Chapter 9 - SEBASTIÁN’S CONFESSION
Sebastián arranged for Valeria and Lucía to be moved to a secure room under Dr. Navarro’s supervision.
Then he prepared to leave for Casa Alcázar.
Valeria stopped him before he reached the door.
“There is something you need to know.”
Her voice was weak, but steady.
“The ledger wasn’t the first evidence I found.”
Sebastián returned to the bed.
Valeria explained that three years earlier, shortly after their wedding, she had discovered monthly transfers from Alcázar International to a company called Aurelia Holdings.
The company had no employees, no office, and no visible business.
Its ownership led to a trust controlled by Octavio.
When Valeria questioned Sebastián, he dismissed the payments as legal expenses.
“I remember,” he said.
“You told me you didn’t understand corporate finance.”
Sebastián closed his eyes.
He had repeated Octavio’s exact words.
Valeria continued.
“After that, your mother began sending me to Dr. Mena.”
“She said I needed help adjusting to the family.”
“Every appointment created another report describing me as unstable.”
Sebastián sat down.
“I gave Mena permission to speak with my mother.”
“Yes.”
“I also gave him access to our insurance records.”
“Yes.”
He looked at Lucía sleeping beside Valeria.
“What else did I do?”
Valeria hesitated.
“Six months ago, you signed a stack of blank emergency forms during the company retreat.”
Sebastián remembered.
Octavio claimed the documents were needed for employee medical coverage.
He signed without reading them.
Those signatures could have been scanned and placed on anything.
“I helped them.”
Valeria did not answer.
The silence was enough.
Sebastián leaned forward.
“I can’t change what I did.”
“No.”
“But I can tell the truth about it.”
Valeria looked at him.
“Even if the truth destroys your family?”
“My family is in this room.”
The answer sounded sincere.
But Valeria had heard sincere promises before.
“Then prove it when your mother is standing in front of you.”
Sebastián removed his wedding ring.
For a moment, Valeria thought he was surrendering it.
Instead, he placed it in her palm.
“My father gave me this ring before he died.”
“He told me the Alcázar name meant nothing if I became a coward.”
Sebastián closed her fingers around it.
“I became one anyway.”
“But I won’t leave this hospital wearing it again until I deserve it.”
Valeria said nothing.
Mateo called from the corridor.
They had to leave immediately.
As Sebastián reached the door, Valeria spoke.
“The original trust is not in the office.”
He turned.
“It’s hidden inside the nursery.”
“Where?”
“In the music box your father bought before he died.”
Sebastián froze.
His father had purchased that music box before Valeria was pregnant.
Before anyone knew a baby was coming.
May you like
And only Rebeca knew why.
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