Laura finishes her first day on autopilot. Marta trains her, shows the filing system, introduces key people—but Laura’s mind circles the same question: how did her childhood photo end up on her boss’s desk?
That night, she returns to the small, cozy house she shares with her mother in the south of the city.
She tries not to wake Elena, but finds her in the kitchen making tea. When Elena asks how it went, Laura says, “Good, I think,” yet her mother immediately senses something is wrong.
When Laura finally blurts out that Salgado has the sunflower photo from Elena’s box on his desk, Elena’s teacup shatters on the floor. She goes pale, trembling. “That’s not possible,” she whispers. “It can’t be him.”
Laura realizes her mother has been hiding something. Elena pulls a small metal box from under her bed, unlocks it, and shows Laura her treasures: old letters, a lock of baby hair, a cheap ring—and the exact same sunflower photograph.
After twenty-six years of silence, Elena finally tells her the truth: Laura’s father didn’t die before she was born. Her father is Ricardo Salgado.
At 24, Elena had worked as a maid in the Salgado mansion in an upscale neighborhood. Ricardo had just married Lucía Herrera, the well-connected daughter of a powerful family. Everyone knew their marriage was loveless. Lucía had her affairs; Ricardo lived for work—until he noticed Elena.
Glances became conversations, then late-night talks. He gave her books, treated her with respect; over time, they fell in love—or so Elena believed. When she became pregnant, he seemed happy. He spoke of divorcing Lucía and starting over. The day he took the sunflower photo, he promised they would be a family.
When Lucía discovered the affair and the pregnancy, she didn’t care about the cheating, only the humiliation of her husband preferring the maid—and getting her pregnant. She threatened to destroy Ricardo’s career if Elena didn’t disappear, then gave Ricardo the same ultimatum.
In the end, Ricardo chose his career. He came to Elena, torn but decided, handed her money to start over, and said he couldn’t risk everything.
Laura is furious. “What a coward,” she says. “He abandoned us.”
Elena admits she was afraid and alone, and she took the money and left. After Laura was born, Elena wrote him letter after letter, sending the sunflower photo and begging him to at least meet his daughter.