Chapter 12 - THE SISTERS

"My mother has no sister."

"She does."

Rosa's mother, Elena Santos, had been born Elena Reyes.

Carmen's younger sister.

Arturo Reyes disowned her.

Changed records.

Paid her to disappear.

Rosa grew up knowing her mother's family was "complicated."

"You hired your niece as kitchen staff."

Carmen answered quietly, "I didn't know at first."

"When did you know?"

"Before the surrogacy."

"So that's why you chose me."

"It made the bloodline cleaner."

The sentence horrified everyone.

Rosa whispered, "Cleaner."

Carmen rushed to explain.

"Arturo's trust was obsessed with biological lineage. Your egg meant Valentina still carried Reyes blood through both branches."

"You used Rosa because she was family enough for the trust and powerless enough for you."

Carmen slapped the table.

"I saved this company."

"No."

Rosa's voice was calm now.

"You used my body to fix your inheritance problem."

Too late.

Arturo's document contained a dormant branch clause.

If a disowned bloodline produced a descendant later acknowledged by DNA, that branch regained a portion of founder voting rights.

Rosa herself had a claim.

Seven percent.

Independent of Valentina.

By proving Rosa's bloodline for the fertility plan, she had preserved the evidence that could take power away from her.

"I don't want shares."

Jonah said, "You may still own them."

"Then put them somewhere useful."

"What do you want?"

The surgery.

The fake foundation.

The women at the shelter where Isabella had volunteered.

"Worker education. Medical consent cases. Domestic employees."

"We can build that."

"You're giving away Reyes shares?"

Rosa met her eyes.

"They were never the part of the family I wanted."

Then Marco's phone rang.

Hospital.

Isabella had collapsed.

At the emergency room, the doctor said the baby was stable.

Stress and dehydration.

But an ultrasound revealed something Isabella did not know.

She was not thirty-two weeks pregnant.

She was closer to thirty-six.

"How could her dates be wrong?"

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The doctor looked at Isabella.

"Carmen changed those too."