PART 4: The Heir’s Dark Inheritance
PART 4: The Heir’s Dark Inheritance
Corporate dynasties rise on forgotten bloodlines.
"My father..." Alejandro whispered, shaking his head in sheer denial, his hands gripping the edge of the bathroom vanity until his knuckles turned completely white. "No. That’s impossible. My father was ruthless in business, yes, but he wasn't a monster. He wouldn't order a murder over zoning fraud."
"He didn't order a murder, Alejandro," I said, my voice dead, cold, and stripped of every ounce of warmth I had ever felt toward my husband. "He ordered a cover-up. He stole twenty years of my childhood, left my mother to rot in alleyways, and handed you a multi-million-dollar inheritance built on stolen land and human suffering."
"Mariana, listen to me," Alejandro pleaded, reaching out to grab my arm, his eyes filled with frantic desperation. "I didn't know. I swear on our marriage, I had zero idea about the Sterling estate acquisition or what happened to your mother. If I had known—"
"If you had known, what?" I interrupted, wrenching my arm violently out of his grasp. "Would you have done the right thing? Or would you have kept quiet just like you kept quiet for the last five years?"
Alejandro fell silent.
He had no answer.
Because deep down, he knew his entire life of luxury, privilege, and security was inextricably tied to the very crime that had shattered my family.
In the tub, Lucy began shivering violently, the hot water having gone lukewarm as the shock of her awakening memories took a severe physical toll on her malnourished body.
I turned away from Alejandro, my heart breaking all over again as I looked down at my mother.
I grabbed a thick, plush white towel from the shelf, wrapped it gently around her shivering shoulders, and helped her carefully step out of the water.
"We need to get her to a private medical clinic," I instructed coldly, refusing to look at my husband. "Not our family doctor. Not a hospital connected to your father's old associates. An independent facility."
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"I'll arrange it," Alejandro said instantly, pulling out his phone with shaking hands. "I’ll call my private security team to secure a wing at St. Jude's downtown. Nobody will touch her there."
"Your security team answers to you," I spat back, pulling a soft cotton robe over my mother's damp skin. "And right now, I don't trust a single thing bearing the Vance name."
