We found your twin sister.
My twin sister?
I recall the stunning woman’s features without seeing any resemblance between us, but the next minute, another truth hits me.
If I’m her sister, that makes me Guillermo’s sister-in-law. Or ex-sister-in-law, at least.
I take a deep breath, forcing myself not to freak out, focusing on the documents in front of me, pushing our relationship to a distant place in my brain for now.
Looking at the messages, it’s not the fact that I have a twin sister or that we look nothing alike that hits me but the timeline. She knew who I was three years ago.
Incredibly, I don’t feel sad but angry. I scroll through the emails and see that Layla knew everything. Where I worked and lived, even. Yet she never made a single move to find me.
It’s not because she was rich. It has nothing to do with money. I’ve been through hell, yes, sometimes having to forgo buying food to pay for my mother’s medicine, but I survived because I was raised to be strong. What hurts me is her lack of compassion. She shared my blood and never tried to meet me.
It doesn’t make sense for her to have looked for me and continued gathering information about me when she had no intention of contacting me.
I do a quick calculation. Guillermo said she passed away when Nina was only a few months old, which means Layla had over two years to come see me.
She didn’twantto see me.
I’m about to close the folder when, underneath everything, I find an envelope. On the outside is written:Only open after my death.
The seal has already been broken, so I pull out the contents, even though I’m not sure I’m ready for more revelations.
The letter is dated ten years ago, and despite the ominous warning about opening it, I promise myself that today I’ll leave here with all the answers.
I hope all this is just a misunderstanding.
Layla, my beloved little girl, I will need your love more than ever now. And then, your forgiveness.
I stop reading. Why do I have this in my hands? Clearly, it comes from Layla’s adoptive mother. I mean, if both of us were rejected, I shouldn’t be reading the letter since I have nothing to do with this woman.
I put it back in the envelope.
“No.”
I jump when I realize Guillermo is back. “No what?”
“You need to read it, Olívia. It will hurt, but I don’t want to hide anything anymore.”
“You’re my brother-in-law.” I finally muster the courage to acknowledge that truth, and everything crashes down on me like an avalanche.
I’m dating my sister’s husband. Valentina is my niece.
A whirlwind of emotions floods me, and I start shaking.
“I’m not. I was. What I have inside me now, my love, is all yours. Even before I met you, it was always yours, Olívia. I’ve waited my whole life for you.”
He kneels in front of me, and for a moment of madness, my mind wanders, and I wonder what someone would think if they walked in right now. A rabbit declaring love to a ballerina.
“You’re my brother-in-law,” I repeat, half in shock.
“No, I’m a man madly in love. The one who would give anything not to hurt you. I made mistakes, and I promise that if you forgive me, there will never be any more secrets between us. For that, I need you to read the letter to the end.”
“I don’t know if I can. Tell me. I don’t want to touch anything that belonged to that woman.”
“Don’t you prefer to take a shower first?”
