Chapter 7 - TERESA CHOOSES A SIDE
Teresa found Lucia near the neonatal intensive-care unit just before sunset. She looked smaller than she had that morning. Her expensive coat was folded over one arm, and the pearls were gone.
Without them, she seemed less like the family matriarch who had spent years judging everyone else and more like a tired sixty-six-year-old woman who had finally run out of excuses. “Can we talk?” Lucia almost said no. Instead, she pointed toward a row of chairs near the window.
They sat. Chicago burned orange beneath the winter clouds. Teresa clasped her hands. “I knew about Valeria for four months.” Lucia looked ahead. “I figured.” “I found out by accident. Marcus left a restaurant receipt in my car.
Two dinners. Hotel afterward.” “Why was it in your car?” “He had borrowed it.” Lucia nodded slowly. “What did you do?” “I confronted him.” “And?” “He told me it was over.” “You believed him?”
“I wanted to.” Lucia finally looked at her. “That is not the same thing.” “No.” Teresa’s eyes lowered. “A month later, he told me Valeria was pregnant.” Lucia’s jaw tightened. “He told you before he told me.”
“He never planned to tell you until he had… arrangements.” “What arrangements?” “I didn’t know everything.” “Try.” Teresa took a breath. “He said he was going to sell part of the company, buy a house, and make sure Daniela was secure before he asked for a divorce.”
Lucia stared at her. “And you said nothing.” “I begged him to stop.” “But you said nothing to me.” “I was afraid if I told you, the family would break.” Lucia’s voice remained low. “The family was already broken.
You just asked me to live inside it without knowing.” Teresa began to cry. Lucia felt no satisfaction. “I’m sorry.” The apology sounded unfamiliar in Teresa’s mouth. Lucia looked back toward the window.
After a long silence, Teresa spoke again. “There is something else.” Lucia turned. “Marcus came to my house two nights ago.” “What did he want?” “Cash.” “How much?” “Fifty thousand.” “For what?” “He wouldn’t say.” “Did you give it to him?”
Teresa nodded. Lucia closed her eyes. “Cash?” “A cashier’s check.” “From which bank?” Teresa told her. “Do you have a copy?” “Yes.” Lucia took out her phone. “Send it to Naomi.”
Teresa hesitated. “Will this hurt him?” Lucia looked at her. “The truth may hurt him.” “He’s my son.” “I know.” “I don’t know how to do this.” “You start by not helping him lie.” Teresa’s hands trembled.
Then she sent the photograph. An hour later, the company’s forensic team identified the recipient account. The cashier’s check had been deposited into a newly formed entity called Alder Ridge Holdings. That name matched the buyer listed in the draft patent transaction.
The trail was no longer theoretical. Marcus had used his mother’s money to help finance a company that intended to purchase assets from the business he controlled. Naomi called it a potential self-dealing structure. Lucia called it exactly what it felt like.
A trap. By evening, outside counsel had obtained an emergency internal hold preventing any transfer of intellectual property without board approval. The closing scheduled for the next morning could not proceed.
Marcus learned about it at 8:40 P.M. He called Teresa from a hospital phone. Lucia happened to be standing beside her when the call came. Teresa looked at the screen. “Answer,” Lucia said. Teresa put the phone on speaker.
“Mom.” His voice was rough but furious. “Did you send Lucia the check?” Teresa swallowed. “Yes.” “You betrayed me.” The words hit her visibly. Lucia said nothing. Teresa closed her eyes.
“No, Marcus.” “You had no right.” “I had every right. It was my money.” “I told you it was for the family.” “You told me what you needed me to hear.” Silence. Then Marcus said something colder.
“You always liked her more.” Teresa opened her eyes. Lucia saw forty years of motherhood in that expression—the sacrifices, the pride, the denial, the endless belief that love required protection from consequences.
“No,” Teresa said. “I loved you too blindly.” Marcus hung up. Teresa stared at the phone. Then she began to sob. Lucia did not hug her immediately. Some grief deserved a moment to stand on its own.
After a while, Teresa wiped her face. “Can I still see him?” “Yes.” “You don’t think I should cut him off?” “I think you should stop rescuing him from what he does.” Teresa nodded.
From the end of the corridor, Daniela appeared with a nurse. She had spent ten minutes with Valeria. Lucia stood. “How did it go?” Daniela shrugged, but her eyes were red. “She said she was sorry.”
May you like
“For what?” “Everything.” Daniela looked toward Teresa. “She said the baby is a girl.” Teresa covered her mouth. A granddaughter. Another complicated love had entered the family before she was even born. Daniela stepped closer to Lucia.
“Can we go home?” Lucia looked at Teresa. The older woman nodded. “I’ll stay.” As Lucia and Daniela walked toward the elevators, the girl slipped her hand into Lucia’s. It was a small gesture. But after the longest day of Lucia’s life, it felt like a promise.
