CAMILITA

Chapter Seven: His Secret

Camilita didn't open the door.

She stood frozen, staring at the wood as though her mother could see straight through it.

Alexander Hayes didn't choose you by accident.

The words kept echoing in her mind.

"What does that mean, Mom?"

Margaret sniffled on the other side.

"Please, sweetheart. Just trust me."

"Trust you?" Camilita let out a shaky laugh. "You and Dad have been making decisions about my life behind my back. Now you're telling me the man I'm supposed to marry has some kind of history with our family, and you expect me to trust you?"

"I never wanted this for you."

"Then why did you let it happen?"

Margaret said nothing.

That silence hurt more than any excuse could have.

Camilita stepped away from the door. "I need to be alone."

She heard her mother walk away slowly.

Only after the footsteps disappeared did Camilita take the receipt from her pocket and examine it again.

Payment received in exchange for the promise made.

Twenty years ago.

She was seventeen now. That meant the payment had been made three years before she was born.

Three years.

What could Richard and Margaret have promised someone before they even had a daughter?

And why was Alexander Hayes suddenly demanding that promise be fulfilled?

Her phone vibrated.

Camilita nearly dropped the receipt.

A new message appeared from an unfamiliar number.

UNKNOWN: Stop digging through old documents.

Her stomach tightened.

She typed quickly.

CAMILITA: Who are you?

The reply came almost immediately.

UNKNOWN: Someone who knows what happened twenty years ago.

CAMILITA: Then tell me!

Three dots appeared on the screen, vanished, and appeared again.

Finally, a message arrived.

UNKNOWN: Ask Alexander why his father paid your parents.

Camilita stopped breathing for a moment.

Alexander's father?

She barely knew anything about Alexander himself, let alone his family.

Before she could reply, another message appeared.

UNKNOWN: And whatever you do, don't let him see that receipt.

The screen went dark.

Camilita stared at her reflection in it.

For the first time, she wasn't just afraid of being forced into a marriage.

She was afraid that her entire life had been built around a lie.

---

The next morning, Richard announced that Alexander would be visiting that afternoon.

"He wants to discuss the wedding arrangements," he said over breakfast.

Camilita slowly lowered her spoon.

"What wedding arrangements?"

Richard avoided her eyes. "The date. The ceremony. Other details."

"I haven't agreed to marry him."

"That isn't what we're discussing."

"Then what are we discussing? How quickly you can get rid of me?"

Margaret closed her eyes.

Richard pushed his chair back. "I've had enough of your attitude."

"And I've had enough of your secrets!"

"Watch your mouth!"

"Make me understand, then!"

The words burst out before she could stop them.

For a moment, Richard looked ready to shout again. Instead, he glanced at Margaret and left the kitchen without another word.

Camilita watched him go.

Her mother reached across the table, but Camilita pulled her hand away.

"Please don't," she whispered.

Margaret's face crumpled.

Camilita hated seeing her mother cry. She hated even more that a small part of her still wanted to comfort her.

But she couldn't keep protecting the people who were sacrificing her future.

Not anymore.

---

At exactly three o'clock, a black car pulled into the driveway.

Camilita watched from the living-room window as Alexander stepped out. His dark coat was perfectly fitted, his expression calm. He looked like a man who had never needed to beg anyone for anything.

Richard hurried to greet him.

They spoke quietly beside the car before entering the house.

Alexander's eyes found Camilita immediately.

"Miss Johnson," he said.

"Mr. Hayes."

Richard cleared his throat. "Why don't you two sit down? I'll get some coffee."

"No," Camilita said. "I want to speak to him alone."

Her father stared at her.

Alexander, however, simply nodded. "That seems reasonable."

They moved into the small sitting room. Richard remained in the hallway, close enough to listen.

Camilita folded her arms.

"Your father paid my parents twenty years ago, didn't he?"

Alexander's expression changed.

Only slightly—but she saw it.

"Where did you hear that?"

"So it's true."

"I asked where you heard it."

"And I asked whether it's true."

He studied her for several seconds before answering.

"My father made a financial arrangement with your parents long before you were born."

"What kind of arrangement?"

"One I don't know every detail of."

"You're lying."

His eyebrows lifted.

"You don't know me well enough to make that judgment."

"And you don't know me well enough to decide who I should marry."

For the first time, his composure slipped.

Camilita took the receipt from her pocket but kept it hidden in her closed hand.

"Why me, Alexander? Why not someone who actually wants to marry you?"

He looked toward the hallway.

Then he lowered his voice.

"Because my father believed our families would be connected one day."

Camilita felt a chill move through her.

"Connected how?"

"I don't know what your parents told you."

"They've told me nothing!"

"Then you should ask them why they accepted the money."

"I did. They won't answer."

Alexander's jaw tightened. "That doesn't surprise me."

"Why?"

He hesitated.

For a moment, he looked less like a powerful businessman and more like someone carrying a burden he had never asked for.

"My father died six years ago," he said. "Before he died, he made me promise that I would settle an unfinished matter with your family."

"By marrying me?"

"That was what he wanted."

"And what do you want?"

Alexander didn't answer immediately.

The silence between them seemed to grow heavier with every passing second.

Finally, he said, "I want to know why my father spent twenty years protecting a family he barely knew."

Camilita stared at him.

"Protecting us?"

"That's what I believed."

"Then why does my family look terrified every time I ask about him?"

Alexander's eyes narrowed.

"What do you mean?"

Before she could respond, a loud crash came from the hallway.

They both rushed to the doorway.

Richard stood beside the fallen coffee tray, his face drained of color. A cup had shattered on the floor.

But he wasn't looking at the broken pieces.

He was staring at Alexander.

"You promised," Richard whispered.

Alexander went completely still.

Camilita looked between them.

"What did he promise?"

Richard shook his head, breathing unevenly.

Alexander's voice turned cold.

"You told me she knew nothing."

"She wasn't supposed to find out!"

"Find out what?" Camilita demanded.

Neither man answered.

Then Alexander looked at her, and for the first time since she'd met him, she saw something in his eyes that frightened her more than his silence.

Recognition.

He knew exactly what she was asking.

And he knew exactly why her father was afraid.

"Camilita," he said quietly, "you need to understand something. Your birth was never supposed to happen the way it did."