Episode 4

Liam Hunter was a man who left no loose ends.

CEO of one of the most important real estate companies in New York, he didn't tolerate chaos, surprises, or unexplained gaps. Everything in his life was perfectly calculated. Every investment, every decision, every person around him... except that night.

That damn night.

For weeks he had tried to erase it from his mind, without success. He wasn't a man who drank excessively or allowed himself to lose control, but that night had been an exception. The pressure, the fatigue, the loneliness disguised as success... it all led him to take refuge in a hotel bar, just for a few hours.

And there she was.

He didn't remember her name. In fact, he wasn't even sure if she had told it to him. But he did remember her eyes. Sad. Tired. Beautiful. And her laughter, trembling, as if she needed to come to the surface for an instant.

It hadn't been a game for him, although it started as one. It had been real. Intense. Different.

She left before he woke up. She left silence as her only farewell and an incomplete memory as a trace.

Liam never saw her again. He didn't know who she was. He didn't know how to look for her. He only had the memory of her skin, her voice, her closeness.

And the void she unknowingly left behind.

During the following months, Liam focused on his work like never before. He expanded the company, closed international deals, attended events that barely interested him. He had the world at his feet, but nothing managed to fill the restlessness that gnawed at him from within.

He discreetly hired a private investigator, although he didn't want to admit it. He gave what little he knew: the name of the hotel, the night in question, a vague physical description.

But there were no traces. Nothing.

She had disappeared like a ghost.

That tormented him more than he was willing to accept.

More than three thousand kilometers away, Ana continued her routine as if she had been in New York for years. Her days were divided between university, medical appointments, and afternoons of study where she often fell asleep with her notes on her belly.

She no longer vomited. The second trimester had brought with it a deceptive calm. The fatigue remained, but it was no longer devastating. Sometimes, when she touched her belly and felt the soft movements inside, she surprised herself smiling for no reason.

She never imagined that a pregnancy could hurt so much and, at the same time, heal parts of her that she didn't even know were broken.

She didn't think about the father. Or at least, that's what she told herself.

But on silent nights, when everything stopped, her mind betrayed her. She remembered his blurred face, his deep voice, the way he looked at her that night as if he could see through her.

Who was he? Would he care to know that he had created life?

She couldn't answer that. She couldn't risk looking for him. She didn't even have a clue how to do it. What if he was a married man? What if he didn't want to know anything? What if he tried to snatch her children away?

There were too many questions, and no certainties.

So she decided to live only with one truth: these children were hers. And they were enough.

Meanwhile, fate —that capricious force that Ana had learned to fear— continued to move its pieces.

An email arrived at Liam's company. A new project in which a New York university was looking to renovate its design wing. A minor contract for someone like him, but with an unexpected connection.

The contact's name: Ana Camargo.

Liam read it twice. Then a third time.

There was something about that name that sounded familiar, although he couldn't place it. But his intuition, the one he never ignored in business, whispered to him that he should take that contract in person.

He didn't know why.

He just knew he had to do it.

Days later, Ana arrived at the dean's office with her folder in hand. She wore a loose sweater that disguised her pregnancy and a long coat, although the cold was no longer so intense. Her hands were trembling, as they always did when she had to face something that escaped her control.

"The CEO will come in person to evaluate the project," the dean told her enthusiastically. "It's an honor that someone like Liam Hunter is interested."

Ana blinked. That name...

A shiver ran down her spine without knowing why. She felt her stomach clench, not because of the babies, but because of a strange sensation. Disturbing.

"Liam... Hunter?" she repeated in a low voice.

"Yes. A brilliant businessman. Although very reserved," commented the dean while signing some papers. "He will come in a week. Maybe you can join me in presenting the proposal to him. It will be a great opportunity."

Ana nodded, but said nothing more.

She didn't know why her chest was beating so hard.

She didn't know why that name sounded so... close.

But deep inside, a presentiment began to take shape, as real as the heartbeats inside her womb.

The past was approaching.

And she wasn't ready.

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