Chapter 4 - The Marriage That Ended in a Hospital Room
Andrés came to the hospital the next morning.
Sofía allowed him in for five minutes.
No longer.
He entered carrying flowers.
White lilies.
The same flowers Carmen had placed at the dinner table to make the house look warm and welcoming.
Sofía looked at them and felt nothing.
“I’m sorry,” Andrés said.
His voice was barely audible.
“I should have stopped him.”
“Yes.”
“I should have defended you.”
“Yes.”
“I was scared.”
Sofía looked at him.
“So was I.”
He began crying.
“I did not know you were pregnant.”
“You did not need to know.”
His face tightened.
“What do you mean?”
“You did not need to know there was a baby for you to protect me.”
Andrés looked down.
She continued.
“You did not need proof that I was worth defending. You did not need a pregnancy, blood, or a hospital bed to know kicking someone was wrong.”
He sat in silence.
For the first time in their marriage, Sofía did not rush to make him feel better.
“I loved you,” he whispered.
“I loved you too.”
The honesty hurt.
“But you loved peace with your family more than you loved safety with me.”
He wiped his face.
“What happens now?”
Sofía looked at the paperwork on her bedside table.
Her medical records.
The police report.
The restraining-order application.
The ownership papers for the white SUV, still in her bag exactly where she had left them.
“My attorney is filing for divorce,” she said.
Andrés stared at her.
“You cannot mean that.”
“I do.”
“I can change.”
“Maybe you can.”
She looked toward the window.
“But I cannot stay long enough to find out.”
The divorce filing included a request for protection against Ramiro and Carmen.
It also documented the financial coercion Sofía had endured for years.
Because once she began reviewing everything, she found more than demands for her car and apartment.
Andrés had transferred money from their joint account to his parents every month.
He had used her nursing income to cover Iván’s debts.
And he had signed her name on a loan application connected to Carmen’s home renovation.
They did not see her as a wife.
They saw her as a source.
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Her loss had broken something inside her.
But it had also removed the last illusion she had been protecting.
