Chapter 3 — The DNA Result
Chapter 3 — The DNA Result
The envelope was still sealed when Diego returned to the mansion.
He placed it on the black marble table in his study and simply stared at it.
For three years, he had lived without knowing that Valentina existed.
Now, one sheet of paper could change everything.
Across the hallway, he could hear a child's laughter.
Valentina.
His daughter.
The word still felt impossible.
Diego had repeated it dozens of times since the DNA sample had been taken.
It still didn't sound real.
He touched the envelope.
Then pulled his hand away.
He was afraid.
Not of the result.
Of what the result would mean.
If Valentina was his daughter, then he had missed three years of her life.
Her first word.
Her first steps.
Her first birthday.
Every fever.
Every nightmare.
Every time she had reached for someone else's hand because he wasn't there.
And if she wasn't his daughter...
then he had just destroyed the life of a woman who had already suffered enough.
A knock came.
“Sir?”
Rafael entered.
“The laboratory called.”
Diego looked up.
“They've completed the analysis.”
“I know.”
“They sent the official report.”
Diego glanced at the envelope.
“Thank you.”
Rafael didn't leave.
“Sir.”
“What?”
“There is something you should know.”
Diego waited.
“The laboratory requested additional identification verification before releasing the result.”
“Why?”
“Because someone had already tried to access the case.”
Diego's expression changed.
“Who?”
“They wouldn't tell us.”
“Can they trace the request?”
“We're working on it.”
Diego looked at the envelope again.
“Leave me.”
Rafael nodded.
The door closed.
Diego picked up the envelope.
This time, he opened it.
His eyes moved down the page.
Once.
Twice.
He stopped breathing.
Probability of paternity: 99.99%.
His hand began to shake.
He sat down.
For a long time, he couldn't move.
Then a laugh escaped him.
A broken, disbelieving laugh.
“My daughter.”
He covered his face.
And cried.
Not loudly.
Not dramatically.
Just tears running silently between his fingers.
For the first time since he had become a billionaire, Diego Villaseñor had absolutely nothing to hide behind.
Money couldn't fix this.
Power couldn't fix it.
His lawyers couldn't fix it.
He had missed three years.
And no contract in the world could buy them back.
Marisol found him twenty minutes later.
He was still sitting at the desk.
She stopped at the doorway.
“Diego?”
He looked up.
His eyes were red.
She immediately understood.
“You know.”
He nodded.
“She's mine.”
Marisol closed her eyes.
A tear slipped down her cheek.
“I knew she was.”
Diego stood.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“I tried.”
“No.”
His voice was not angry.
It was worse.
It was wounded.
“Why didn't you keep trying?”
Marisol looked down.
“Because they convinced me you didn't want us.”
“Who?”
“My father.”
Diego froze.
“Your father?”
Marisol hesitated.
Then nodded.
“I never knew him.”
“What?”
“He left before I was born.”
“Then how did he convince you?”
“He left someone to watch over my mother.”
Diego stared.
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“What did they tell you?”
“That your family would destroy us if I tried to contact you.”
Diego stepped closer.
“My family?”
“Yes.”
“Who specifically?”
Marisol's lips trembled.
“Your father.”
Silence.
“My father knew about Valentina?”
“He knew before you did.”
Diego's face hardened.
“How?”
“I don't know.”
“Marisol.”
“I swear.”
She looked directly into his eyes.
“I didn't know how he found out.”
Diego walked to the window.
Outside, Valentina was sitting beneath a tree with her stuffed rabbit.
She was trying to teach it how to drink from a plastic cup.
Diego smiled despite himself.
Then his expression darkened.
“What happened after my father found out?”
“He came to my apartment.”
“Alone?”
“No.”
“Who was with him?”
“A woman.”
“Who?”
Marisol shook her head.
“I never saw her face clearly.”
“What did she say?”
“She said I had to disappear.”
“Why?”
“She said you were going to marry someone else.”
Diego turned.
“Who?”
Marisol looked at him.
“Paulina.”
The room went silent.
Paulina arrived at the mansion that afternoon.
She walked into the foyer as though nothing had changed.
Diego was waiting for her.
“Why are you here?”
She smiled.
“To talk.”
“You knew.”
Her smile disappeared.
“Knew what?”
“About Valentina.”
Paulina didn't answer.
Diego stepped forward.
“The DNA confirms she's my daughter.”
Paulina's face went pale.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then:
“Congratulations.”
Diego stared at her.
“That is all?”
“What do you want me to say?”
“The truth.”
Paulina laughed softly.
“You've never wanted the truth.”
“I do now.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“You want a version of the truth that makes you innocent.”
Diego's jaw tightened.
“I didn't know she existed.”
“Exactly.”
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Three years.”
He felt something inside him break.
“You watched me live without my daughter.”
“I thought it was better for you.”
