Shaken but firm, Laura defends her mother and says she’s not there for money. Ricardo steps in, says this is between him and Laura, and brings her into his office.
There, he admits Lucía hired an investigator, who suggested Laura might be his daughter. Laura confirms it. Ricardo is stunned. He says Elena never told him she was pregnant; she just vanished.
Laura explains the threats, the payoff, and the unanswered letters. When she asks how he got the photo if he never got the letters, he reveals the picture arrived anonymously twenty-six years ago in an envelope with no return address.
He kept it because he knew it meant something, even if he didn’t know what.
Laura opens the envelope from Marta. Inside are receipts and documents proving that letters from Elena to Ricardo were signed for by Lucía Salgado, plus checks from Lucía to a postal worker, Raúl Núñez, and notes about “keeping Elena and the girl under watch.”
The truth becomes undeniable: Lucía intercepted every letter and made sure Ricardo never knew he had a daughter. She knew all along.