“What would you have done twenty years ago, Eduardo?” she interrupted with a sad smile. “You were a rich, ambitious boy. You probably would have handed me a check to ‘fix the problem’ or to make me disappear. I didn’t want that for her. I didn’t want her to be an inconvenience in your schedule or a hidden bastard. I wanted her to be free.”
Eduardo opened his mouth to defend himself, but the words died on his tongue. She was right. The Eduardo of twenty years ago, obsessed with status and image, might not have risen to the occasion. That truth hurt more than any insult.
“You’re right,” he admitted, his voice cracking for the first time. “I was a blind fool. But I’ve changed—or at least, I want to believe I have. I don’t want to buy her, Aurora. I don’t want to upend her life. I just… God, I just want to know her. To know this incredible woman you’ve raised.”
Aurora studied him for an eternity, searching for any trace of deceit. Finally, she sighed. “Estela is smart. Sooner or later she’ll connect the dots, if she hasn’t already after seeing you today.”
“Let me speak to her. Whenever you say. However you say.”