Semua Bab He Stole My Love, Heart and My Future—But I’m Taking It Back: Bab 21 - Bab 30

The rain started just as I left the villa. Big drops fell from the dark sky, quickly turning into heavy rain as I drove through the empty Florida highways. The windscreen wipers moved back and forth like tired arms, fighting the water that poured down like tears from heaven. By the time I reached the hospital building site, my clothes were soaked through, and my hair stuck to my face in dark, wet lines.Alejandro was waiting exactly where I'd asked him to be, standing near the steel frame that was supposed to become a children's wing. The metal beams rose up into the night like the bones of some great sleeping animal. The moonlight came through the clouds, making everything look silver and full of shadows. When he saw me walking toward him with my bags, something in his face changed from worry to relief to something deeper."Emily." He moved toward me, his voice carrying across the empty lot like a promise.I dropped my bags and ran the last few steps, not caring about the rain or the

Papers were spread all over Alejandro's kitchen table like pieces of a broken puzzle waiting to be put back together. Bank records, medical files, legal papers—all the proof Sofia and I had carefully collected over months. A small drive glowed softly in the laptop, holding secrets that could destroy evil people or save lives, depending on how smart we were."Jesus, Emily." Sofia's voice came through the video call on my computer. Her face looked shocked and amazed at the same time. Behind her, I could see her law office with books and files everywhere—the organized mess of someone who fought battles with paperwork instead of weapons. "This is... this is bigger than we thought."I leaned forward, pointing to the screen where Carlos's text messages scrolled by like evidence in court. "Look at the dates. Every big foundation decision in the last six months—Carlos was working with Enrique Salazar before he ever told me about them.""Especially the medical contracts." Sofia typed fast, tak

The Reyes Foundation boardroom had always scared me, huge windows looking out over Biscayne Bay, a dark wooden table that cost more than most people's houses, leather chairs that whispered of power with every creak. But today, walking through those shiny doors without warning, I felt like a queen coming back to take her throne.The air in the room was thick with tension and expensive cologne. Sunlight streamed through the massive windows, making the polished table surface gleam like a mirror. The smell of fresh coffee mixed with leather and fear.Twelve faces turned toward me at the same time, showing everything from shock to relief to something that looked like guilt. Carlos sat at the head of the table where I should have been, his coffee cup frozen halfway to his lips, his face losing all color like someone had drained the blood from his veins."Emily." Dr. Patricia Huang, our longest-serving board member, stood up from her chair with clear relief. "Thank God you're safe. We've bee

I woke up to my phone going crazy with messages—lots of them, beeping over and over like an alarm that wouldn't stop. Alejandro's arm pulled me closer as I reached for my phone. His warm body pressed against mine in the soft morning light that came through his bedroom window."What's wrong?" he asked sleepily, worry in his voice.I looked at my phone screen and watched my whole life fall apart right in front of me. Missed calls from Sofia, from news reporters, from people on the charity board. Text messages from friends I hadn't talked to in months, all asking the same thing: Is it true?But it was the news alert that made my blood run cold.BREAKING NEWS: Rich Miami Man's Wife Caught Cheating - Charity Money Maybe Used for Secret Love Affair"No," I whispered, my hands shaking as I clicked on the story. "No, no, no."The article loaded fast, and it had photos that made me feel sick. Pictures of Alejandro and me kissing in his apartment, hugging by his car, holding hands walking throu

The hospital's white walls felt like they were getting closer as I walked down the long hallway to Daniela's room. The sharp smell of cleaning chemicals mixed with fear hung thick in the air. I could hear machines beeping in the distance and nurses walking quietly on the hard floors."She keeps asking for you," the nurse said softly, looking at me with wondering eyes. "Again and again. Sometimes she sounds normal; other times..." She shook her head sadly. "The pain medicine makes her say weird things."I stopped outside room 314, my hand on the door handle. After everything Daniela had done, all the lies, the tricks, turning Mateo against me, part of me wanted to just leave. But she was still Mateo's mother, and he was sleeping safely at Alejandro's apartment, finally trusting someone again.I pushed the door open.Daniela looked tiny and broken in the hospital bed. Her face was swollen and covered with dark bruises, and her left arm was wrapped in a hard white cast. Plastic tubes ran