Chapter 1 - The Man in the Photograph
Alejandro yanked back the blanket, expecting his wife to confess.
Instead, he saw the bandages.
They wrapped both of Valeria’s legs from her knees to her ankles. Bruises showed above them, dark against her skin. She grabbed for the blanket, but her hands shook too badly to pull it back.
For three days, Alejandro had believed she was hiding another man. An anonymous photograph showed a stranger leaving the Aranda mansion after midnight. Valeria had refused to explain who he was.
Now that same stranger stood beside their bed.
“Who are you?” Alejandro demanded.
“Dr. Daniel Reyes.”
Alejandro looked from him to Valeria. “A doctor?”
“He came because I called him,” she whispered.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Valeria glanced at the people gathered near the bedroom door. Alejandro’s mother, Doña Esther, stood beside his uncle Gabriel. Neither moved.
Daniel stepped closer to the bed. “She needs to go to a hospital.”
“She’s been resting,” Esther said. “There’s no reason to upset her.”
Daniel turned. “Her injuries need care.”
Alejandro looked at Valeria again. She was seven months pregnant. He had spent three days questioning her, following her through the house, waiting for her to make a mistake. All that time, she had been hurt.
“What happened?” he asked.
Valeria stared at the blanket. “Daniel came to check on the baby.”
Alejandro’s stomach tightened. “Is the baby all right?”
“So far.”
“Who did this to you?”
Esther crossed the room. “Alejandro, she had a fall. We’ve been taking care of her.”
Valeria flinched when Esther spoke.
That small movement frightened him more than the bruises.
“Let her answer,” he said.
Esther stopped.
Valeria lifted her eyes to his. “Your mother pushed me down the back stairs.”
Gabriel turned toward the window.
Esther’s hand tightened around the clasp of her handbag. “You know I would never do that.”
“She locked the door after I fell,” Valeria said. “Gabriel saw me lying there.”
Alejandro faced his uncle. “Is that true?”
Gabriel said nothing.
Valeria reached for Alejandro’s wrist. “She wanted me to sign papers. I told her no.”
“What papers?”
“The ones that would give her control over our baby.”
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Somewhere downstairs, the front door slammed.
Then the lights went out.
