Chapter 10 - The attorney who knew the babies’ names before I called her
For the first time since delivery, I asked Lucía to leave the room.
She did.
No offense.
No pressure.
She simply said:
“You should verify me too.”
That made me trust her slightly more.
Not enough.
We obtained hospital documentation independently.
Lucía’s name appeared on a legal-contact note entered four hours after the delivery.
I had not called her until two weeks before birth—but she was already my trust attorney, so her involvement was not strange.
The notation said:
Maternal counsel requests preservation of all naming, discharge, and guardianship records pending verification of parental authority.
That did not force Carranza surnames.
It preserved the existing records.
Isabel had misunderstood or been told a distorted version.
But another issue emerged.
Lucía had contacted the hospital before I pressed the wristband.
The day before delivery.
Why?
I asked her.
She returned with her own counsel voluntarily.
“My office received an anonymous packet.”
“When?”
“Thirty-six hours before your labor accelerated.”
“What was inside?”
“A draft custody agreement.”
My skin went cold.
The same kind Mateo later placed on my bed?
“Earlier version.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you were at thirty-four weeks with four babies and your doctor had just warned stress could worsen your condition.”
I stared at her.
“So you decided for me.”
“Yes.”
At least she did not dodge it.
“That was wrong.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you do it?”
“Because I thought waiting twenty-four hours would protect your pregnancy.”
There it was.
Different person.
Same temptation.
Control information for someone’s own good.
Lucía owned the mistake.
But there was more.
The anonymous packet also included a note:
When Mateo offers three million, let Elena sign. Page seventeen will preserve the trust.
I went still.
“Someone knew exactly what would happen.”
“Yes.”
“Who sent it?”
“We don’t know.”
“Why did you follow anonymous instructions?”
“I didn’t. I independently reviewed the concept. Page seventeen was legally sound, and we adapted it.”
“Adapted?”
“The anonymous packet suggested a trust notice. I drafted the actual language.”
That mattered.
Someone did not create our defense.
They predicted the attack and nudged Lucía toward a response.
Who had that much visibility?
Javier?
Maybe.
But why help me protect the trust if he wanted to weaken it?
Unless he wanted Mateo suspended.
That possibility changed everything.
What if Mateo was never meant to win?
What if the hospital humiliation was designed to trigger page seventeen or something like it—removing Mateo from management at precisely the moment Aurora’s debt position matured?
Then the plot inverted.
I had assumed Javier wanted me incapacitated so Mateo could control Carranza.
Maybe he wanted both of us weakened.
Mateo through governance suspension.
Me through custody litigation.
Estela through false promises.
Then Aurora—or whoever sat behind it—could move.
We checked debt dates.
One major Carranza loan had a control-change provision.
If Mateo lost active management authority and no replacement was approved within ten business days, the lender could demand accelerated review.
Aurora held that debt.
The hospital confrontation triggered the clock.
My defense had protected the trust but also activated a lender event.
The anonymous sender knew.
Lucía looked sick.
“So page seventeen may have helped someone else.”
“Yes.”
Not invalid.
Not wrong.
But useful to multiple sides.
Then we traced the anonymous packet.
Courier.
Paid cash.
Security footage from the law-office lobby showed a woman wearing a mask and hat.
Face partially hidden.
But she carried a cane.
Not for disability.
A distinctive black cane with a silver horse-head handle.
I had seen it before.
My father owned one exactly like it.
After he died, the cane disappeared.
I assumed Estela threw it away.
She hated my father.
Then Lucía pulled archived family photographs.
One person had used that cane after Arturo’s funeral.
Javier Valdés.
May you like
He had carried my father’s cane for years.
Cliffhanger: Javier may have secretly warned Elena’s attorney about Mateo’s hospital attack—suggesting the man orchestrating the crisis was also deliberately giving Elena just enough information to survive it.
