, I want to spend the rest of my life making up for every single day we lost.”
Camila looked into his eyes, searching for any sign of pity, but found only sincerity, love, and deep regret.
