Chapter 6 - What Sofía Left Behind
“Vale…”
The nickname hit me harder than the sight of her face.
No one had called me that in years.
Not since childhood.
Not since the night my sister had supposedly died.
I stayed crouched behind Iván’s car, staring at the woman standing beneath the garage lights.
She looked older than I remembered.
Her hair was shorter.
There were faint lines around her eyes.
But it was her.
My sister.
Lucía.
I whispered her name.
“Lucía?”
She smiled.
Not warmly.
Almost sadly.
Iván grabbed my arm.
“Don't go to her.”
I pulled away.
“You knew.”
“No.”
“You knew she was alive.”
“I suspected.”
“You just said she died.”
“I was told she died.”
“By whom?”
He didn't answer.
Lucía took another step toward us.
“It's been a long time, Vale.”
My entire body felt numb.
“You're dead.”
She gave a small, bitter smile.
“That's what everyone was supposed to believe.”
I stood.
Iván immediately moved in front of me.
Lucía looked at him.
“You haven't changed.”
“You shouldn't be here,” Iván said.
“And you shouldn't have married her.”
I stared at both of them.
“What is going on?”
Neither answered.
I stepped around Iván.
“Lucía, why are you alive?”
She looked at me for several seconds.
“Because someone needed me to disappear.”
“Who?”
Her eyes moved toward Iván.
“Not him.”
Iván looked away.
I felt my stomach tighten.
“Then who?”
Lucía took another step.
“Your father.”
The words made the garage feel colder.
“My father has been dead for eight years.”
“I know.”
“Then what are you saying?”
“I’m saying he was alive when I disappeared.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“He wasn't the man you thought he was.”
“You're lying.”
“I wish I were.”
Iván stepped closer.
“Lucía, this isn't the place.”
She looked at him.
“Where should we go? Your apartment? The one with the mattress?”
My heart stopped.
“You know about the mattress.”
Lucía looked at me.
“I know everything about the mattress.”
“How?”
“Because I helped put the first bag inside.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
Iván closed his eyes.
I turned toward him.
“You knew my sister?”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Eleven years.”
My chest tightened.
“Before I even met you?”
“Yes.”
“You both knew each other.”
“Yes.”
I looked between them.
“What happened eleven years ago?”
Lucía's expression changed.
“Sofía found out something she wasn't supposed to know.”
“What?”
“That your husband wasn't the only person involved.”
Iván said quietly:
“Lucía.”
She ignored him.
“She discovered that someone was moving medical equipment through a company connected to your father.”
I frowned.
“My father?”
“He owned the company before Iván.”
I stared at Iván.
“You never told me that.”
“Because I didn't know how to tell you.”
“You worked for my father?”
“Briefly.”
“Why?”
“To help Sofía.”
My mind raced.
The company.
The hospital equipment.
The trips to León.
Querétaro.
Guanajuato.
The places Iván traveled for business.
The strange packages.
The hidden mattress.
Everything suddenly felt connected.
“Why was Sofía investigating medical equipment?”
Lucía looked at me.
“Because one of the shipments contained something that wasn't supposed to be there.”
“What?”
She hesitated.
“A child.”
I couldn't breathe.
“Camila?”
“No.”
My heart sank.
“Then who?”
“A newborn baby.”
“Whose?”
“Sofía's.”
I stared at her.
“You just said Camila wasn't the baby.”
“I said the shipment contained a child.”
Iván stepped forward.
“That's enough.”
“No,” I said. “It's not.”
I looked at Lucía.
“What happened to Camila?”
Lucía's face became pale.
“She was taken.”
“By whom?”
“We don't know.”
“You don't know?”
“We knew where she was supposed to be.”
“Where?”
“At a private clinic.”
My stomach tightened.
I worked at a clinic.
Not the same one.
But suddenly the coincidence felt unbearable.
“Which clinic?”
Lucía looked at Iván.
He answered.
“San Gabriel.”
I froze.
My workplace was called Clínica San Gabriel.
I stared at him.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“You knew Camila was connected to my clinic?”
“I didn't know until recently.”
“Recently?”
He nodded.
“How recently?”
“Three months.”
The same time the smell had started.
I felt sick.
“The mattress.”
He nodded.
“The smell started because of what was inside.”
“What was inside?”
“Documents.”
“Only documents?”
He looked at Lucía.
She answered for him.
“Not originally.”
I looked at her.
“What was originally inside?”
She didn't answer.
