Chapter 2: The Name He Didn't Expect Her to Know
**PART 2**
I signed Julian's agreement that same afternoon.
My hand was steady.
My chest was not.
That evening, my mother called.
"Daniela, what have you done?" Teresa's voice was low and controlled, which was always more frightening than when she shouted.
"The Vances are furious.
Mateo's father called your father this morning.
They are threatening to pull out of the entire merger."
"Good," I said.
A long silence.
"You are being a child," she said finally.
"Selina Reed means nothing to him.
These arrangements have always worked this way."
"Not for me," I said, and ended the call.
Two days later, Mateo appeared at my building lobby without warning.
"You need to end whatever this is with Sterling," he said, his voice quiet but his eyes hard.
"You have no idea what you've walked into, Daniela."
"I think I do," I replied.
He stepped closer.
"Sterling isn't protecting you.
He's using you.
The same way he uses everyone who gets close to him." He paused.
"Ask him what happened to the last woman who trusted him."
I said nothing.
Mateo's jaw tightened.
"Ask him about Elena."
He turned and walked out.
That name meant nothing to me then.
But when I mentioned it to Julian the following morning, he went completely still — and for the first time since I had met him, the calm in his eyes cracked.
"Where did you hear that name?" he asked quietly.
---
What Julian said next stopped Daniela cold — and revealed a secret that changed everything she thought she knew.
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