CHAPTER 6 Two Mothers
Natalia pushed past the officer and reached into the incubator.
The nurse shouted for her to stop, but Natalia had already lifted the child.
He was not a newborn.
He was too large, too alert, and at least several weeks old.
The crescent-shaped mark behind his ear was unmistakable.
Natalia stared at it as though seventeen years had collapsed into a single second.
“No,” she whispered. “No, this isn’t possible.”
Valeria gripped Sebastián’s arm.
“Where is my baby?”
The hospital entered lockdown.
Doors sealed.
Elevators stopped.
Every camera feed was pulled into the security office.
The infant found in the nursery was carried to another secure room for examination. A nurse estimated he was almost two months old.
The identification bracelet on his ankle belonged to Valeria’s son.
Someone had switched the babies in less than four minutes.
Sebastián stood over the security director.
“Show me every person who entered that nursery.”
The footage showed a police officer at the door.
A nurse inside.
A hospital administrator.
No one else.
Then the screen flickered for eleven seconds.
When the image returned, the blanket in the incubator had shifted.
The switch happened during the interruption.
“Who controls the cameras?” Sebastián asked.
The director looked ashamed.
“The hospital’s private security contractor.”
Octavio leaned against the wall.
“Owned by the Alcázar Group.”
Sebastián turned toward him.
“You say that like you aren’t part of it.”
“I was removed from the security division six months ago.”
“By whom?”
“Your mother.”
Rebeca sat in the corner with an attorney now beside her.
She had said nothing since the discovery.
Valeria looked at her.
“You know where he is.”
Rebeca met her eyes.
“If I did, I would tell you.”
“No, you wouldn’t.”
“You think I want harm to come to my grandson?”
“I think you want him more than you care whether I survive.”
Rebeca’s attorney intervened.
“My client will not answer further questions.”
Valeria laughed bitterly.
“Your client drugged a woman in labor, arranged false custody documents, and replaced a newborn in a locked nursery.”
“No evidence connects her to the switch.”
Natalia entered carrying the two-month-old infant.
A pediatric nurse followed closely.
“He is healthy,” Natalia said. “His DNA is being tested.”
Rebeca looked at the baby.
For the first time, genuine emotion appeared on her face.
She stood.
Natalia stepped backward.
“You recognize him.”
Rebeca sat down again.
“I recognize a child who needs care.”
Natalia looked toward Valeria.
“She knows.”
Valeria watched Rebeca’s hands.
The older woman’s fingers were trembling.
It was the first uncontrolled movement Valeria had seen from her.
Sebastián noticed too.
“Who is that baby?”
Rebeca remained silent.
Natalia turned to the attorney.
“Tell her we can have the police remove the child.”
The baby began crying.
The sound changed Rebeca.
Her shoulders softened.
Her eyes closed briefly.
Then she said, “His name is Mateo.”
Nobody moved.
Natalia looked down at the infant.
“How do you know?”
Rebeca’s attorney whispered something to her, but Rebeca ignored him.
“He was born in May.”
“Who is his mother?”
Rebeca looked toward the floor.
“A woman who could not care for him.”
Valeria felt sick.
“There’s always a woman you decide cannot care for her child.”
Rebeca raised her eyes.
“Some women truly cannot.”
Natalia clutched Mateo closer.
“Where did you get him?”
Rebeca looked at her daughter.
“From the same place I sent your son.”
Natalia stopped breathing.
Sebastián stepped forward.
“Where?”
“A private residence outside Santiago.”
Natalia’s eyes filled with tears.
“My son is there?”
“He was.”
“What does that mean?”
“He left when he was fifteen.”
“Where is he now?”
“I do not know.”
Natalia’s face twisted with rage.
“You knew him?”
“I supported him.”
“You watched my child grow up while I was locked in a clinic?”
“I made sure he had a stable home.”
“You let me believe he was dead.”
“You were not capable of raising him.”
Natalia handed Mateo to the nurse before she did something she could not undo.
Then she walked toward her mother.
Sebastián moved between them.
“Not here.”
Natalia stared over his shoulder.
“She stole seventeen years.”
“And we’ll make her answer for it.”
“You still think courts make people like her answer?”
A hospital employee rushed into the security office.
“We found the transport route.”
Everyone turned.
A camera near the loading dock showed a woman in surgical clothing pushing an incubator toward a white van.
Her face was hidden.
But the vehicle’s license plate was visible.
The van belonged to Fundación Esperanza, an organization that operated shelters and private adoption services.
Rebeca had chaired its board for eighteen years.
Police units were sent to the foundation’s properties.
Sebastián contacted every driver, director, and security supervisor he trusted.
Valeria refused pain medication because she feared being sedated again.
She sat wrapped in a hospital blanket, staring at the frozen image of the van.
Then Nurse Lucía entered.
She carried the phone Valeria had hidden under the mattress.
“I found this in the operating room.”
Valeria took it.
The video had recorded everything until the phone battery died.
Rebeca’s threats.
The unknown-mother bracelet.
The false medical orders.
And something else.
During the surgery, while everyone focused on the delivery, Dr. Ríos had leaned toward one of the nurses and whispered:
“Take the Alcázar infant to Unit Seven. The other child goes upstairs.”
Sebastián replayed the sentence.
“Unit Seven.”
Natalia’s face turned white.
“That’s what they called the locked maternity wing at the clinic.”
Rebeca stood.
Her attorney told her to remain seated.
She ignored him.
“If your son was taken to Unit Seven, you will not find him at any foundation property.”
Valeria rose despite the pain.
“Where is it?”
Rebeca looked directly at her.
“Under the old Alcázar estate.”
Sebastián stared at his mother.
The estate had belonged to his father.
It had been empty since his death.
Valeria took one step forward.
“Why is there a maternity ward under your house?”
May you like
Rebeca’s expression became unreadable.
“Because your baby was never the only heir we were preparing for.”
