Chapter 3 - The Trap is Sprung
"I didn't marry you for your money... but they did."By the time Alejandro returned home at 6:00 p.m., the exhaustion of his high-stress job was taking a backseat to the knot of anxiety in his stomach. He loved his mother and sisters, but he loved his wife more. He was prepared to buy his family a separate apartment just to give Sofía peace.
But when he entered the living room, he was met with a scene he didn't expect.
Sofía was sitting on the sofa, looking calm, though her eyes were puffy and red. Doña Carmen was sitting next to her, gently rubbing her shoulder. Ximena and Valeria were pouring tea.
"Alejandro, honey, you're home," Sofía said, her voice sounding forced, empty.
Alejandro walked over, kneeling in front of her. "Sofía, are you okay? What's going on here?"
"I... I need to apologize to you, Alejandro," Sofía said, looking down, refusing to meet his eyes. "And to your mother. Last night... I was emotional. The pregnancy hormones... I wanted to clean the kitchen. Carmen and the girls told me to rest, but I insisted. I got overwhelmed and started crying, and when you walked in, I let you believe they made me do it. I'm so sorry."
Alejandro froze. He looked at Sofía, then at his mother, who gave him a sad, forgiving smile.
"We forgive her, of course, Alejandro," Doña Carmen sighed gently. "Pregnancy is a difficult time. But it hurt us deeply that you believed we would treat our own family member like a servant. We only want what is best for you and the baby."
Alejandro felt a cold chill run down his spine. Something was wrong. He knew his wife. Sofía was many things, but she was not a liar, and she certainly wasn't a coward. The raw, cracked skin on her hands from the night before wasn't the result of "hormones" or a single night of cleaning. It was the result of weeks of abuse.
"Is that so?" Alejandro said slowly, standing up. He kept his voice completely flat, betraying none of the suspicion clawing at his mind. "Well... if everything is fine, then I suppose there is no issue."
"Exactly," Ximena chimed in quickly, sliding a paper across the table. "And since we’re all a happy family again... could you call the bank? Our cards are still declined. We have a shopping trip planned tomorrow."
Alejandro looked at the credit cards sitting on the glass table. Then he looked at Sofía, who was staring at her lap, her knuckles white as she gripped her dress.
"Of course," Alejandro said. "I'll call the bank. But first, I need to check on some project documents in my home office."
Alejandro walked up the stairs, his mind racing. He didn't go to his desk to look at architectural blueprints. Instead, he locked the door of his study, pulled out his laptop, and accessed the security camera feed of the house.
Months ago, he had installed small, discreet security cameras in the common areas—including the kitchen and the living room—for safety reasons. His family didn't know about them because they were integrated into the smart-home smoke detectors.
With trembling fingers, Alejandro rewound the footage to that afternoon.
He watched the screen as Doña Carmen, Ximena, and Valeria cornered his pregnant wife in the kitchen. He couldn't hear the audio clearly at first, but as he boosted the volume, the words cut through the speakers like knives.
"...You gave up a child for money... We will take the baby you are carrying right now... You will sign a document relinquishing all rights..."
Alejandro’s breath hitched. He watched his wife sob, watched his mother threaten her with a manila folder, and watched his sisters laugh at her misery.
The betrayal was total. The people he had spent his entire adult life working himself to the bone to support were blackmailing his pregnant wife using a painful secret from her past.
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But as Alejandro stared at the folder on the screen, a dark realization washed over him. He knew about Sofía's past. She had told him about the surrogacy on their very third date, crying, terrified he would judge her. He had loved her even more for her sacrifice to save her father.
His family thought they had a weapon. In reality, they had just handed Alejandro the rope to hang them with.
