Chapter 5 - THE FIRST SCAR
Exhibit Nine arrived on the fourth day.
Nobody laughed anymore.
Not Julián.
Not Renata.
Not Doña Elvira.
Even the reporters seemed different.
The spectacle had become something darker.
Esteban stood beside Claudia.
“We can request a closed hearing.”
Claudia shook her head.
“No.”
“You don’t owe anyone this.”
“I know.”
She looked toward Julián.
“But he spent years making sure nobody could see it.”
Her voice lowered.
“I’m done hiding it for him.”
The first medical record was dated three years earlier.
Fractured rib.
Claudia had told the emergency physician she fell in the shower.
The second record showed a shoulder injury.
She said she fell down stairs.
The third showed stitches along her upper arm.
She claimed she had cut herself on broken glass.
Then Esteban displayed a photograph taken by Claudia herself.
A bruise covered her shoulder.
The timestamp was 2:13 a.m.
Another photograph.
Another date.
Another injury.
Then an audio recording.
Claudia’s voice came first.
“Give me my phone.”
Julián answered.
“You’re not calling anyone.”
“Move.”
“Sit down.”
“Julián, move.”
Then came a crash.
The courtroom froze.
Claudia stared at the table.
She didn’t need to hear the rest.
She remembered it.
Every second.
The recording ended with Julián saying something softly.
“Look what you make me do.”
Claudia had believed those words for almost a year.
That was the most difficult truth to admit.
Not that he hurt her.
That eventually, she had begun helping him explain why.
She worked too much.
She challenged him.
She embarrassed him.
She didn’t appreciate him.
She made him angry.
She made him jealous.
She made him afraid.
There was always a reason.
And somehow the reason was always Claudia.
Judge Aranda called a recess.
Claudia stayed seated.
Julián didn’t.
He walked toward the door.
Two court officers stopped him.
“You cannot leave yet, sir.”
“I need air.”
“You’ll wait for the judge.”
Julián looked toward Claudia.
His face was twisted with rage.
“You wanted everyone to see this?”
Claudia stood.
“No.”
She walked closer.
“I wanted you to stop.”
He laughed bitterly.
“You’re enjoying this.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“That’s the difference between us.”
He stared at her.
“I never enjoyed hurting you.”
His expression flickered.
Claudia continued.
“But you enjoyed watching me become afraid.”
Julián said nothing.
Behind him, Doña Elvira began crying.
Claudia looked toward her.
Elvira wiped her eyes dramatically.
“I never knew.”
Claudia almost walked away.
Then she stopped.
“Really?”
Elvira froze.
Claudia turned.
“You never knew?”
“No.”
“Should we open Exhibit Ten?”
The older woman’s face changed.
Claudia saw it.
So did Esteban.
And suddenly everyone understood.
May you like
Exhibit Ten wasn’t about Julián.
It was about his mother.
