Chapter 231 — Conversations from the HeartThe welcome lunch had been long, noisy, and intense.There didn’t seem to be enough tables. Laughter echoed from one end of the room to the other, and hugs kept coming as if they had been waiting years to finally happen.Grandma Isabel had cried the moment she saw them walk in, holding hands.Grandpa Fabián hadn’t stopped telling them, between jokes and tears, that he had never doubted them… even though for years he had pretended he did.Every dish served became an excuse to hug them again, to touch their faces as if he needed to make sure it was real.That, finally, they were there.Together.Without running away.Milagros moved around with a different kind of smile, still surprised by the calm she felt deep inside.Ayden didn’t let go of her hand, not when they sat down, not when they stood up, as if fear still had its claws buried in his memory and he wasn’t willing to give doubt even an inch.When it was finally over—when the plates were

Chapter 233— I Held BackThe same heavy silence lingered as Ayden closed the apartment door, as if the world had been left on the other side and the two of them were the only inhabitants of something new they still didn’t dare to name. Milagros set her jacket on a chair and headed straight for the kitchen. She opened the fridge without really knowing what she was looking for and stared inside for a few seconds—not because she was hungry, but because she needed an everyday gesture to bring her back down to earth after the reality check Ayden had been carrying on his shoulders for hours. He watched her rest her elbows on the counter, close her eyes just a little, take a deep breath, and exhale again, as if she were learning to breathe all over again after a scare. He didn’t say anything at first. He waited. He saw her finally turn to look at him, with that mix of strength and exhaustion that he was beginning to recognize as second nature to her. “I held back,” he said at last, bluntly

CHAPTER 235 — The Man Who Believed He Possessed the Impossible (Continued) —Mia… She stopped when she heard her name spoken in that voice that always sounded just right—well-modulated, almost studied—as if Lucas never said anything on instinct but only by calculation. She was coming back from the lab, tired, her head still full of formulas, graphs, and diagnoses, and the last thing she expected was to see him there, standing in front of the building as if it were a natural part of his day.“Lucas,” she replied, without hostility, though not with enthusiasm either.He smiled instantly. The kind of smile he’d practiced his whole life in front of the mirror: confident, charming, friendly enough not to arouse suspicion, and warm enough to seem sincere.“Did you like the daisies?”Mía nodded with a faint smile, more tired than happy.“Yes… thank you.” “I saw your pin the other day,” he added. “That was a nice gesture on your part.” And Lucas took that sentence as a victory he didn

CHAPTER 237— The PresidencyMia looked at him, surprised.Lucas turned pale.The murmur rippling through the room froze in an instant, as if everyone had sensed that something had just broken, even though they didn’t yet know exactly what. The air became stifling.“What are you talking about?” Mía finally interjected, standing up as well. “Ayden… what really happened that made you attack Lucas in the bathroom?”Mía spoke with a mixture of bewilderment, as if she didn’t want to believe what she was hearing but couldn’t ignore it either. She needed to understand how her own brother could fit into that story of violence that had been planted in her mind earlier.Lucas turned toward her immediately, his eyes ablaze.“I asked you not to speak, Mía,” he snapped aggressively, unaware of how many ears were listening.The remark came across badly, not because of its content but because of its delivery: curt, commanding, too intimate to be said in public. And it was then that everyone saw somet

CHAPTER 239 — Promises Under the Night SkyThey left the Castell Group building as night had already fully settled over the city. The lights on the facade, which had commanded respect during the day, now seemed like little more than a tired backdrop after an all-too-intense day. Milagros walked silently beside him, still processing everything that had happened, while Ayden took a deep breath, as if only then allowing himself to feel the true weight of what they’d been through.The iron gate closed behind them with a deep, almost symbolic sound. Ayden stopped.He didn’t do it suddenly or dramatically. He simply stopped walking, like someone who needs to pause and look up at the sky after a storm. Milagros turned toward him, with that expression that always seemed to read things he himself couldn’t put into words.“Milagros…” he said softly, without a smile, without his business persona, without any pretense. “Thank you.” She frowned slightly, as if she didn’t understand.“Thank you?”