Chapter 3 - THE MEDICINE
Alejandro crossed the distance between himself and Paola.
“What medicine?”
Paola looked terrified.
Renata moved toward her.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Mateo stepped in front of Renata.
“Stay back.”
Paola wiped her face.
“I didn’t know at first.”
Alejandro crouched beside her.
“Start at the beginning.”
Paola glanced toward Guillermo.
Guillermo’s expression was unreadable.
Then she looked at Teresa.
Teresa’s face was worse.
Cold.
Controlled.
Watching.
Paola swallowed.
“About two months ago, Renata asked me to pick up something from a pharmacy.”
“What?”
“I don’t know the name.”
Renata laughed sharply.
“This is ridiculous.”
Paola continued.
“She said Lucía had trouble sleeping.”
Alejandro’s blood went cold.
“Lucía doesn’t have trouble sleeping.”
“I know that now.”
“What did you pick up?”
“Drops.”
“What kind of drops?”
“I don’t know.”
Alejandro stood.
“Where are they?”
Paola looked at Renata’s bag.
Renata immediately shook her head.
“There is nothing in there.”
Mateo picked up the handbag.
He searched the side pocket.
Nothing.
Then Lucía’s bracelet slipped farther out of the torn lining.
Mateo frowned.
He pressed his fingers against the fabric.
“There’s something inside.”
Renata moved again.
Mateo tore the lining.
A small amber bottle fell into his palm.
Silence.
Alejandro stared at it.
The label had been removed.
“Give it to me.”
Mateo handed it over.
Alejandro held the bottle like it might explode.
Renata shook her head.
“That could belong to anyone.”
“It was sewn inside your bag.”
“I didn’t put it there.”
Paola spoke.
“I did.”
Alejandro looked at her.
Paola’s eyes filled with tears.
“She told me to hide it.”
“When?”
“This morning.”
“Why?”
“Because Lucía found it.”
Alejandro’s stomach turned.
Renata screamed.
“She’s lying!”
Paola flinched.
Then something in her broke.
“No, Renata.”
Her voice grew stronger.
“I’m done.”
Renata stared at her.
“You ungrateful little—”
“You told me nobody would get hurt.”
Alejandro stepped closer.
“What was she doing with it?”
Paola looked at him.
“She put it in Lucía’s juice.”
Alejandro stopped moving.
Mateo whispered.
“Jesus.”
“How many times?”
“I saw her do it twice.”
Alejandro’s voice became almost inaudible.
“When?”
“Once at your house.”
Paola took a breath.
“And once during the engagement dinner.”
Alejandro remembered.
Lucía had fallen asleep at the table that night.
Everyone had laughed.
Renata had carried her upstairs.
Alejandro had thought it was sweet.
Now the memory made him sick.
“What did the drops do?”
“She said they only made her sleepy.”
“Why?”
Paola looked down.
“So you and Renata could have time alone.”
Alejandro stared at her.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
Paola said nothing.
“Why would she need to drug my daughter for that?”
Renata folded her arms.
“She didn’t.”
Alejandro ignored her.
“Paola.”
Paola looked up.
“There’s more.”
Of course there was.
“What?”
“She wanted people to think Lucía had emotional problems.”
Alejandro felt the world tilt.
“What?”
“She started telling everyone Lucía was unstable.”
Renata shouted.
“She is!”
Alejandro turned so quickly that Renata stepped backward.
“Say that again.”
Renata’s confidence faltered.
“She has issues.”
“She lost her mother.”
“She manipulates you with it.”
“She is eight years old.”
“She knows exactly what she’s doing!”
The words echoed across the driveway.
Several guests had moved closer.
Renata saw their faces.
Judgment.
Shock.
Disgust.
Her breathing became uneven.
Alejandro stared at the woman he had almost married.
Suddenly he remembered every conversation.
Every comment.
Every small suggestion.
Lucía is tired.
Lucía is jealous.
Lucía needs discipline.
Lucía needs therapy.
Lucía needs independence.
Maybe Lucía should spend more time with your mother.
Maybe we need space as newlyweds.
One brick at a time.
Renata had been building a wall between him and his daughter.
And Alejandro had helped by not noticing.
His anger turned inward.
“How long?”
Renata looked away.
“How long have you been trying to convince me there’s something wrong with her?”
“I was trying to help.”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“You were trying to make me doubt her.”
“Alejandro—”
“You wanted me to believe she was unstable so that when you suggested boarding school, I would agree.”
Renata’s silence confirmed it.
Mateo shook his head.
“You planned the whole thing.”
Teresa finally spoke.
“Boarding school is not prison.”
Alejandro turned.
“She is eight.”
“It would give her structure.”
“She has structure.”
“She has an unhealthy attachment to you.”
Alejandro almost couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“She lost her mother.”
“And four years later, she still uses that tragedy to control your life.”
Alejandro stepped toward Teresa.
Guillermo moved between them.
“Enough.”
Alejandro looked at him.
“Get your family out of here.”
Guillermo lowered his voice.
“You should consider what happens next.”
“My daughter comes home with me.”
“I’m talking about your company.”
Alejandro’s eyes narrowed.
Guillermo continued.
“Rivera Arquitectura currently has three major developments connected to investors I introduced.”
Mateo cursed softly.
Guillermo didn’t blink.
“If you publicly humiliate my daughter, those relationships may become complicated.”
There it was.
The threat.
Alejandro looked toward the garden.
Then toward the hacienda.
Then back at Guillermo.
“You’re threatening my business because I won’t marry a woman who locked my daughter in a restroom?”
“I’m asking you to think carefully.”
Alejandro smiled.
There was no humor in it.
“I have.”
He pulled out his phone.
“Who are you calling?”
“The police.”
Renata lunged.
“No!”
Mateo blocked her again.
Alejandro dialed.
Renata’s voice changed.
The anger disappeared.
“Alejandro.”
Now she sounded frightened.
“Please.”
He looked at her.
“You should have thought about that before you touched my daughter.”
“Alejandro, don’t.”
He raised the phone.
Then Lucía’s scream came from inside the hacienda.
“DADDY!”
Alejandro ran.
He didn’t think.
He ran through the garden.
Past the stunned guests.
Past the abandoned altar.
Past the flowers.
He reached the main building and found his mother standing near the staircase.
Elena looked panicked.
“Lucía was right here.”
Alejandro’s heart stopped.
“What do you mean?”
“I turned around for one second.”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
Alejandro shouted her name.
“LUCÍA!”
No answer.
Then his phone buzzed.
A message from an unknown number.
He opened it.
There was a photograph.
Lucía.
Sitting inside a car.
May you like
And beneath it were six words.
DROP THE POLICE CALL OR SHE LEAVES.