“Better?”
“Yes.”
“For whom?”
Paulina didn't answer.
Diego stepped closer.
“For you?”
Her eyes filled.
“You don't understand.”
“Then explain it.”
“I was protecting you.”
“From a three-year-old?”
“From Marisol.”
“Why?”
“Because she wasn't who you thought she was.”
Diego froze.
“What does that mean?”
Paulina smiled.
“You'll find out.”
“Tell me now.”
“No.”
She turned toward the door.
Diego grabbed the folder from his desk and threw it onto the table.
“Your father worked for mine.”
Paulina stopped.
“Your family was involved with mine before we met.”
She slowly turned.
“And?”
“You knew about Marisol.”
“Yes.”
“You knew about the pregnancy.”
“Yes.”
“You knew about the letters.”
Paulina's silence was enough.
Diego stared at her.
“Did you intercept them?”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
He noticed.
“Then who did?”
Paulina's expression changed.
“I don't know.”
“Liar.”
She flinched.
“You don't know me anymore.”
“No.”
Diego's voice became cold.
“I know you exactly as much as you wanted me to.”
That evening, Marisol disappeared.
Again.
Diego found out when he entered the kitchen and saw Valentina sitting alone.
The little girl was holding her rabbit.
“Where's Mommy?”
Valentina looked up.
“She went outside.”
“When?”
“A little while ago.”
“Who was with her?”
Valentina frowned.
“A man.”
Diego's heart stopped.
“What man?”
“I don't know.”
“What did he look like?”
She thought carefully.
“He had Daddy's watch.”
Diego froze.
His father had owned a distinctive gold watch.
He had given it to Diego after his eighteenth birthday.
Diego still had it locked inside a safe.
No one else should have one.
“Rafael!”
Security personnel flooded the house.
Within minutes, the gates were sealed.
Cameras were reviewed.
One recording showed Marisol leaving through the service entrance.
She wasn't alone.
A man waited beside a black sedan.
His face was hidden.
But on his wrist—
a gold watch.
Diego stared at the screen.
Then Valentina's voice came from behind him.
“Daddy?”
He turned.
She looked frightened.
Diego immediately crouched.
“I'm here.”
“Mommy said she'd come back.”
“I know.”
“When?”
“Soon.”
He wasn't sure.
But he would make sure of it.
Three hours later, Diego received a call.
The caller's number was blocked.
He answered.
“Where is she?”
A man's voice replied.
“Who?”
“Marisol.”
Silence.
Then:
“You finally know about the girl.”
Diego's blood ran cold.
“Who are you?”
“You're asking the wrong question.”
“Where is Marisol?”
“Safe.”
“If you hurt her—”
“You're still thinking like your father.”
Diego froze.
“What did you say?”
“You think money solves everything.”
“Who are you?”
The man laughed.
“You've spent your whole life believing your father protected you.”
Diego's grip tightened.
“What do you want?”
“The truth.”
“Then tell me.”
“You're not ready.”
“I decide that.”
“No.”
The man's voice became colder.
“Your father built your empire on a lie.”
Diego stared at the wall.
“What lie?”
“The lie that Mateo Herrera died.”
His blood turned cold.
Mateo Herrera.
The name Paulina had mentioned.
The man everyone believed had disappeared twelve years ago.
The man connected to Marisol.
The man his father had allegedly destroyed.
Diego whispered:
“Where is Mateo?”
The caller hung up.
The next morning, Marisol returned.
She was standing outside the mansion gates.
Alone.
Alive.
Diego ran toward her.
“What happened?”
She looked exhausted.
“I was taken somewhere.”
“By whom?”
“I don't know.”
“Did they hurt you?”
“No.”
“What did they want?”
She looked past him.
At Valentina.
Then back at Diego.
“They wanted me to tell you something.”
“What?”
Marisol took a breath.
“Your daughter isn't the only thing your father hid from you.”
Diego went still.
“What else?”
Marisol reached into her coat.
She pulled out a small photograph.
It showed three men standing outside an old construction site.
Diego recognized his father.
He recognized Gabriel Robles.
And the third man—
he had never seen before.
Except something about the face felt familiar.
Marisol pointed to him.
“This is my father.”
Diego stared.
Then turned the photograph over.
There was a date.
Four years before Diego was born.
And beneath it, handwritten in black ink:
The agreement that started everything.
Diego looked at Marisol.
“What agreement?”
She shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Then she looked toward the mansion.
“Your father made sure nobody ever found out.”
Diego folded the photograph.
For the first time, the DNA result no longer felt like the end of the mystery.
It was only the beginning.
Because Valentina was his daughter.
That fact was certain.
But now Diego had another question.
May you like
Why had his father been so determined to keep his daughter hidden?
And what had happened between the Villaseñor family and Marisol's father long before either of them was born?
