“He threw her out into the street while she was pregnant, believing she had been unfaithful: 10 years later, a red light showed him 4 pairs of eyes identical to his own and he discovered the truth that brought him to his knees.”

Mauricio felt like the world was tilting around him.
“Why?”
“For stealing milk and medicine when Sofi had pneumonia,” Valentina replied, with a fierceness that broke his heart. “But she’ll be out soon. She promised us she’d come.”

Mauricio rolled up the window slowly, unable to breathe. His mind, usually as sharp as a diamond, was a whirlwind of chaos.
“Roberto,” he said, staring straight ahead, his hands trembling on his knees. “Cancel dinner. Cancel everything. And call private investigator Salcedo. I want to know everything. Absolutely everything.”

As the car pulled away, Mauricio glanced in the rearview mirror. The four girls were sitting back down, little warriors against the world. He didn’t know that this image would be the mildest of the tortures he was about to face. What he would discover in the next 24 hours would not only shatter his arrogance but also reveal a much closer betrayal, one that had been sleeping under his own roof, feeding his pride while devouring his happiness.

Salcedo’s report arrived the next morning. It was a thick, cold, and brutal folder. Mauricio locked himself in his office, pouring himself a whiskey at nine in the morning.

First page: Victoria Sandoval. Sentenced to 3 years for repeated petty theft in pharmacies and supermarkets. Currently incarcerated in Santa Martha.

Second page: Birth certificates of the minors. Father: Unknown. Date of birth: Exactly compatible with the dates of conception before the separation.

Third page: Mauricio del Valle’s medical history.
Here was the trigger. Salcedo had gone further. He had interrogated the family’s old urologist, now retired in a suspiciously luxurious beach house.