CHAPTER 4: THE DAUGHTER WHO WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO EXIST
“Because Lucía…”
Daniela’s voice trembled through the phone.
“…was supposed to be my daughter.”
For a few seconds, Renata couldn't move.
She couldn't speak.
She simply stood there in the middle of her living room, staring at the wall, trying to understand the words that had just come out of her sister's mouth.
“What are you saying?”
Her voice was barely a whisper.
Daniela didn't answer immediately.
Instead, Renata heard something she had never heard from her sister before.
A sob.
Not anger.
Not arrogance.
Pain.
“I loved her before you even held her.”
Renata felt a chill.
“Daniela…”
“You don't understand.”
“No. I don't.”
“You had everything.”
The words came out faster now.
“You had the perfect life. The perfect husband. The perfect family. Everyone loved you.”
“And you think stealing my baby would fix that?”
“No.”
Daniela's voice cracked.
“I think my baby was stolen from me first.”
Renata sat down slowly.
Her mind was racing.
She remembered the day Lucía was born.
The hospital.
The doctors.
Her mother crying.
Daniela standing beside her bed, holding her hand.
She remembered her sister whispering:
"She's beautiful, Renata. She looks like you."
Was that all a lie?
“Tell me the truth.”
Silence.
“Daniela. After everything you did, you owe me the truth.”
Finally, her sister spoke.
“Five years ago, I was pregnant.”
Renata froze.
“What?”
“Yes.”
“You never told me.”
“Because Mom told me not to.”
The room went silent.
Renata's heart started beating faster.
“What are you talking about?”
Daniela laughed bitterly.
“Of course you didn't know. Everyone protected you.”
Five years earlier…
Daniela had been twenty-nine.
She had just discovered she was pregnant.
But unlike Renata, she wasn't married.
She was terrified.
She went to their mother first.
She expected comfort.
Support.
A solution.
Instead, Doña Leticia looked at her with disappointment.
“A baby right now will ruin your life.”
Those words destroyed her.
According to Daniela, their mother convinced her that she wasn't ready to be a mother.
That people would judge her.
That the family name would be damaged.
Then came the worst part.
Doña Leticia suggested something that Daniela never forgot.
“Renata has always wanted a child.”
Daniela's breathing changed.
“What?”
“Your sister has stability. A home. A husband.”
“Are you saying…”
Her mother didn't answer directly.
But Daniela understood.
Renata covered her mouth.
“No…”
“Yes.”
Daniela continued.
“Mom convinced me that if I gave the baby to you, she would have a better life.”
Renata felt sick.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It wasn't supposed to happen like that.”
“Then what happened?”
Daniela was quiet.
For the first time, Renata heard fear in her sister's voice.
“The baby was born early.”
A pause.
“The doctors made a mistake.”
Renata frowned.
“What mistake?”
Daniela whispered:
“They told me my baby didn't survive.”
The words hit like a storm.
Renata closed her eyes.
“What?”
“I was unconscious after delivery. When I woke up, Mom told me my daughter had died.”
Renata's hands began shaking.
“Daniela…”
“But three days later…”
Her voice broke.
“I saw you holding Lucía.”
The world stopped.
Renata couldn't breathe.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I gave birth to Lucía.”
“I know what you believe.”
“I KNOW WHAT HAPPENED.”
Renata shouted for the first time.
The pain inside her finally exploded.
“She is my daughter!”
Daniela went silent.
Then she said:
“Then why did Mom never let me see the hospital records?”
Renata froze.
Because she didn't know.
She had never questioned it.
She had trusted her family.
Again.
The next morning, Renata went straight to the hospital where Lucía was born.
She needed answers.
Not from Daniela.
Not from her mother.
From the truth.
The hospital had changed administrators, but old records were still archived.
After hours of searching, a doctor finally agreed to meet her.
Dr. Esteban Ruiz.
He was retired now.
But he remembered the case.
“You're Renata Morales?”
“Yes.”
He looked uncomfortable.
“I was hoping I would never have this conversation.”
Renata's stomach tightened.
“Why?”
The doctor opened an old file.
“There was confusion after two emergency deliveries that night.”
Two deliveries.
Renata stared.
“What does that mean?”
“It means there were two mothers.”
The room became silent.
“Two baby girls.”
Renata felt dizzy.
“And?”
The doctor looked down.
“And one of the babies was temporarily transferred to the wrong room.”
Renata stopped breathing.
“What?”
“It was corrected within hours.”
“So Lucía…”
The doctor interrupted.
“We need a DNA test.”
The words she feared.
The words she didn't want to hear.
That evening, Renata sat across from Lucía while the little girl colored at the table.
A pink flower.
A yellow sun.
Two little girls holding hands.
The same drawing she had brought for Paula.
“Mommy?”
“Yes, baby?”
“Are you sad?”
Renata forced a smile.
“No.”
Lucía tilted her head.
“You look like when you think too much.”
Renata smiled sadly.
“You notice everything, don't you?”
Lucía nodded.
“Because I watch people.”
That answer hurt.
A five-year-old shouldn't have learned to study people's emotions.
That night, the DNA test was requested.
And before the results came back…
Another secret appeared.
Detective Cruz called Renata.
“We found something else.”
“What?”
“The custody documents Daniela signed…”
Renata waited.
“They weren't about taking Lucía away.”
Her heart stopped.
“Then what were they for?”
The detective's voice became serious.
“They were hiding something much bigger.”
“What?”
A pause.
“Someone wanted Lucía's identity erased.”
Renata looked toward her daughter's bedroom.
“Who?”
The detective answered:
“We found another name connected to the file.”
Renata held her breath.
“What name?”
The answer came quietly.
“Your husband.”
Renata dropped the phone.
Because suddenly the betrayal wasn't coming from one person.
It wasn't just her sister.
It wasn't just her mother.
The people closest to her…
The people who had smiled at her for five years…
May have built their entire family on a lie.
And tomorrow…
The DNA results would reveal whether Lucía was truly her daughter…
May you like
or whether Renata had spent five years raising a child everyone else was trying to hide.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Chapter 5: The DNA results arrive, revealing a truth nobody expected. But when Renata discovers what her husband did the night Lucía was born, the “perfect family” finally collapses forever.
