CHAPTER 4 The Brother Everyone Hated Walked In… and Exposed a Secret Bigger Than the Affair
The police had just placed a hand on Rodrigo's arm when the conference room doors opened again.
Every head turned.
A tall man in a dark suit stepped inside, carrying a black folder.
For a moment, nobody moved.
Then Doña Eloísa gasped.
"Sebastián…"
Rodrigo's younger brother looked exactly as he had five years earlier when he left for Madrid—calm, composed, and impossible to read.
But tonight, there was something different in his eyes.
Anger.
Deep, old anger.
Rodrigo's face twisted.
"You."
Sebastián closed the door behind him.
"Hello, brother."
The room became painfully silent.
The police officers stepped aside.
Even they sensed something was about to explode.
Rodrigo took a step forward.
"You slept with Valeria."
A murmur spread around the table.
Doña Eloísa covered her mouth.
"What?" one of the board members whispered.
Sebastián didn't deny it.
He simply looked at Rodrigo.
"You found out."
"You destroyed my life!"
Sebastián laughed softly.
"No, Rodrigo."
He placed the black folder on the table.
"You destroyed your own life years ago."
Rodrigo's fists clenched.
"You stole my family."
"No."
Sebastián's eyes hardened.
"I never stole anything from you."
Silence.
"Because nothing that happened to you tonight belongs to me."
He looked around the room.
"You lost your company because you stole from it."
He pointed toward Mariana.
"You lost your marriage because you betrayed your wife."
Then he looked directly into Rodrigo's eyes.
"And those children?"
A long pause.
"You never had them to begin with."
Rodrigo looked as though he might attack him.
The officers subtly stepped closer.
Doña Eloísa burst into tears.
"My sons… what have you done?"
Sebastián slowly exhaled.
"I didn't come here to fight."
He opened the folder.
"I came to tell the truth."
The room fell silent again.
Because everyone in the Salvatierra family knew one thing:
Whenever Sebastián spoke, he never lied.
Five years earlier…
their grandfather had become ill.
Very ill.
The old man spent his final months inside a private clinic.
Only two people visited him regularly.
Mariana.
And Sebastián.
Rodrigo?
He rarely came.
He was too busy with business parties and expensive dinners.
One afternoon, the old man called Sebastián into his room.
"I made a mistake."
Sebastián frowned.
"What mistake?"
The old man looked toward the window.
"I gave Rodrigo power before he earned it."
He coughed.
"He thinks money makes him important."
Another cough.
"But one day, he will destroy this family."
Sebastián remained silent.
The old man then said something that changed everything.
"When I die… protect Mariana."
"Why Mariana?"
A sad smile crossed the old man's face.
"Because she's the only person who truly loves this family."
Sebastián never forgot those words.
Back in the conference room, he looked at Mariana.
"I made him a promise."
Mariana's eyes widened slightly.
She hadn't known this.
Sebastián continued.
"After grandfather died, I kept watching."
He turned toward Rodrigo.
"I watched you gamble company money."
Another document landed on the table.
"I watched you forge signatures."
Another.
"I watched you humiliate your wife."
Another.
"And when I discovered the offshore accounts…"
He looked at the police officers.
"I contacted the bank."
The room exploded.
"What?!"
"You reported your own brother?"
Doña Eloísa looked horrified.
Rodrigo turned pale.
"It was you…"
"Yes."
"YOU BETRAYED ME!"
Sebastián's voice suddenly became cold.
"No."
He stepped closer.
"I saved this company from you."
The silence that followed felt heavy.
Then Rodrigo laughed.
A desperate laugh.
"You think you're some kind of hero?"
Sebastián didn't answer.
"You slept with my secretary!"
Another long silence.
Then Sebastián looked down.
"I made mistakes."
The room waited.
"But there is something you still don't know."
Rodrigo frowned.
"What?"
Sebastián slowly turned toward Mariana.
His expression changed.
Softer.
Almost sad.
"I didn't come here only because of the company."
Mariana looked confused.
"Then why?"
He swallowed.
Then he opened the black folder again.
Inside was an old photograph.
He handed it to her.
Mariana's hands trembled.
Because the woman in the picture looked exactly like her mother.
"What is this?"
Sebastián took a deep breath.
"My grandfather asked me to give you this if anything happened."
Silence.
"And to tell you the truth."
Her heart suddenly raced.
"What truth?"
Sebastián looked directly into her eyes.
Then said words that made everyone in the room stop breathing.
"Mariana…"
He paused.
"...you were adopted."
Silence.
Absolute silence.
The photograph slipped from her hand.
"What?"
"Your mother and father never told you."
"No…"
"It's true."
Doña Eloísa slowly sat down.
She looked as though she had seen a ghost.
Mariana's voice shook.
"That's impossible."
Sebastián's eyes filled with emotion.
"You weren't adopted by accident."
He pulled another document from the folder.
"Your biological mother worked for this company twenty-eight years ago."
Mariana couldn't breathe.
"And she died in a car accident."
The room became deathly quiet.
"But before she died…"
He swallowed.
"...she left a letter."
He handed the sealed envelope to Mariana.
Her hands trembled violently.
On the front was written:
For my daughter, Mariana. Open only when the truth can no longer be hidden.
A tear rolled down her cheek.
Rodrigo stared in confusion.
"What does this have to do with anything?"
Sebastián looked at him.
Everything.
Because the next words would destroy the entire Salvatierra family.
He slowly turned back toward Mariana.
"Your biological mother…"
A long pause.
"...was having an affair with a member of this family."
The room froze.
"And according to this letter…"
He looked toward Doña Eloísa.
"...the man she loved was your father."
Silence.
Then—
"No…" whispered Doña Eloísa.
Mariana's face turned white.
Rodrigo stared at his mother.
Then at Mariana.
Then back again.
A horrible realization began forming in his mind.
Sebastián finally said the words no one was prepared to hear.
"Mariana…"
His voice broke.
"...you may actually be a Salvatierra by blood."
The entire room erupted.
And across the table, Doña Eloísa suddenly fainted.
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END OF CHAPTER 4
TO BE CONTINUED…
🔥 Chapter 5: DNA tests are ordered immediately—but before the results arrive, Mariana opens her mother's final letter and discovers a secret so shocking that it changes who the true heir of the Salvatierra empire really is… and reveals why Rodrigo's father feared her existence from the very beginning.
