Chapter 2 - The Night of the Bruises
Three months earlier, Valeria had gone to the Alcázar estate for what Rebeca called a family dinner.
Sebastián was away in Mexico City for a meeting.
He promised he would be home by midnight.
Valeria had not wanted to go alone.
She told him that morning.
“I don’t feel well around your mother lately,” she said.
Sebastián barely looked up from his phone.
“She is worried about you.”
“She does not act worried.”
“Valeria, please. Not every difficult conversation is an attack.”
She remembered going quiet after that.
Because every time she tried to describe the coldness in Rebeca’s voice, Sebastián called it stress.
Every time she tried to tell him Octavio asked too many questions about her finances, her medical records, and the baby’s due date, Sebastián told her Octavio was family.
Every time she cried, he called it hormones.
So she went to dinner.
Camila came too because Valeria had begged her not to leave her alone.
At first, everything seemed normal.
Rebeca smiled.
The table was set with silver and white roses.
Octavio asked polite questions about the nursery.
Then Rebeca placed a glass of wine in front of Valeria.
“I can’t drink,” Valeria said.
“Of course not,” Rebeca replied sweetly. “It is sparkling juice.”
But something in the smell made Valeria hesitate.
Camila noticed.
She switched the glass while no one was looking.
Later, in the hallway, Camila whispered, “Do not drink anything they hand you tonight.”
Valeria tried to laugh it off.
Then Rebeca found them.
“What are you two whispering about?” she asked.
Camila told her they were talking about baby names.
Rebeca smiled.
But her eyes did not.
After dinner, Rebeca asked Valeria to come upstairs.
“I have something for the baby,” she said.
Valeria refused.
Then Octavio appeared at the bottom of the staircase.
And suddenly, the hallway no longer felt like a family home.
It felt like a trap.
Rebeca’s voice changed.
“You have made Sebastián weak,” she said. “You have made him doubt the people who built everything he has.”
Valeria held one hand over her stomach.
“I love your son.”
“No,” Rebeca replied. “You love what he gives you.”
“That is not true.”
“You will not raise an Alcázar child.”
Valeria backed away.
Camila stepped between them.
“Mrs. Alcázar, stop.”
Rebeca’s face hardened.
Then she shoved Camila aside.
Valeria screamed.
Rebeca grabbed Valeria’s arm.
Octavio moved toward them.
Valeria pulled free and stumbled backward.
Her heel slipped on the edge of the staircase.
She fell.
Not all the way.
She struck the lower steps hard, her legs twisting beneath her.
Pain exploded through her body.
Camila rushed toward her.
But Rebeca stood at the top of the staircase and stared down.
Then she said the words Valeria would never forget.
“Tell Sebastián she fell. If you tell him anything else, I will make sure everyone believes you are unstable.”
Camila looked at Sebastián now, tears running down her face.
“I wanted to tell you,” she said. “But Octavio threatened my little brother.”
Sebastián stared at his cousin.
“What did you threaten?”
Octavio’s polished expression cracked.
“Camila is confused.”
“No,” Camila said. “I was scared.”
May you like
She raised the brown envelope.
“But I kept everything.”
