Chapter 7 - Samuel’s Son
Samuel Jr. agreed to DNA testing.
Not because Alejandro asked.
Because Mariana did.
He arrived furious.
“My father told me this is some kind of extortion.”
Mariana looked at him.
“Then take the test.”
He did.
The result was undeniable.
Lucy was his mother.
Samuel Jr. stared at the paper for a long time.
“My mother died giving birth to me.”
“That’s what you were told,” Mariana said.
His face turned pale.
Samuel Sr. had raised him alone.
No photographs of his mother.
No grave.
No birth certificate containing a maternal name.
Only stories.
Samuel Jr. whispered:
“He always said she was Irish.”
Mariana almost laughed from disbelief.
Samuel entered the mansion that evening.
Security had been expecting him.
He wasn’t permitted near Lucy without consent.
He demanded to see his son.
Samuel Jr. refused.
“I want to hear her first.”
Lucy entered.
Samuel’s face transformed.
Not shock.
Not recognition.
Grief.
“Elena.”
Mariana’s body went cold.
“You knew exactly who she was.”
Samuel said nothing.
Alejandro stepped forward.
“You sent the photograph?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Rafael came back.”
Silence.
Samuel finally spoke.
Twenty years earlier, he had been Rafael’s foreman.
He followed orders.
At the construction site, he helped move Elena and Isabella into the truck.
But later, he turned against Rafael.
“Why?”
Samuel looked at Lucy.
“Because of her.”
Mariana’s stomach twisted.
“You assaulted her?”
Samuel’s face collapsed.
“No.”
Lucy stared.
Then a memory returned.
“You helped me.”
Samuel nodded.
Rafael had ordered Samuel to guard Elena.
Months later, Elena became pregnant.
Samuel claimed they had developed a consensual relationship while she was imprisoned.
Mariana recoiled.
“Consensual?”
Samuel looked ashamed.
“No. Not truly. Not while she was trapped.”
That distinction mattered.
He didn’t romanticize it.
He had been part of the system controlling her.
Whatever feelings existed could not make the imbalance disappear.
Samuel Jr. quietly stepped away from him.
Samuel continued.
When the baby was born, Rafael threatened to kill him unless Samuel continued working.
Samuel secretly arranged for the child to be raised by relatives.
Then he tried helping Elena escape.
“Did she?”
“For one night.”
Rafael found her.
“What about Isabella?”
“She escaped separately.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
Samuel believed Isabella eventually reached Canada.
Then Rafael staged his death years later and disappeared.
Samuel thought it was over.
Until three months ago.
Rafael contacted him.
“What did he want?”
“The ledger.”
Mariana laughed bitterly.
Again.
Records.
Secrets.
Money.
Samuel shook his head.
“Not the old bribery ledger.”
“Then what?”
“A new one.”
Samuel had spent twenty years operating inside Alejandro’s companies.
Mariana looked at Alejandro.
His face changed.
Samuel continued:
“Rafael never stopped.”
He had secretly used subcontractors connected to Alejandro’s construction empire to launder money.
Millions.
Alejandro had unknowingly inherited his father’s network.
Samuel had discovered it.
He documented everything.
Rafael wanted the records destroyed.
Mariana looked at Alejandro.
“You didn’t know?”
“No.”
Samuel said:
“He didn’t.”
For once, the twist did not make Alejandro darker.
It made him another target.
Then Lucy suddenly whispered:
“Isabella knew.”
Everyone turned.
“She came back.”
Alejandro froze.
“When?”
Lucy looked directly at Samuel.
“He knows.”
Samuel’s face drained.
Mariana said:
“Where is she?”
Samuel closed his eyes.
May you like
Then answered:
“She works for Alejandro.”
