The Surrogate's Secret Read Online Free Page A

whispered that she’d only ever use under intense duress.  When she began to talk again, her voice had hardened. “Look, do whatever it takes, Miguel. Explain how her government called you to come back to active service, and go on a mission to Colombia to release their political hostages. How you were beaten and starved and thought dead, and how because of those beatings, her children will be the last possible heirs to the Rivera estates—” The harshness in her tone gave over to threatening sniffles.
    Miguel felt the hardness melt around the heart only his mother could soften. “You know the only reason I accepted the job was to release Nick from the hostages. If the son of papá’s oldest friend hadn’t been part of the equation, I would never have left home.”
    “True. Nicholas is alive today because of your bravery. But look what you’ve lost .”
    An ache built inside and he tensed. Rigid with pain, he tried not to let it show in his voice. “What? What did I lose, really? A fiancé who wouldn’t wait long enough for me to be switched from the MIA files to the Dead files before she married another man. No doubt, now that we know Margarita’s true nature, I’d have been dealing with a miserable divorce down the road.”
    A harsh sigh sounded over the long-distance. “ Oh, Miguel. If she’d just trusted me and waited for you to return. I told her you weren’t dead. I swore to her I’d have known, but your fiancé preferred to believe those stupid government officials.”
    “Mamacita, calm yourself. I don’t care about the idiot girl. She’s married to someone else. Truth to tell, I consider myself lucky she didn’t get the gold band from me.”
    “True, Miguel. Thank goodness the little gold-digger held out for a fancy diamond solitaire and wouldn’t wear the family antique ring, or no doubt, she would have pawned that one also.”
    Miguel winced. That solitaire had cost him plenty. Unknown to his mother, he’d never given Margarita the chance to turn down the family ring. He’d understood that it wouldn’t suit her or maybe deep inside he’d sensed that she wasn’t fit to wear it.
    Miguel heard his mother blowing her nose, and his stomach muscles clenched. He hated knowing that his disastrous news was the cause of her unhappiness. She’d had so much to deal with over these past months. 
    F irst, he’d gone missing and was presumed dead. Then, for weeks she’d relentlessly harassed the American military officials, trying to convince them that he lived. Finally, putting together a team of men from his very own security company, she’d led the attack and freed him herself. To make matters worse, just when they’d believed their escape had succeeded, their helicopter had been shot down, and she’d taken a stray bullet.
    As the only two survivors, it took them months to crawl out of the gruelling, brutal jungle, to be free from the oversized relentless insects, the disgusting mire, and the pummelling pain. They’d hidden during the day from their pursuers, and he’d carried her most nights, all the while searching for food and certain plants to keep that damn insidious infection from taking her life.
    The day they’d stumbled upon the villagers, who in the end had gotten them to freedom, they were half dead. Their future plans had been the fuel driving them to keep going.  Miguel had looked forward to his reunion with his beautiful fiancé, and his mother couldn’t wait to see her younger son, Felipe, with his new baby.
    When their plane touched down on the tarmac, t he first sight of Chile had brought tears of relief and happiness. Then the horrific news of Felipe and Mary-Anne’s death destroyed the small improvement in Andrea’s health and it was only the thought of her grandchild that had kept the distraught woman from total collapse. The possibility that they could bring that child home had kept her sane.
    Her next words reclaimed Miguel’s wandering thoughts. “Felipe’s