“I am all three.”
“Good.”
Valeria stared at her.
Lucía almost smiled.
“I didn’t say weak.”
That sentence changed something.
Valeria picked up her phone.
There were thirty-seven missed calls.
Nicolás.
Teresa.
Mariana.
Even Ernesto.
Then she noticed the messages.
Nicolás: Please come home.
Nicolás: Dad is sorry.
Nicolás: You scared everyone when you destroyed the table.
Nicolás: I’m worried about your mental state.
Valeria stopped scrolling.
There it was.
Not concern.
Documentation.
He was already writing the story he planned to tell about her.
Another message appeared.
I think tonight proves you’re under too much stress. We need to talk about what is safest for the baby.
Valeria looked at Lucía.
“He’s still doing it.”
“Then let him.”
Lucía opened the voice recorder on Valeria’s phone.
“Do not accuse him of anything. Do not threaten him. Do not insult him.”
“What do I say?”
“Nothing yet.”
They waited.
At 2:14 a.m., Nicolás called again.
Valeria answered.
“Where are you?”
His voice was gentle now.
That frightened her more than when he had been shouting.
“At the hospital.”
“Is my son okay?”
My son.
Not are you okay.
“The doctors are monitoring him.”