“Lucía.”
“A recording.”
“What recording?”
“A recording Sofía made before she disappeared.”
“Where is it?”
Lucía looked toward the exit.
“Gone.”
“Who took it?”
“Marcos.”
My stomach dropped.
“Marcos is alive?”
“Yes.”
Iván nodded.
“He's been alive all these years.”
“Where is he?”
“We don't know.”
Lucía looked at me.
“He knows where Camila is.”
I felt my knees weaken.
“Then we find him.”
Lucía shook her head.
“You don't understand.”
“What?”
“Marcos isn't hiding from us.”
“Then who is he hiding from?”
She looked directly at me.
“You.”
I stared at her.
“Why?”
“Because he thinks you have something.”
“I don't.”
“You do.”
“What?”
“The key.”
I immediately thought of the three keys inside the metal box.
I hadn't told Lucía about them.
“How do you know about the keys?”
She smiled sadly.
“Because I gave them to Iván.”
I turned toward him.
“You had those keys before?”
“Yes.”
“Why were they in the box?”
“I put them there.”
“Why?”
“To keep them safe.”
“Safe from whom?”
“Marcos.”
I reached into my purse and pulled out the keys.
Lucía's face changed when she saw them.
“You still have them.”
“Yes.”
She took one step closer.
“Don't use the first one.”
“Why?”
“Because it opens the wrong door.”
I stared at the keys.
“What does the second one open?”
“Storage unit R-17.”
My pulse quickened.
“And the third?”
Lucía looked toward the garage entrance.
Her voice dropped.
“The third one opens the place where they kept Camila.”
Silence.
I looked at Iván.
“You said you found Camila at a hospital.”
“I found a record of her.”
“You never found her.”
“No.”
“You lied.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I didn't know who I could trust.”
I laughed bitterly.
“You had seven years to tell me.”
“I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“That you would become involved.”
I looked at Lucía.
“I already am.”
Lucía nodded.
“That is why Sofía contacted you.”
I stared at her.
“Where is Sofía now?”
Lucía hesitated.
“She was supposed to meet me tonight.”
My heart jumped.
“Where?”
“Calle Morelos.”
I remembered the warning.
“Then why did she tell me not to go?”
“Because someone followed her.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“Where is she?”
Lucía pulled out her phone.
“She stopped answering twenty minutes ago.”
I felt the blood drain from my face.
“Twenty minutes?”
“Yes.”
I looked at Iván.
“Call her.”
“I already did.”
“And?”
“Nothing.”
I grabbed my phone.
There was a new message.
From Sofía.
I’m sorry.
I opened it.
Another message arrived.
I should never have trusted your sister.
I looked at Lucía.
She had gone completely still.
“What does that mean?”
She didn't answer.
A third message appeared.
The baby wasn't Camila.
I stopped breathing.
Then another.
Ask Lucía what happened to the other child.
I slowly lowered the phone.
“What other child?”
Lucía closed her eyes.
Iván whispered:
“Damn it.”
I looked between them.
“You both know.”
Neither spoke.
“Tell me.”
Lucía's eyes filled with tears.
“There were two babies.”
My heart pounded.
“Two?”
She nodded.
“Sofía gave birth to twins.”
The garage seemed to disappear around me.
“Why didn't anyone tell me?”
“Because only one baby was registered.”
“Where is the other?”
Lucía looked at the three keys in my hand.
“The second child was taken to a different facility.”
“Which one?”
She swallowed.
“Your father's private clinic.”
I stared at her.
“My father didn't own a clinic.”
“He did.”
“You're lying.”
“No.”
“My father was a businessman.”
“He was both.”
I felt dizzy.
“What happened to the twins?”
Lucía looked at Iván.
He finally spoke.
“One was Camila.”
“And the other?”
His voice broke.
“We never found out.”
My phone vibrated again.
This time, it wasn't Sofía.
It was an unknown number.
A photograph appeared.
Two newborn babies lay side by side beneath white blankets.
One had a small pink bracelet.
The other had a blue bracelet.
Written beneath the photograph were four words:
ONE OF THEM SURVIVED.
I stared at the screen.
Then another message appeared.
And she is closer than you think.
Lucía suddenly grabbed my wrist.
“Don't open the next message.”
My phone vibrated again.
I looked down.
The sender's name appeared on the screen.
MARCOS.
May you like
The message contained only one sentence.
Valeria, your sister never told you who the second baby really was, because she didn't know that you were the one who—
