Chapter 12 - The Forged Confession
Daniel’s grip on his children tightened instinctively. "What are you talking about?" he demanded, his voice low and dangerous. "Do not speak Isabella’s name."
Rebeca’s cold smile widened into a triumphant sneer. She reached into the deep pocket of her robe and pulled out a small, outdated electronic device. It was an old smartphone, heavily scratched, its screen cracked in the corner. Daniel recognized it immediately; it was the phone Isabella had used during the last painful months of her life, the one he had locked away in his study because looking at it was too painful.
"I found this while cleaning your study," Rebeca lied effortlessly. "I turned it on, just to see if there were any old photos of you. But I found something else entirely. Something your perfect Isabella kept hidden."
She tapped the screen, navigating to the messaging application. She took a step forward, holding the phone out like a weapon.
"Read them," Rebeca commanded.
Daniel hesitated. He didn't want to let go of Mateo and Sofía, but the psychological hook was too deep. He slowly reached out with one hand and took the device. The screen was illuminated with a text message thread, dated three years ago. It was a conversation between Isabella's number and an unsaved contact.
“Daniel can never know,” the message from Isabella’s phone read. “If he finds out Sofía isn't his, it will destroy him. I made a terrible mistake. He thinks she is his daughter, and I have to take this lie to my grave.”
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Daniel stared at the glowing pixels, his chest tightening as if wrapped in iron bands. He read the words again and again. The syntax, the desperate tone—it felt like a punch directly to the center of his soul. The world around him began to tilt on its axis. The woman he had mourned, the perfect memory he had clung to, was suddenly tainted with an unimaginable betrayal.
Rebeca watched his face pale, her eyes shining with malicious victory. She had struck the fatal blow. She had shattered his foundation. If he didn't believe Sofía was his, he would inevitably push her away, and Rebeca would regain her control over the fractured family.
