Chapter 6 - The Second Girl
Daniel forced the door open.
We ran into the corridor.
The hospital was strangely quiet.
Too quiet.
Dr. Morales stayed behind.
We heard a crash.
Then nothing.
I turned back.
Daniel grabbed my shoulder.
“Don't.”
“We can't leave him.”
“He knew this could happen.”
We escaped through the emergency exit.
Outside, I called the police.
But before the police arrived, Dr. Morales called me.
He was alive.
Hidden in a storage room.
“I found the rest of the file,” he whispered.
“Where?”
“In the old pediatric archive.”
We returned.
The missing pages contained Sofía's blood type, treatment notes, and something else.
A second child's name.
Lucía.
I stared.
“Who is Lucía?”
Dr. Morales looked at Valeria.
“That's what Mariana wanted to know.”
He explained.
Years before Sofía was born, Mariana had discovered that her older sister had given birth to a girl who disappeared from the hospital.
The family believed the baby had died.
But the records showed something else.
She had been transferred.
Adopted.
And the adoption had been arranged through a private network.
Mauricio had been involved.
I felt sick.
“Why would he care about this?”
“Because the child inherited something.”
“What?”
“A trust fund.”
I understood.
Money.
Everything came back to money.
Mauricio had built a life around stealing it.
But there was still one question.
Where was Lucía?
Valeria stared at the file.
“My grandmother knew.”
We returned to Teresa.
She was waiting.
She looked at the papers.
Then she cried.
“I was afraid this day would come.”
“You knew about Lucía?”
Teresa nodded.
“She was Mariana's niece.”
“Where is she?”
Teresa looked at Valeria.
“I didn't know her name was Lucía when I first met her.”
“What does that mean?”
“She was the girl Mauricio wanted to find.”
Valeria whispered:
“Why?”
“Because Mariana found her.”
I stepped closer.
“Where?”
Teresa pointed toward an old photograph.
“Your house.”
I stared.
“What?”
“She was there.”
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
Before the accident.
Teresa explained that Mariana had secretly brought Lucía to the house.
She wanted to protect her.
She had hidden the girl from Mauricio.
Then the accident happened.
I had never known.
The locked room suddenly made sense.
I rushed home.
We opened Sofía's bedroom again.
Behind the wardrobe, we found a second door.
It had been painted over.
Daniel broke the frame.
Behind it was a narrow storage room.
Inside was a child's suitcase.
Pink.
Dusty.
I opened it.
Inside were clothes.
Photographs.
And a small diary.
The first page had one sentence.
My name is Lucía, and Aunt Mariana told me Uncle Mauricio cannot find me.
My hands shook.
Then I turned the page.
There was a photograph of Lucía.
She was smiling.
Beside her stood Mariana.
And beside Mariana stood a young woman.
Valeria stared at the photograph.
“That woman…”
“What?”
“She looks like my mother.”
Teresa went pale.
Valeria turned toward her.
“Abuela?”
Teresa closed her eyes.
“I lied to you.”
The room went silent.
“About what?”
Teresa whispered:
“Your mother was Mariana's sister.”
Valeria stepped backward.
I stared at her.
The woman I had hired as a maid was connected to Mariana.
Not by coincidence.
By blood.
Then the diary fell open.
A final page contained a name.
Mauricio.
Under it was a sentence.
He knows where Lucía is.
May you like
Then another line.
He has already found her.
