Chapter 1 - The Pillow Over My Face
“Please, stop hurting me,” I whispered as the pillow pressed harder against my face.
Teresa Ledesma leaned over my hospital bed and whispered, “You should have died that night.”
Her perfume filled my lungs before I could draw another breath.
Gardenias.
I had always associated that scent with expensive dinners, polished silverware, and Teresa's perfectly controlled smile.
Now it smelled like death.
My body was trapped beneath layers of white plaster and rigid medical supports. My pelvis was fractured. Two vertebrae had been operated on. Four ribs were cracked. My left leg was immobilized. Even turning my head required effort.
To anyone watching, I was helpless.
Teresa believed I was.
That was exactly why I had not screamed.
Instead, I counted.
Five.
Six.
Seven.
Her hands tightened around the pillow.
“Mateo needs his life back,” she whispered. “You were always the obstacle.”
My heart hammered against my ribs.
Not from fear.
From timing.
My right hand lay beside my hip, almost motionless beneath the blanket.
Inside the cast covering my wrist was a tiny button no bigger than a shirt snap.
Rebeca, the nurse I trusted, had hidden it there two nights earlier.
I moved my thumb.
Nothing.
I tried again.
There.
A tiny click.
The signal had been sent.
Teresa leaned closer.
“You should have listened when I told you to stay away from the foundation accounts.”
My eyes remained closed.
She believed I was losing consciousness.
She believed the medication had made me weak.
She believed nobody knew she was here.
She was wrong.
Nine days earlier, I had opened my eyes in this same hospital after falling from the third-floor terrace of the Ledesma family mansion.
Everyone called it an accident.
The police report called it an accident.
Mateo called it an accident.
Teresa cried and called it a tragedy.
But I remembered Mateo's face just before I fell.
He had not looked surprised.
He had looked terrified.
Not terrified for me.
Terrified that I had survived.
That memory had stayed with me through every surgery.
It had also saved my life.
Teresa suddenly pulled the pillow away.
I gasped.
She straightened her jacket and glanced toward the door.
“You were always too curious, Valeria.”
I stared at her.
She smiled.
Then someone knocked.
Teresa froze.
May you like
Another knock came.
And before either of us could speak, the hospital door began to open...
