CHAPTER 3: THE FAMILY DOCTOR LIED
Alejandro ordered every servant out of the hallway.
No one moved at first.
Not until he shouted one word.
“Now.”
Doors closed.
Footsteps vanished.
The mansion became a tomb.
Esther walked into the bedroom as if she still owned every breath inside it.
Because for years, she had.
“Alejandro,” she said calmly, “you are emotional.”
He stared at her.
“My wife is covered in bruises.”
“Because she fights everyone who tries to help her.”
Valeria shook her head.
“I begged you to stop.”
Esther ignored her.
Alejandro looked at Marcela.
“And you?”
Marcela folded her arms.
“I protected you.”
“By sending me a fake photo?”
“It wasn’t fake.”
“No,” Alejandro said. “It was real. But the story around it was fake.”
Marcela’s eyes hardened.
For the first time, she stopped pretending.
“You were destroying everything for her.”
Alejandro stared at his sister.
“What does that mean?”
Marcela laughed softly.
“You married a gallery girl and started handing her the Aranda name like it was hers to keep.”
Valeria lowered her eyes.
Alejandro’s voice dropped.
“She is my wife.”
“She is nobody,” Esther snapped.
The words cut through the room.
Alejandro turned slowly toward his mother.
Esther realized too late that she had said too much.
Valeria whispered, “That’s what she said the first time.”
Alejandro looked back at her.
“The first time?”
Valeria nodded, tears slipping silently now.
“She told me the baby would ruin the family.”
Alejandro’s face went still.
“She said if I gave birth to your son, your priorities would change. Your inheritance would change. Marcela’s control over the company would end.”
Marcela’s jaw tightened.
Alejandro’s eyes moved between them.
Mother.
Sister.
Wife.
And finally, he saw the war that had been happening inside his own house while he was busy winning battles outside it.
“You tried to make her lose the baby,” he said.
Esther did not deny it.
She simply looked at Valeria with disgust.
“That child was going to tie this family forever to someone beneath us.”
Alejandro stepped back like he had been struck.
Marcela spoke quickly.
“We were fixing a mistake.”
Alejandro looked at her.
“My child is not a mistake.”
The room fell silent.
Then Valeria reached toward the bedside drawer.
Her hands shook so badly she could barely open it.
She pulled out a small envelope.
“I kept everything.”
Marcela’s face drained.
Valeria handed it to Alejandro.
Inside were medical reports.
Blood tests.
Photos of bruises.
A lab analysis of the tea.
And a handwritten note from the private doctor.
Possible exposure to herbal abortifacient compounds. Patient reports pressure, intimidation, and physical restraint by household members.
Alejandro read every line.
Slowly.
Then again.
His breathing changed.
Not loud.
Not dramatic.
But dangerous.
Esther lifted her chin.
“Those papers mean nothing. We own half the medical board.”
Alejandro looked at her.
“No,” he said quietly. “You owned my silence.”
He pulled out his phone.
Marcela stepped forward.
“What are you doing?”
Alejandro dialed.
Then he put the call on speaker.
A man answered.
“Señor Aranda?”
Alejandro’s eyes never left his mother.
“Bring security upstairs. Lock down the estate. No one leaves.”
Esther laughed.
“You would humiliate your own family?”
Alejandro’s voice turned ice-cold.
“No, Mother.”
May you like
He looked at Valeria’s bruised wrists.
“You already did.”
