CHAPTER 11 The Daughter Who Hated Her
Emilia’s face disappeared when Octavio ended the call.
Valeria remained staring at the dark screen.
“She thinks Elena is her mother.”
Natalia sat beside her.
“Elena probably raised her.”
“She let me mourn for fifteen years.”
“She was paid.”
“That doesn’t explain why Emilia said I tried to hurt her.”
Rebeca answered from the corner.
“Because you did.”
Sebastián turned toward her.
“Stop.”
“You want truth only when it makes Valeria innocent.”
Valeria looked at Rebeca.
“What happened?”
Rebeca’s attorney advised her not to respond.
Rebeca ignored him.
“After the delivery, you entered the nursery in a dissociative state. You picked up the wrong infant. When a nurse tried to stop you, you threatened her. Your own mother believed you were dangerous.”
“My mother sold my daughter.”
“Your mother feared you.”
“She lied to me.”
“Both can be true.”
The words struck Valeria because they sounded possible.
That was Rebeca’s greatest weapon.
She rarely built lies from nothing.
She wrapped lies around pieces of truth until no one could separate them.
Sebastián signed the share-transfer documents.
The legal team placed them in escrow.
Octavio would receive control only after Emilia was physically released.
A meeting point was arranged at an abandoned toll station north of the city.
Police prepared surveillance.
Valeria insisted on going.
This time, Sebastián did not tell her no.
He only said, “I’m coming with you.”
At midnight, they arrived in separate vehicles.
Rain hammered the empty road.
The toll station lights had been cut.
Octavio’s car appeared at the far end of the highway.
It stopped fifty yards away.
Emilia stepped out.
She wore jeans, a black sweatshirt, and no shoes.
Valeria opened her door.
Sebastián caught her arm.
“Wait.”
Emilia began walking.
Alone.
Valeria moved toward her.
The rain soaked them both.
When they were ten feet apart, Emilia stopped.
Valeria saw herself in the girl’s face.
The same eyes.
The same line between her eyebrows when she was afraid.
“You’re safe,” Valeria said.
Emilia laughed.
“No, I’m not.”
“You don’t have to go back to Octavio.”
“I wasn’t with Octavio because he kidnapped me.”
Valeria froze.
Emilia reached into her sweatshirt pocket.
Police shouted from the darkness.
She pulled out a flash drive.
Not a weapon.
“Mom told me to give you this.”
“Elena?”
“The woman who raised me.”
Valeria swallowed.
“Where is she?”
“Gone.”
“Did Octavio hurt you?”
“He helped us leave before Rebeca found me.”
Sebastián stepped closer.
“Octavio stole Nicolás.”
Emilia looked at him.
“Octavio didn’t take the baby.”
Valeria stared at her.
“We saw him in the photograph with you.”
“The photograph was staged.”
“Why?”
“To make Rebeca and the police chase him.”
“Why would he do that?”
“Because the person who took Nicolás wanted time to destroy the records in Unit Seven.”
Natalia approached from behind the police line.
“Who took Nicolás?”
Emilia looked at her.
“Sofía.”
“We know that.”
“No. Sofía took him from the nursery, but someone gave her the security codes, the uniform, and the ambulance route.”
Valeria felt the answer before Emilia said it.
“Elena.”
Emilia nodded.
“My mother planned the switch.”
“She is not your mother.”
“She raised me.”
“She stole you from me.”
Emilia’s face hardened.
“She said you tried to kill me.”
Valeria moved closer.
“I never did.”
“I watched the video.”
“What video?”
Emilia held out the flash drive.
“The part Rebeca cut from the recording.”
Valeria took it.
Behind them, engines roared.
Octavio’s car accelerated toward the toll station.
Police raised their weapons.
The vehicle swerved.
It crashed into a concrete barrier.
Officers surrounded it.
The driver’s seat was empty.
The car had been controlled remotely.
Inside was a phone.
A live video played on the screen.
Elena Serrano sat in an unknown room.
She was older than Valeria remembered.
Her hair was silver.
Her face carried burn scars along one side.
But she was alive.
“Elena,” Valeria whispered.
Her mother looked into the camera.
“I did what I had to do.”
“You stole my child.”
“I kept her alive.”
“From whom?”
“From you.”
Valeria shook her head.
“You told me she was dead.”
“You were sick.”
“You made me sick.”
“I made sure you survived.”
Emilia stepped toward the phone.
“Mom, where are you?”
Elena’s expression softened.
“Sweetheart, do not trust any of them.”
Valeria held up the flash drive.
“What is on this?”
“The truth.”
“Then tell me.”
Elena closed her eyes briefly.
“When you reached the nursery that night, you did not pick up the wrong infant.”
Valeria’s heart stopped.
“You found Emilia.”
“What did I do?”
“You carried her to the hospital roof.”
Rain struck the metal roof above them.
Elena’s voice became unsteady.
“You stood at the edge with your baby in your arms.”
May you like
Emilia looked at Valeria with horror.
“And you said if anyone came closer, you would jump.”
