Chapter 2 - Seventeen Missed Calls Before Midnight
The first thing Alejandro Rivera noticed was not the fear in Camila’s voice.
It was the silence behind it.
For years, Alejandro had learned how people sounded when they were lying, when they were angry, when they were trying to hide pain.
Camila had always been strong.
Even when Mateo disappointed her.
Even when she pretended not to notice his late nights.
Even when everyone around her could see something was wrong in her marriage.
She was the kind of woman who smiled through storms because she believed love meant fighting until there was nothing left to save.
But the voice that came through the phone was different.
It was not the voice of a woman having a bad night.
It was the voice of someone who knew she might not make it.
Alejandro stood in the middle of his bedroom, still wearing the black shirt he had put on hours earlier for a business dinner he never finished attending.
The moment he heard her say, “I fell,” everything else disappeared.
The room.
The city lights outside his window.
The conversation he had been having.
Nothing mattered.
Only Camila.
“Camila, listen to me,” he said, already moving toward the door. “Do you understand me?”
A weak breath came through the phone.
“I’m here…”
“Good. Stay awake.”
She tried to answer, but he heard the pain in her breathing.
Alejandro grabbed his jacket from the chair.
“How long ago did you fall?”
“I don’t know…”
Her voice shook.
“Everything hurts.”
His grip tightened around the phone.
“Where exactly are you?”
“The foyer…”
The foyer.
The marble staircase.
Alejandro knew the house.
Not because he visited often.
Because years ago, before everything changed, it was a place where he and Mateo spent countless nights talking about their futures.
They had been brothers once.
Not by blood.
By choice.
Mateo was the man who knew his secrets.
The man who stood beside him when they had nothing.
The man Alejandro trusted completely.
Until success revealed the person Mateo truly was.
Ambitious.
Proud.
Unable to accept anyone standing beside him.
Especially Alejandro.
Because Alejandro did not need to prove himself.
And Mateo hated that.
“Camila,” Alejandro said, forcing calm into his voice.
“I need you to put your hand on your stomach if you can.”
A pause.
Then a faint sound.
“I’m trying.”
“Good.”
He walked faster.
His security team noticed immediately.
“Mr. Rivera?”
Alejandro ignored the question.
“Get the emergency medical team ready.”
The men exchanged confused looks.
Alejandro never sounded afraid.
Not during negotiations.
Not during threats.
Not even when enemies tried to destroy his company.
But tonight was different.
Tonight, fear was in his voice.
“Now,” he ordered.
Everyone moved.
Because when Alejandro Rivera gave an order like that, people listened.
Inside the mansion, Camila held onto the phone with the little strength she had left.
The marble floor beneath her felt colder every second.
She could barely keep her eyes open.
But Alejandro’s voice kept pulling her back.
“Tell me something,” he said.
“What?”
“Tell me about the baby.”
A small, broken smile appeared on her face.
“My baby…”
Her voice softened.
“She likes when I play music.”
Alejandro closed his eyes for a moment while walking toward his car.
He could hear the love in her voice.
“She already has a personality?”
Camila gave a weak laugh.
“She kicks whenever Mateo talks too loudly.”
For a second, there was warmth in her voice.
A memory of a normal life.
A family that was supposed to exist.
Then the silence returned.
Because they both knew Mateo was not there.
Alejandro looked at the road ahead as his driver moved through the city.
“How many times did you call him?”
Camila didn’t answer immediately.
She didn’t want to say it.
Because saying it made it real.
“Camila.”
Her fingers tightened around the phone.
“Seventeen.”
Alejandro went silent.
Seventeen.
The number stayed in his mind.
Seventeen times.
A pregnant woman.
Eight months pregnant.
Alone.
On a cold floor.
Calling the man who promised to protect her.
And he ignored every single one.
Alejandro felt anger rise inside him.
Not the loud kind.
Not the kind that made someone lose control.
The dangerous kind.
The kind that became a decision.
“Did he answer even once?”
Camila closed her eyes.
“No.”
Alejandro looked out the window.
The city moved around him.
People walking.
Cars passing.
Everyone continuing their normal lives.
While Camila was fighting for hers.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
His expression changed.
“Why are you apologizing?”
“Because I called you.”
“Camila.”
His voice became firm.
“Never apologize for asking someone to save your life.”
Those words broke something inside her.
Because Mateo had made her feel like needing him was a burden.
But Alejandro made her feel like she mattered.
At the same time, across the city, Mateo was still living inside a fantasy.
The club was louder than before.
The champagne bottle on the table was nearly empty.
Valeria was laughing while showing everyone pictures from a recent vacation.
Mateo barely paid attention.
His phone remained on the couch beside him.
Airplane mode.
No notifications.
No interruptions.
No reminders that somewhere else, his wife was suffering.
One of his friends looked at him.
“You really turned it off?”
Mateo smiled.
“Peace and quiet.”
“You’re brave.”
Mateo laughed.
“No. I just know my wife.”
But he didn’t.
Not anymore.
He knew the woman who waited for him.
The woman who forgave him.
The woman who believed every promise he made.
He did not know the woman lying alone on the floor, realizing she had been abandoned.
That woman was changing.
The hospital team arrived at the mansion before sunrise.
The gates opened.
Medical vehicles rushed inside.
Security lights illuminated the driveway.
Alejandro was the first person through the door.
The sight stopped him.
Camila was exactly where she said she was.
At the bottom of the staircase.
Her pale pink nightgown was stained.
Her hair was spread across the marble floor.
One hand rested protectively over her stomach.
For one second, Alejandro forgot how to breathe.
Not because he was afraid of blood.
Not because he was shocked.
Because he saw how close she had come to being lost.
“Camila.”
He dropped beside her.
Her eyes opened slightly.
“Alejandro?”
“I’m here.”
A tear moved down her cheek.
“I thought…”
She couldn’t finish.
He understood.
She thought no one was coming.
Alejandro gently held her hand.
“You’re not alone.”
The doctors immediately began checking her condition.
“We need to move her now.”
Alejandro stepped back but refused to let go completely.
Camila’s fingers held onto his.
“Don’t leave.”
Those two words almost destroyed him.
Because they were not spoken like a request.
They were spoken like someone who had already experienced what it felt like to be abandoned.
“I won’t,” Alejandro promised.
And this time, she believed him.
The ambulance doors closed.
The city lights blurred outside the windows.
Camila lay surrounded by doctors and machines.
Alejandro sat beside her, watching every movement.
Every number on every monitor.
Every change in her expression.
He had spent years building an empire.
Making enemies.
Winning battles.
But none of those battles had ever felt as important as this one.
Because this was not about money.
Not about power.
Not about revenge.
This was about a woman who had been hurt by the person who was supposed to love her most.
And a child who had done nothing wrong.
As the ambulance moved toward the hospital, Alejandro looked at Camila’s unconscious face.
Then he looked at the cracked phone still resting beside her.
The screen showed the evidence Mateo would never be able to explain.
Seventeen unanswered calls.
Seventeen chances.
Seventeen moments where he could have chosen his family.
But he didn’t.
Alejandro slowly picked up the phone.
His jaw tightened.
Because he already knew one thing.
When Mateo finally learned what happened tonight…
he would not only lose Camila’s trust.
May you like
He would lose control of the entire story he had spent years creating.
And Alejandro Rivera was about to make sure the truth came out.
Related Stories
