Chapter 1 - The BlanketThe moment Alejandro pulled back the blanket, his rage vanished.
For several seconds, he simply stared.
Valeria’s face had gone white.
Her hands clutched the edge of the mattress as though she were holding herself together by force. Her long nightgown covered most of her body, but the blanket had hidden what she had desperately tried to keep secret.
Dark bruises circled both of her legs.
There were smaller marks along her knees, purple and yellow where the swelling had begun to fade. Thick medical bandages wrapped around her thighs and lower abdomen.
Alejandro stopped breathing.
Behind him, the enormous bedroom had become unbearably silent.
His younger brother, Rafael, stood near the door with his arms folded. His father, Don Arturo, looked at the carpet. Doña Esther, Alejandro’s mother, remained beside the fireplace.
She had been calm all evening.
Too calm.
Now, for the first time, something flickered across her face.
Fear.
Alejandro looked at Valeria.
“Who did this?”
Valeria swallowed.
“No one.”
He almost laughed.
“No one?”
His voice cracked.
“You’ve been disappearing at night. A stranger has been coming into this house. I find you with bruises all over your body, and you tell me no one did this?”
“Alejandro…”
“Was it him?”
She closed her eyes.
The photograph was still in his hand.
A grainy image taken three nights earlier showed a man in a dark coat leaving the rear entrance of the mansion.
Alejandro had spent days imagining the worst.
An affair.
A secret lover.
A betrayal that had made him look like a fool in front of his own family.
He had confronted Valeria repeatedly.
She had said nothing.
Tonight, he had finally forced her into the center of the room with everyone watching.
Now he wished he had never seen the photograph.
“Was that man your lover?” he whispered.
Valeria shook her head.
“No.”
“Then who was he?”
“A doctor.”
Rafael’s eyes snapped toward her.
Alejandro noticed.
“You knew?”
Rafael immediately looked away.
Alejandro turned back to Valeria.
“Why would a doctor come secretly to my house?”
Valeria’s lips trembled.
“Because I couldn't go to the hospital.”
“Why?”
She looked toward the fireplace.
Toward Doña Esther.
And Alejandro saw it.
That tiny movement.
That terrified glance.
“Save you from whom?” he whispered.
Valeria slowly raised her tear-filled eyes.
“From your mother.”
The room seemed to shrink.
Doña Esther’s expression hardened.
“That is enough.”
Alejandro turned.
“No. It isn't.”
His mother took one step forward.
“You don't know what you're accusing me of.”
Valeria suddenly cried out.
“Don't come near me!”
Doña Esther stopped.
Alejandro stared between them.
His mother had raised him to believe that family protected family.
She had taught him that Valeria, after marrying into the Aranda family, should be grateful for everything she had been given.
Yet now his pregnant wife was trembling because his mother had taken one step toward her.
“What happened?” Alejandro demanded.
Valeria covered her abdomen.
“I lost blood two weeks ago.”
Alejandro’s face fell.
“What?”
“The first doctor said I might lose the baby.”
The words hit him harder than a punch.
“No one told me.”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“Every time I tried, your mother was there.”
Doña Esther scoffed.
“This is absurd.”
Valeria looked at her.
“You told me that if I told Alejandro, you would make sure he lost everything.”
Alejandro turned slowly.
“Is that true?”
Doña Esther said nothing.
Then Don Arturo spoke for the first time.
“Alejandro…”
His voice was quiet.
“Your mother has been trying to protect this family.”
“From what?”
His father looked at him.
“From the truth.”
Alejandro felt the blood drain from his face.
“What truth?”
Nobody answered.
Then Valeria reached under the pillow and pulled out a small envelope.
She handed it to him.
Inside was a laboratory report.
Alejandro read the first line.
Then the second.
Then he stopped.
The blood test showed a toxic substance in Valeria’s system.
A substance that should never have been there.
His eyes rose.
“Poison?”
Valeria nodded.
“I wasn't hiding another man.”
Her voice broke.
“I was hiding the fact that someone in this house has been trying to kill me.”
A loud crash came from downstairs.
Everyone froze.
Rafael rushed toward the door.
“What was that?”
Then a terrified maid appeared in the hallway.
Her face was bloodless.
“Señor…”
Alejandro stepped forward.
“What happened?”
The maid looked directly at him.
“Someone broke into the locked study.”
Alejandro frowned.
“Who?”
The maid whispered four words.
“They took your father’s diary.”
Doña Esther closed her eyes.
May you like
And Valeria whispered:
“Now you know why I was afraid to speak.”
