Chapter 5 - Carmen’s Counter Move
Carmen didn’t go down quietly.
By midnight, she had filed an emergency injunction claiming Alexander was using his influence to unlawfully seize Robles family assets. She also leaked a story to two gossip sites suggesting that Sofia’s injury was the result of a “family dispute” involving Alexander’s “volatile temper.”
The stories were weak, but they were enough to create noise.
Alexander returned to the hospital just after 2 a.m. looking more tired than I had ever seen him.
“They’re trying to turn public opinion,” he said, sitting across from me in the dim room. “Carmen knows she can’t win in court anymore, so she’s trying to make this messy enough that we back off.”
I looked at Sofia sleeping peacefully. “She’s attacking our daughter’s reputation now.”
“She’s attacking us,” Alexander corrected. “Through her.”
He was quiet for a moment.
Then he said, “There’s something else. The investigator found payments from Carmen to a man named Marcus Hale. The same name that appeared on the USB your late husband left behind years ago.”
I went still.
Marcus Hale.
The man who had helped Ethan try to steal Lily’s inheritance in another lifetime.
It seemed old enemies had found new partners.
Alexander watched my face. “You know him.”
“I thought he was gone,” I said. “After what happened with Ethan.”
“Apparently not. And now he’s helping Carmen.”
I felt the old anger rise again — the same rage I had felt when I discovered Ethan’s betrayal.
Alexander leaned forward.
“We end this together,” he said. “No more separate battles. They came after our daughter. We finish it as her parents.”
I looked at him for a long moment.
Then I nodded.
“Together,” I agreed.
May you like
For Sofia.
And maybe, just maybe, for the people we used to be.
