Chapter 9 - The Wrong Medicine
“Put it down,” I said.
Teresa held the bottle between two fingers.
“It’s only medicine.”
“It was in my bag.”
“You’re exhausted, Camila. You probably dropped it.”
Elena kept the knife raised.
“Put it on the table.”
Teresa rolled her eyes.
“You’re being dramatic.”
I stepped closer.
The liquid inside the bottle was clear.
Sofia’s medicine was pale pink.
“What did you put in it?”
For the first time, Teresa’s confidence slipped.
“Nothing.”
“Then drink it.”
Her face hardened.
“This is ridiculous.”
“Drink it.”
She threw the bottle at the wall.
It shattered.
A sharp chemical smell filled the room.
Elena covered her nose.
Teresa ran for the door.
I caught the back of her blouse.
She twisted and slapped me.
My head snapped sideways.
Elena lunged.
Teresa grabbed her wrist and slammed it against the doorframe.
The knife fell.
Sofia cried from the bedroom.
That sound made all three of us stop.
Teresa looked toward the door.
Then she ran.
Elena kicked the apartment door shut and locked it.
I called the police.
Officers arrived seven minutes later.
They collected the broken glass and the soaked stuffed rabbit.
Teresa was gone.
Lucía arrived soon after.
“We found Daniel,” she said.
My heart stopped.
“He’s alive.”
I grabbed the counter.
“Where?”
“Hospital. Ricardo assaulted him at the office.”
“Again?”
Lucía nodded.
“He also attempted to destroy company records.”
“What was in the medicine bottle?”
“We’ll test it.”
Elena sat at the table holding ice against her wrist.
“She knew where we were,” she said.
Lucía looked at me.
“Who did you tell?”
“No one.”
“Did you post anything online?”
“No.”
“Does your husband track your phone?”
I thought about our shared family location app.
Daniel used it when traveling.
His parents had once been included in the group.
“I removed them last year.”
“Are you sure?”
I opened the app.
Three names appeared.
Me.
Daniel.
And an account labeled Family Tablet.
The tablet had been at Ricardo’s house.
I turned off location sharing.
Lucía photographed the screen.
“You need somewhere safer.”
“No.”
She frowned.
“I’m not moving again. I’m going to the hospital.”
“Camila—”
“My husband is hurt. My daughter needs treatment. I’m done running from these people.”
At the hospital, Daniel had bruising around his throat and two cracked ribs.
He tried to sit when he saw Sofia.
She reached for him.
He cried without making a sound.
Later, after she slept, I showed him the broken medicine bottle.
Daniel stared at the photograph.
“My mother wouldn’t poison a child.”
I said nothing.
The old instinct was still there.
Defend.
Explain.
Soften.
He looked at my face.
Then his eyes dropped.
“Sorry.”
“You should be.”
“I don’t know why I said that.”
“Yes, you do.”
He closed his eyes.
The next morning, the laboratory called Lucía.
The bottle had contained a concentrated cleaning chemical.
Enough to cause organ damage if swallowed.
Teresa hadn’t come to retrieve evidence.
May you like
She had come to silence the only witness too young to describe what happened.
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