Ricardo went silent.
Then he tried to lie.
“There is no other woman.”
I didn’t answer.
“I saw you.”
His face went pale.
“In the maternity wing.”
He sat down.
I continued.
“I heard Daniela ask what would happen if I found out.”
His shoulders dropped.
Then came the sentence I had been waiting for.
“She’s pregnant.”
I nodded.
“I know.”
“She’s having my child.”
“I know that too.”
He covered his face.
“It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.”
I stared at him.
“Then how was it supposed to happen?”
He couldn’t answer.
Finally he whispered:
“My mother wanted a grandson.”
I felt something inside me break.
Not because I hadn’t suspected it.
Because he had actually said it aloud.
“You allowed your mother to manipulate our marriage because she wanted a boy?”
“She wasn’t the only one.”
I looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
He looked away.
“Daniela and I had been seeing each other for almost two years.”
Two years.
I had spent two years caring for his mother.
Two years putting my own life aside.
Two years believing my husband was working late.
Two years believing he was helping his family
All while he was building another family.
THE DOCUMENT ON THE TABLE
I slid a folder toward him.
He opened it.
The first page was the property-sale agreement.
The second was the marital-property agreement.
The third was a financial statement showing that the seven million pesos were no longer accessible to him.
Then he saw the final page.
His expression changed.
“What is this?”
“A copy of the evidence I collected.”
He looked up.
“What evidence?”
I placed my phone on the table.
The recording began.
Daniela’s voice filled the kitchen.
“What if Mariana comes?”
Then Ricardo’s voice:
“She won’t. She’s taking care of my mom.”
Silence.
Then Daniela:
“Is your mom really happy about the baby being a boy?”
Ricardo:
“She’s been waiting years for a grandson.”
His face turned white.
“You recorded us?”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“I didn’t need to.”
His eyes widened.
“Then how?”
“The hospital has security cameras.”
I had requested the footage through my lawyer after witnessing what happened.
And there was more.
Hospital records showed Ricardo had visited Daniela repeatedly.
Payment records showed he had been paying several of her expenses.
And some of those payments came from accounts connected to our household.
Ricardo stared at the documents.
“You were planning this.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“I was protecting myself.”
HIS MOTHER’S SECRET
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