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Chapter 3: Christmas Eve Justice

The party downstairs was still raging.

Music blasted through the mansion.

Guests laughed.

Champagne flowed.

Nobody noticed Alejandro descend the staircase.

Until he turned the music off.

The silence was immediate.

Every head turned.

Jimena smiled nervously.

"Alejandro, darling, you're home!"

He walked straight to the center of the room.

Holding the receipts.

Holding the boarding school contract.

Holding one of Regina's dolls.

The smile vanished from Jimena's face.

"What is this?" he asked quietly.

She swallowed.

"I can explain."

"Please do."

Nobody moved.

Nobody spoke.

The guests sensed disaster approaching.

Jimena attempted a laugh.

"You're overreacting."

Alejandro held up the doll.

"You sold their toys."

Silence.

He held up the receipts.

"You spent over four hundred thousand dollars."

Silence.

Then he raised the boarding school contract.

"And you planned to send my daughters across the world without my permission."

The room exploded with whispers.

Jimena's face turned pale.

"It wasn't like that."

"Then tell everyone what it was like."

She looked around desperately.

For the first time, nobody was on her side.

Then the truth slipped out.

"They ruined everything!"

Gasps filled the room.

Jimena pointed toward the hallway.

"They always needed attention. They always came first. I was your wife!"

Alejandro stared at her.

Disgust replacing anger.

"They're five years old."

"They were destroying our future!"

"No," Alejandro said quietly.

"You were."

He turned toward security.

"Remove her."

Jimena's eyes widened.

"You can't do this!"

Security stepped forward.

She screamed.

She cried.

She threatened lawsuits.

But nobody listened.

As she was escorted toward the door, four tiny voices echoed through the mansion.

"Daddy?"

Alejandro turned.

The quadruplets stood together at the staircase.

Wrapped in blankets.

Looking frightened.

He immediately crossed the room.

Knelt.

And opened his arms.

All four girls ran into them.

The guests watched in silence.

Many with tears in their eyes.

Because everyone could see the truth.

The richest man in the room wasn't Alejandro.

It was the father finally holding his children again.