Chapter 8 - The Confrontation
The boardroom went dead silent.
“Are you insane?” Gabriel shrieked, jumping up and pointing a shaking finger at Alejandro. “You’ve finally lost your mind! Grief has made you crazy! You’re hallucinating!”
“I’m not crazy, Gabriel,” Alejandro said calmly. “And I’m no longer grieving.”
Alejandro motioned to the door.
The heavy glass doors opened once more.
Mariela stepped into the boardroom. She was no longer wearing her maid’s uniform. She wore a simple, elegant dark green dress provided by Alejandro’s team. And holding her hand was Sofía.
The little girl wore a soft white dress, her dark curls neatly brushed, her health restored by medicine and rest. Around her tiny wrist, catching the bright fluorescent lights of the boardroom, was the gold bracelet.
Gabriel stared at the child. He stumbled back against the glass wall of the forty-fifth floor, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.
“You...” Gabriel whispered, his voice trembling with sheer horror. “You... she died... the nurse said she died of pneumonia in Veracruz eight years ago!”
The entire board gasped.
Señor Benítez stood up, his face red with outrage. “Gabriel! What did you just say?”
Gabriel realized his fatal mistake instantly. In his panic, he had confirmed he knew about the nurse, the child, and her supposed death.
Alejandro stepped closer to his brother, his shadow towering over him against the city skyline.
“You paid Captain Rivas three million dollars to hide my daughter,” Alejandro said, his voice vibrating with absolute fury. “You told your men to let her perish in the mountains. But God had other plans, Gabriel. A humble maid saved her. A maid you paid fifty pesos an hour to clean your floors saved the heiress of this entire empire.”
Federal agents stepped into the boardroom, unholstering steel handcuffs.
“Gabriel de la Vega,” the lead agent announced, “you are under arrest for attempted murder, kidnapping, corporate fraud, and conspiracy.”
Gabriel looked around the room, frantically searching for an escape, for a ally among the board members, but every single person turned their face away from him in disgust.
As the agents slapped the heavy steel cuffs around his wrists, Gabriel collapsed to his knees, looking up at Alejandro with tears of desperate panic.
“Alejandro! Please! I’m your brother! Blood of your blood! I was desperate—the gamblers were going to kill me! Please, forgive me!”
Alejandro looked down at the man who had ruined ten years of his life.
“You killed my wife, Gabriel,” Alejandro said softly. “You stole ten years of my daughter’s laughter. You have no brother.”
The agents dragged Gabriel out of the boardroom, his pathetic screams echoing down the marble hallway until the double doors swung shut.
Alejandro turned back to the room. He walked over to Mariela and Sofía.
He picked the little girl up in his arms. Sofía wrapped her tiny arms around his neck, resting her head against his shoulder without a single second of hesitation.
May you like
Alejandro looked at the stunned board of directors.
“Gentlemen,” Alejandro said, his voice strong and clear. “The meeting is adjourned. I have ten years of bedtime stories to make up for.”
