“Yes. She earned it on her own.”
The silence that followed was heavy, laden with eighteen years of secrets. Eduardo couldn’t dance around it any longer. “Aurora, I’ve seen her. She has my eyes. She has my father’s profile. The dates match.”
Aurora looked around, ensuring no one was listening, and lowered her voice to a fierce whisper. “And what if she does? What are you looking for here, Eduardo?”
“So it’s true?” The confirmation hit him like a sledgehammer. “She is my daughter.”
“She is my daughter,” she corrected with a ferocity that made him step back. “I was there when she was born premature and almost didn’t make it. I was there through the fevers, the night terrors, the school plays where every child had a father and she only had me. You were busy building your empire.”
“I didn’t know!” he protested, guilt burning in his throat. “You never told me. If I had known…”