Part 4: The Secret Marisol Had Buried
Part 4: The Secret Marisol Had Buried
Daniel read the sentence on the back of the photograph three times.
The truth began the night this was taken.
He slowly turned the picture over again.
There was Marisol.
Four years younger.
Nervous.
Standing among the catering staff.
His father, Alejandro Robles, was only a few steps away.
And Daniel himself...
Laughing with a group of investors, completely unaware of the young woman in the background.
He looked up at Don Eusebio.
"Where did you find this?"
The elderly butler swallowed.
"It was inside one of Señor Alejandro's old journals."
"My father's journal?"
Don Eusebio nodded.
"I was organizing the storage room this morning."
"The photograph fell out."
Daniel frowned.
"My father never kept random photographs."
"No."
"He didn't."
"He kept reminders."
The room fell silent.
Marisol stood frozen near the window.
Her breathing had become shallow.
She recognized the photograph immediately.
She remembered that night far too well.
"I was only filling in for another waitress," she whispered.
"It was supposed to be one evening."
Daniel looked at her.
"You were there?"
She nodded.
"It was my first catering job."
"I needed the money."
"My mother had just started chemotherapy."
The words hung heavily in the room.
"I worked sixteen hours that day."
"I barely sat down."
Daniel listened without interrupting.
"It was one of the biggest events I'd ever seen."
"So many wealthy people."
"So many cameras."
"I tried to stay invisible."
Her voice trembled.
"But someone noticed me."
Daniel's expression became serious.
"Who?"
Marisol closed her eyes.
"A man."
"He introduced himself as Gabriel."
Daniel felt his stomach tighten.
"The same man you told me about?"
"Yes."
"He was charming."
"Kind."
"He said I looked exhausted."
"He brought me water."
"He made me laugh."
She forced a sad smile.
"No one had been that nice to me in a very long time."
Don Eusebio quietly lowered his head.
He already knew where the story was leading.
"We saw each other several more times," Marisol continued.
"He always met me away from the mansion."
"He said he traveled constantly for work."
"He never invited me to his home."
"I didn't think much of it."
"I believed everything he told me."
Daniel asked quietly,
"Did he ever show you identification?"
"No."
"Did you know his last name?"
"No."
"Did he ever introduce you to friends?"
Again, she shook her head.
"No."
"He said he preferred keeping his private life separate."
Daniel looked toward the photograph.
Something wasn't right.
If this man had been attending his father's charity gala...
Why had no one remembered him?
Just then, Don Eusebio spoke.
"There is something I've never told anyone."
Daniel turned.
"What?"
The old butler hesitated.
"I didn't recognize Marisol."
"But..."
"I recognized the man standing beside her."
Daniel's eyes narrowed.
"You know who Gabriel was?"
"I never knew his name."
"But I saw his face that evening."
"And?"
Don Eusebio took a slow breath.
"He wasn't one of the guests."
"He wasn't one of the waiters."
"He arrived with another businessman."
Daniel leaned forward.
"Which businessman?"
The old butler answered without hesitation.
"Your father's business partner."
"Ricardo Salazar."
The name landed like a stone.
Daniel knew Ricardo well.
He had been Alejandro Robles' closest friend for nearly twenty years.
After Alejandro's death, Ricardo had quietly retired and moved to Spain.
Daniel hadn't seen him in almost four years.
"Are you certain?"
"I never forget faces."
Don Eusebio replied firmly.
"He spent the entire evening following Ricardo."
"And later..."
The old man stopped.
"Later what?"
"I saw him arguing with your father."
Daniel's eyebrows lifted.
"My father argued with Gabriel?"
"I couldn't hear what they were saying."
"But Señor Alejandro looked furious."
"I had never seen him like that."
Daniel immediately walked to his father's old desk.
Inside one drawer sat several leather-bound journals.
He searched until he found the volume dated four years earlier.
Most pages contained business notes.
Meeting schedules.
Investment ideas.
Nothing unusual.
Then a folded letter slipped onto the desk.
It wasn't addressed.
It wasn't signed.
Only one sentence had been written across the top.
"If anything happens to me, find the waitress."
Daniel's pulse quickened.
The handwriting belonged to his father.
He recognized it instantly.
Marisol covered her mouth.
"He remembered me?"
Don Eusebio nodded slowly.
"I think he was trying to protect you."
"But from what?"
No one had an answer.
That afternoon, Daniel canceled every meeting.
His assistant protested.
Investors complained.
The board requested explanations.
He ignored them all.
Instead, he instructed his security chief to retrieve every surveillance archive, guest list, and photograph from the charity gala held four years earlier.
"If anything still exists..."
"I want it."
"Today."
While Daniel searched for the past, Renata was making plans of her own.
She sat inside a luxury café across town.
The private investigator she had hired placed a folder on the table.
"I found something."
Renata opened it.
Inside was Camila's birth certificate.
She scanned it quickly.
Mother:
Marisol Gutiérrez.
Father:
Not Listed.
She smiled.
"So the child really doesn't have a father."
"Legally," the investigator corrected.
Renata looked up.
"What do you mean?"
He slid another document toward her.
"This is what worried me."
It was an old hospital admission form.
Four years old.
One name had been listed as Marisol's emergency contact.
Renata frowned.
"Who's Alejandro Robles?"
The investigator looked directly at her.
"Daniel's father."
Renata's smile disappeared.
She slowly looked back at the paper.
Her fingers tightened around the folder.
For the first time...
She realized the little girl might not be just a maid's daughter.
She might somehow be connected to the Robles family itself.
And if that was true...
Everything she had worked for could disappear overnight.
As she closed the folder, she made a decision.
If there was a secret buried in the past...
May you like
She would find it first.
And she would make sure Daniel never learned the whole truth.
