Chapter 5 - BLOOD THAT LIED
Sofía clamped the intravenous line.
“Do not touch the bag.”
Dr. Marín rushed into the room.
“What happened?”
“The fluid changed color.”
A nurse disconnected the line.
Mateo’s oxygen level continued falling.
Sofía lifted him upright.
“Check his airway.”
Dr. Marín listened to his chest.
“No swelling.”
“Then the reading may be false.”
Sofía looked at the monitor cable.
It had been loosened.
She reattached the sensor.
Mateo’s oxygen level returned to normal.
Valeria nearly collapsed.
“It was a distraction,” Sofía said.
Nicolás looked at the cloudy intravenous bag.
“For what?”
The black folder was gone.
The DNA report had disappeared with it.
A side door moved slightly.
Nicolás ran into the corridor.
A figure in medical clothing turned the corner.
The guards followed.
They returned two minutes later with empty hands.
“The stairwell door was locked from the other side.”
Sofía examined the disconnected intravenous bag.
The cloudy substance was harmless powdered glucose.
Someone had created panic to steal the evidence.
“They are still inside the mansion,” she said.
Leonor sat in a chair.
Her face had become gray.
“I want my attorney.”
Nicolás turned toward her.
“You want an attorney while your grandson is being hunted inside my home?”
“I will not answer more questions without representation.”
Valeria laughed bitterly.
“For seven weeks, Mateo had no representation.”
Leonor looked at her.
“You do not understand what men like Adrián can do.”
Sofía heard the fear in her voice.
“Then tell us.”
Leonor remained silent.
Nicolás approached her.
“Did Adrián alter the bottle?”
“I do not know.”
“Did you order Teresa to spray the clothes?”
Leonor closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Valeria made a broken sound.
Nicolás’s voice lowered.
“Why?”
“Dr. Montalvo said Mateo’s reactions were behavioral.”
Sofía stared at her.
“A ten-month-old child was not screaming for attention.”
“I know that now.”
“You knew he was suffering.”
“I was told the treatment required consistency.”
“What treatment?”
Leonor swallowed.
“Controlled exposure.”
Dr. Marín’s face hardened.
“No responsible physician would repeatedly expose an infant to an unidentified irritant.”
Leonor looked away.
“Montalvo said Valeria’s constant interference prevented Mateo from adapting.”
Valeria stepped forward.
“You were trying to prove I was an unfit mother.”
Leonor said nothing.
“That was the plan.”
Valeria’s voice shook.
“You wanted him sick whenever I held him.”
“I wanted the court to see that he became distressed in your care.”
Nicolás stared at his mother.
“You hurt my son to win a custody case.”
“I did not know the chemical had been changed.”
“You continued when his skin turned red.”
“Montalvo said redness was expected.”
“You watched him scream.”
Leonor finally broke.
“I thought it would last two days.”
Her voice rose.
“I thought you would take custody, send Valeria away, and restore order.”
Valeria lunged forward.
Sofía caught her around the waist.
“Let me go.”
“Not like this.”
“She tortured my child.”
“She will answer for it.”
Leonor covered her face.
“I never wanted Mateo dead.”
Nicolás’s expression was empty.
“But Adrián did.”
Leonor looked at him.
“The trust clause was supposed to pressure you.”
“Into signing what?”
“A merger agreement.”
“What merger?”
“The family trust was losing money.”
Nicolás went still.
Velasco International was worth billions.
If the trust was losing money, someone had been stealing from it.
“How much?”
“I do not know.”
“That is another lie.”
“I never saw the accounts.”
“You signed the succession clause.”
“Adrián brought the papers during your father’s memorial.”
Nicolás stared at her.
“You used my grief.”
“I thought I was protecting what your father built.”
“No.”
He stepped back from her.
“You were protecting the chair he left empty.”
Don Esteban entered with an envelope recovered from the old passage.
Inside was a second DNA report.
This one showed a 99.99 percent probability that Nicolás was Mateo’s father.
The collection date matched the first test.
The laboratory seal was identical.
Sofía compared both documents.
“One of these reports was created to replace the other.”
Nicolás looked toward the name at the bottom.
Dr. Rafael Montalvo.
His phone rang.
The caller was the private hospital.
Nicolás answered.
A woman spoke rapidly.
His face changed.
“What happened?” Sofía asked.
He lowered the phone.
“Dr. Montalvo emptied his office.”
“Where is he?”
“No one knows.”
Nicolás looked at the baby.
“He took Mateo’s original blood samples with him.”
A nurse entered from the corridor.
She wore a mask and carried a folded cotton blanket.
Sofía looked at her shoes.
They were not hospital shoes.
They were black leather boots.
May you like
The woman reached into the blanket.
Metal flashed beneath the fabric.
