Chapter 1 - THE BOTTLE IN LEONOR’S HAND
“Who has been spraying his clothes?”
Sofía’s question remained suspended in the nursery.
Doña Leonor’s fingers tightened around the German bottle.
Nicolás stepped between his mother and the door.
“Answer her.”
Leonor lifted her chin.
“The servants prepare Mateo’s clothing.”
“That was not my question,” Sofía said.
Leonor’s eyes hardened.
“You are a temporary nurse standing in my family’s home.”
“And you are holding the bottle that may have been burning your grandson’s skin.”
Valeria moved closer to the discarded pajamas.
Her face had gone pale.
“You selected everything in this nursery.”
Leonor looked at her with open contempt.
“I selected the best.”
“You selected the detergent too?”
“The products were recommended by professionals.”
“Which professionals?” Sofía asked.
Leonor did not answer.
Instead, she turned toward the bathroom attached to the nursery.
Sofía saw the movement before anyone else understood it.
“Stop her.”
Nicolás caught Leonor’s wrist as she reached the sink.
The bottle slipped from her hand.
Don Esteban entered just in time to catch it against his chest.
A drop of clear liquid ran down the side.
“Seal it,” Sofía said.
Leonor pulled against Nicolás’s grip.
“You are treating me like a criminal.”
“You tried to destroy evidence,” Nicolás replied.
“I tried to throw away a household product.”
“A household product that makes you afraid.”
For the first time, Leonor’s expression cracked.
Valeria stared at her.
“You knew.”
“I knew nothing.”
“You saw Mateo screaming for seven weeks.”
“I brought specialists.”
“You watched them fail.”
“I paid for every one of them.”
Sofía adjusted Mateo against her shoulder.
The baby made a weak sound but did not wake.
“Money does not prove innocence.”
Leonor turned toward her.
“You insolent little—”
“Enough.”
Nicolás’s voice struck the room like a locked door.
He took the bottle from Don Esteban.
“Who used this?”
Leonor looked toward the hallway.
“The laundry supervisor.”
Nicolás pressed a button near the nursery door.
Two security guards appeared within seconds.
“Bring Teresa Álvarez here.”
Leonor’s face changed again.
It happened quickly.
Too quickly for Valeria to notice.
Sofía noticed.
Ten minutes later, a middle-aged woman in a gray housekeeping uniform was pushed into the nursery.
Teresa’s hands were red and cracked.
She looked first at Nicolás.
Then at the bottle.
Then at Leonor.
Her fear answered before her mouth did.
“Did you spray Mateo’s clothes?” Nicolás asked.
Teresa began trembling.
“I followed the written schedule.”
“What schedule?”
Teresa looked at Leonor.
The older woman’s expression became perfectly still.
“Speak,” Nicolás ordered.
Teresa reached into her apron and removed a folded sheet of paper.
“The instructions came from Doña Leonor’s office.”
Leonor laughed once.
Coldly.
“Anyone can steal stationery.”
Teresa opened the paper.
At the bottom was Leonor’s embossed personal seal.
Valeria snatched it from her hand.
Morning clothing.
Afternoon blankets.
Evening sheets.
Three applications every day.
“This says to spray the fabric after washing,” Valeria whispered.
Teresa nodded.
“I told Señora Beatriz that the smell was too strong.”
Beatriz was Leonor’s private secretary.
“She told me to continue.”
Leonor stepped forward.
“Teresa has stolen from this family before.”
Teresa looked shocked.
“That is a lie.”
“You were caught taking food.”
“I took leftover bread for my grandson.”
“You admitted theft.”
“You told me the food would be thrown away.”
Leonor turned to Nicolás.
“She is desperate.”
Sofía looked at Teresa’s hands.
The skin between her fingers was inflamed.
The pattern was similar to the redness on Mateo’s body.
“May I examine your hands?”
Teresa hesitated.
Then she held them out.
Sofía smelled the skin.
The same faint chemical scent remained beneath the soap.
“Her hands support her story.”
Leonor’s face tightened.
“Or she exposed herself while poisoning Mateo.”
Teresa staggered backward.
“I would never hurt that baby.”
Nicolás looked at his head of security.
“Take her downstairs.”
“No,” Sofía said.
Every face turned toward her.
“She stays where I can see her.”
“This is not your decision,” Nicolás replied.
“If Teresa is guilty, removing her gives her accomplices time to change their story.”
“And if she is innocent?”
“Then you are about to punish the easiest person in the room.”
Teresa’s eyes filled with tears.
Leonor pointed at her.
“She had access.”
“So did you,” Valeria said.
The words came out quietly.
That made them more dangerous.
Leonor stared at her.
“You should remember whose protection keeps your family alive.”
Valeria took one slow step toward her.
“My son has been screaming while you protected yourself.”
Before Leonor could answer, the nursery door opened again.
Dr. Inés Marín entered carrying a medical case.
She was the pediatric dermatologist Sofía had requested.
Sofía handed her the sealed German bottle.
Dr. Marín read the warning label.
Then she smelled the drop on the outside.
Her expression changed.
“This is not fabric conditioner.”
Nicolás went still.
“What is it?”
Dr. Marín removed a testing strip from her case.
She placed one drop on it.
The strip darkened almost immediately.
“This bottle contains a concentrated industrial preservative.”
Teresa covered her mouth.
Valeria reached for the crib to steady herself.
Leonor said nothing.
Dr. Marín looked directly at Nicolás.
“The original product could cause irritation.”
She held up the blackened strip.
“But someone replaced it with something far stronger.”
Mateo shifted against Sofía’s chest.
His small body suddenly stiffened.
Sofía looked down.
The peaceful color was disappearing from his face.
“Bring the oxygen.”
Dr. Marín rushed forward.
Nicolás’s eyes moved from his son to his mother.
“This was not an allergy accident,” Dr. Marín said.
“Someone altered that bottle to make Mateo suffer.”
She checked the baby’s pulse.
May you like
Then her face became grim.
“And judging by this concentration, they did not care whether he survived.”
