Chapter 9 — The Blood That Doomed Our Love

Isabella’s POV

“Daniel Monteverde was Alexander's biological father.”

Richard's words echoed inside my head, destroying every thought I had ever believed about Alexander and me.

I turned toward Alexander. He stood motionless, clutching the photograph, his face drained of color.

“No,” he whispered. “My father was Adrian Monteverde.”

Richard laughed without humor. “Adrian raised you. He loved you as his own. But blood has never been something our family could afford to discuss.”

Alexander shook his head violently.

“You're lying.”

“Ask Elena.”

Every pair of eyes turned toward Mama.

She was crying silently, her hands trembling against her chest. When she finally looked at Alexander, I saw something worse than guilt in her expression.

Recognition.

“Ma?” My voice cracked. “Tell me he's lying.”

She opened her mouth, but no words came.

“Please,” I begged. “Not another secret. Not another lie.”

Mama approached Alexander slowly.

“Your mother, Victoria, was Daniel's first love. Before Daniel met me, they were engaged. Richard arranged her marriage to Adrian because he wanted an alliance between two powerful families.”

Alexander's breathing became uneven.

“Then why did Daniel leave her?”

“He didn't. Victoria discovered she was pregnant, but Richard threatened to destroy Daniel unless she married Adrian and claimed the child as his.”

I covered my mouth.

Alexander stepped backward.

“So Daniel was my father?”

Mama nodded.

“And you knew?”

“Not until recently. Your father told me before he disappeared that Victoria had secretly given birth to a boy. He suspected the child was Daniel's, but he couldn't prove it.”

Alexander stared at the photograph again.

“Why didn't anyone tell me?”

“Because Richard feared what would happen if you learned the truth,” Mama whispered. “You were the rightful heir to Daniel's shares in the company.”

Richard struck his cane against the floor.

“Enough! This family survived because certain truths remained buried.”

“No,” Alexander said quietly. “This family survived because you made everyone afraid.”

His grandfather's expression hardened.

“You owe everything to me.”

“I owe you nothing.”

For the first time, Richard appeared genuinely threatened.

He turned toward the guards.

“Take the documents. Bring the girl with you.”

One guard approached me, but Alexander immediately blocked his path.

“Touch her, and you'll answer to me.”

Richard sneered.

“You would sacrifice your inheritance for a woman who might be your own cousin?”

The word struck me like a blade.

Cousin.

I looked at Alexander, desperately searching his face for reassurance. He looked equally horrified, but neither of us could deny the possibility.

“Isabella,” he whispered, “we need to find Daniel's records.”

I nodded, fighting tears.

Before anyone could move, Victor suddenly stepped forward.

“There's something you should know about that photograph.”

Richard's expression changed.

“Be quiet, Santos.”

Victor ignored him.

“The dates on those documents were altered. Alexander was born three months after Victoria and Adrian's marriage, but Daniel's paternity was never officially established. Richard fabricated the timeline to protect the family's reputation.”

Alexander turned sharply.

“Are you saying we might not be related?”

“I'm saying you deserve evidence before believing anything your grandfather tells you.”

Richard lunged toward Victor, but Alexander caught his arm.

“Don't you dare touch him.”

A strange silence followed.

Then Mama reached inside her handbag and produced a folded document.

“I kept this because Daniel asked me to protect it.”

She handed it to Alexander.

It was a hospital record bearing Victoria's name, accompanied by a handwritten note.

My heart pounded as Alexander read it.

His hands began shaking.

“What does it say?” I whispered.

He looked at me, his eyes filled with disbelief.

“Victoria requested a private paternity test before her marriage.”

“And?”

He swallowed.

“The results were never attached.”

Richard suddenly looked terrified.

“Give me that document.”

Alexander folded it carefully.

“No.”

“You have no idea what you're holding.”

“Then explain it.”

Richard's mouth tightened.

For the first time, he had no answer.

Victor stepped closer.

“There's one place where the original results might still exist. Daniel's safe deposit box contains a key to a private archive beneath the old Monteverde estate.”

Alexander looked at me.

“Then we're going there.”

Richard's face twisted with rage.

“If you open that archive, you will destroy everything your father built.”

“Perhaps he built nothing worth keeping,” Alexander replied.

We escaped through the underground passage moments before Richard's guards surrounded the house.

The journey to the abandoned estate passed in dreadful silence. I sat beside Alexander, staring at the brass key resting between my fingers.

Finally, he spoke.

“If the results prove Daniel was my father, I'll accept the truth.”

“And if they prove we're related?”

His eyes met mine.

“Then I'll spend the rest of my life making sure you never suffer because of my family's sins.”

Tears blurred my vision.

“You can't promise me that.”

“No,” he admitted. “But I can promise I'll never deliberately hurt you.”

I wanted to believe him.

Instead, I turned toward the window.

When we reached the estate, Victor led us through a concealed entrance beneath the library. Inside the archive, dust covered shelves filled with forgotten documents.

At the center stood a metal cabinet.

Alexander unlocked it.

Inside lay a sealed envelope bearing two names: Daniel Monteverde and Victoria Monteverde.

My hands trembled as he opened it.

The first page contained the missing paternity results.

Alexander read the conclusion silently.

Then he stumbled backward, covering his mouth.

“What is it?” I demanded.

He couldn't answer.

I snatched the document.

The result was unmistakable.

Daniel Monteverde was Alexander's biological father.

But beneath that conclusion, another sentence had been handwritten.

The second child, Isabella Reyes, requires immediate testing.

I slowly raised my eyes.

Alexander stared at me, devastated.

Before either of us could speak, a phone rang inside the cabinet.

An unknown number.

Alexander answered.

A woman's trembling voice emerged.

“Alexander, listen carefully. Richard has lied about both your births.”

I froze.

The woman continued.

“Your mother and Isabella's mother switched two babies at the hospital.”

My blood turned to ice.

Then she whispered the words that destroyed everything.

“Isabella, you were born a Monteverde.”

End of Chapter 9.