Elena's body stiffened when her eyes met her.
"Aunt Maria?" she whispered.
The woman turned at once, her own eyes wide and teary.
"Elena?"
Elena froze for a second, unable to believe it. Then, like a burst of emotion she couldn't hold back, she ran forward.
They collided in a tight embrace, tears slipping down Elena's cheeks as she held onto the only family she had left.
"I thought I lost you," Maria whispered, her voice trembling.
Elena shook her head, crying harder.
"I missed you so much… I thought I'd never see you again."
An hour ago,
Maria sat quietly in the large guest room.
The mansion was silent except for the faint ticking of a golden clock on the wall.
Her mind wasn't there — it was far away, lost in the face of the man she had seen earlier that day.
Diego.
Just thinking of him made her chest tighten. The years hadn't erased the pain, the betrayal… or the memory of that tiny cry the day her daughter was taken from her arms.
