They humiliated her because she looked poor, not knowing that she was the hotel owner’s daughter.

That afternoon, in her father’s office, Valeria found him on the phone with his lawyers, red with anger.

“I want a defamation lawsuit today! I want this woman to pay for every lie!”

“Dad, wait.”

He hung up and looked at her.

“My daughter, this woman has humiliated you and now she’s making you out to be the villain in the eyes of the whole country. I’m not going to stand idly by.”

“If you sue her now, it’ll be exactly like what she describes: the all-powerful billionaire crushing the modest family.” Valeria took a deep breath. “She wants us to react with anger. That’s her game. Let’s not give her what she wants.”

“So what do you suggest? That we all shut up?”

“No. I suggest we wait until we have the whole truth. The hotel has cameras, doesn’t it? With sound. And there are witnesses. Lucía. Ramiro. The pianist. When the truth comes out, it must come out whole, and all at once.”

Alejandro looked at her for a long time. Then, slowly, he smiled.

“You speak exactly like your mother when she was negotiating.”

But that night something happened that neither of them expected.

An envelope with no return address was left at the Imperial’s reception desk, addressed to Valeria. Inside was a single sheet of paper with a handwritten message:

“You think you’re very clever, princess. But I know how to search too. And I’ve found someone who has a lot to say about you… and about that kid. See you soon. — B.M.”

And below, a photograph.

It was Daniel.

Chapter 8 – Daniel’s Return

Two days later, Daniel appeared on television.

He was sitting on the same set where Beatriz had given her interview, shirt ironed, hair short and an expression of a wounded father that Valeria had never seen on him.

“I loved Valeria,” he said, his voice choked with emotion. “But she was always unstable. Capricious. When our son was born, one day she simply disappeared with him. I’ve been searching for him for months. And now I learn from a viral video that she’s living like a queen in her father’s hotel, while she won’t even let me see my son.”

The presenter nodded sympathetically.

“And what are you going to do now, Daniel?”

“I will fight for custody of Mateo. A child deserves to grow up with values, not surrounded by people who destroy families on a whim.”

Valeria turned off the television, her hands icy. Mateo was playing in his crib, oblivious to everything, grabbing his feet and laughing.

“That’s not true,” she murmured. “It’s all false. He abandoned us. He even took the money for the milk.”

Alejandro placed a hand on his shoulder.

“I know, my daughter. And we’re going to prove it.”

That afternoon, Valeria received a message from an unknown number:

“We need to talk. Just you and me. Tomorrow at 5 p.m., at the corner café where we met. If you come with your father or a lawyer, we’ll see each other at the courthouse. — D.”

Alejandro categorically refused to let her go. But someone else asked to speak.

It was Ramiro.

Alejandro hadn’t fired him. On the contrary, after a long conversation, he’d appointed him Valeria and Mateo’s personal bodyguard. “A man who admits his mistake in front of everyone deserves the chance to make amends,” he’d told him. And Ramiro had taken that chance as a debt of honor.

“Miss Valeria, let me show you around. I’ll sit at another table, like any other customer. He’s never seen me before.” He paused and took something out of his pocket: a small black button. “And this is a body camera. We use them in security. It records sound and video.”

The next day, at precisely 5 p.m., Valeria entered the café. Daniel was already there. He was no longer wearing the pressed shirt from the TV, but his old leather jacket and a cynical smile.

“You look well, Vale. Money suits you.”

“What do you want, Daniel?”

“Straight to the point. I like that.” He leaned forward. “Look, raising a baby doesn’t interest me at all. We both know that. But your father has a lot of money, and I have a custody petition, a lawyer, and half the country on my side. So let’s make a deal. Five million, and I’m gone. I withdraw the petition, I say on TV it was a misunderstanding, and you never hear from me again.”

Valeria felt nauseous.

“Was it your idea or Beatriz Montenegro’s?”

Daniel sneered.