Chapter 2 - The Hidden Truth
As the baby’s cries began to subside into soft, exhausted hiccups, Beatriz’s mind drifted back to a conversation from three years ago. The memory was anchored in a dimly lit, wood-paneled office smelling of expensive cigars and old leather.
"You want to hide your name, Beatriz?"
Her father, Augusto Monteiro, had asked, his sharp, dark eyes studying her from across his massive desk. He was a titan of industry, a man whose wealth could buy small countries.
"I want to know they love me for me, Papa,"
She had pleaded, a naive, idealistic twenty-two-year-old.
"Not for the Monteiro empire. Not for the trust funds."
Augusto had sighed, a heavy, tired sound.
"People are rarely as good as you want them to be, my little bird. But I will grant you this wish. I will seal your identity. You will live as a normal girl. But I will leave a contingency in place. Dr. Almeida will watch over you from the shadows. If you ever need it, the empire will be waiting."
Now, standing in the middle of a cold, hostile living room with a husband who despised her and a mother-in-law who actively sought to break her spirit, Beatriz realized how painfully right her father had been. Augusto had passed away a year ago, leaving a void in her heart that Rodrigo and Eleanor had happily filled with cruelty.
"Are you deaf as well as stupid?"
Eleanor's sharp voice snapped her back to the present.
May you like
"Clean up that mess before it ruins the rug permanently. Though I suppose a rug like that is worth more than your entire life's earnings."
Beatriz looked at the spilled milk. Then, she looked at her son. Something inside her, a dam built of patience and desperate hope for a family, finally cracked and gave way to cold, unyielding steel.
