Chapter 2 - THE TEN-YEAR QUESTION
Carmen’s first defense was arithmetic.
“You’re thirty-five,” she said. “She’s twenty-five.”
Even in crisis, status made her sound offended by biology.
Adrian looked at her.
“I am aware.”
“So she cannot be your daughter.”
“She is my daughter.”
“Biologically?”
“No.”
The room stayed silent.
Adrian turned toward Sofia.
He did not reveal anything else until she nodded.
Permission.
Then he said:
“My mother was Sofia’s mother too.”
Gasps moved through the guests.
Adrian and Sofia were half-siblings by birth.
Ten years apart.
When Adrian was twenty-one and Sofia was eleven, their mother died after a sudden aneurysm.
Sofia’s biological father had been absent for most of her childhood.
He signed away guardianship after years of inconsistency.
Adrian petitioned to become Sofia’s legal guardian.
People told him he was too young.
He was finishing college.
Running a small family logistics company after their mother’s death.
Sleeping four hours a night.
He did it anyway.
He attended:
parent-teacher meetings,
dentist appointments,
school concerts,
bad middle-school plays,
college tours.
At eighteen, Sofia asked for one thing.
“Can you adopt me for real?”
Adult adoption was permitted.
Adrian did.
Legally, she became Sofia Reyes Morales.
She kept Morales publicly.
Why?
Because Adrian was becoming known in business.
She hated how people changed when they knew.
Professors became overly polite.
Employers became suspicious she had connections.
Men she dated suddenly wanted introductions.
So Adrian agreed.
In public:
Sofia Morales.
In private:
his daughter.
Not because they were ashamed.
Because Sofia wanted a life that did not begin with his title.
Carmen stared at her.
“You hid this?”
Sofia answered:
“I kept my family private.”
Then Carmen looked at Javier.
“You knew?”
He swallowed.
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Since we got engaged.”
Sofia’s head snapped toward him.
That was not true.
He had known longer.
She could see it on his face.
Adrian could too.
Then Adrian said:
“Tell her when you first came to my office.”
Sofia’s stomach dropped.
“What office?”
May you like
Javier closed his eyes.
And the room that had already gone silent somehow became quieter.
