The first piece of evidence came before noon: Victoria had bought the sedative two days earlier with a prescription in the name of a non-existent patient.
The second one was even worse.
On Victoria’s old mobile phone, they found conversations that were synchronized with her account.
There was news with Diego, Lucia’s ex-husband.
Victoria had transferred 120,000 pesos to him in several installments.
In return, Diego had to continue harassing Lucía, showing up near her workplaces and ensuring that she could never build a stable life.
Antonio read the last message:
« If Gabriel takes a liking to her, then she will frighten him again. This woman cannot stay. »
Gabriel turned deathly pale. He had not only accused an innocent woman, but had also delivered her into the hands of the violence she had tried to escape for years.
“Where is it?” he asked.
Nobody answered.
—Where is Lucia?
Antonio lowered his head.
—At the University Hospital.
Gabriel understood.
He didn’t need any further details.
He said nothing for several seconds. The man everyone feared could no longer bear to look at himself in the mirror.
But the most serious truth was yet to come.
Don Enrique insisted on seeing Serena’s old medical records.
Victoria was the doctor responsible for monitoring her nausea, blood pressure, and supplement intake during her pregnancy.
A specialist compared the analyses.
Individually, they seemed like normal complications. Taken together, however, they revealed something else: Serena had been receiving small doses of a substance for months that damaged her liver and blood clotting.
Gabriel felt the ground disappear beneath him.
His wife’s death was never an obstetric accident.
It was provoked.
That same afternoon, state police arrived with an arrest warrant for Victoria.
Gabriel wanted to confront her first.
When the doctor saw the evidence on the table, she initially denied everything.
Then he blamed Lucia.
When they finally mentioned Serena’s files, her facial expression changed.
« You wanted to tear me apart! » she screamed at Gabriel. « Serena was always in the way. Then these girls came along, and now the maid too. »
Gabriel clenched his fists.
—What have you done to my wife?
Victoria smiled as she cried.
—What did it take for you to see me one day?
Don Enrique had to sit down.
Antonio looked down.
And Gabriel, who for years had believed he had every risk in his family’s environment under control, had to realize that the danger had been sitting at his table.
Victoria confessed to giving Serena unsuitable medication for months and to manipulating some of her records after the birth.
He also admitted to sedating Bella in order to frame Lucia for the crime.
Their plan was simple: to turn the only woman capable of calming the twins into a threat, to get Gabriel to expel them, and to permanently take Serena’s place.
The arrest was made immediately.
But Gabriel knew that another victim was still paying for his decisions.
He went to the hospital.
Lucia was awake when she saw him come in.
His reaction was immediate: He retreated to the head of the bed and raised his good arm to protect his face.
This gesture hurt Gabriel harder than any insult.
He stopped a few meters away.
—I’m not going anywhere near there.
Lucia did not answer.
Gabriel fell to his knees.
—You were innocent.
She closed her eyes.
—I already knew that.
The answer was so curt that Gabriel’s voice failed him.
He told her everything: the cameras, the tranquilizer, Diego, the payments, and the confession about Serena.
Lucia listened silently.
When he was finished, she asked:
—And will that get my broken ribs back?
Gabriel lowered his head.
-NO.
—Will he give me back the nights I spent hiding from Diego?
-NO.
—Will you give me back the baby I lost because of a violent man?
Gabriel cried.
-NO.
Lucia stared at him.
—Then don’t ask me for forgiveness so you can sleep.
This sentence spread through the family like a death sentence.
Gabriel paid for Lucia’s treatment, fired those responsible for the attack, handed the recordings over to the authorities, and testified against Victoria.
For the first time, he used his influence to prevent the truth from being covered up.
Four weeks passed.
Victoria was formally charged in connection with the attack on Bella, the medical fraud, and the death of Serena, while prosecutors built a case that could keep her in prison for decades.
Diego was also arrested for acts of violence, threats, and extortion.
Lucia has started her rehabilitation.
She was able to walk slowly, although every movement still hurt.
She had decided not to return to the residence.
Until one afternoon Antonio showed up.
He had no bodyguards.
Just a bag of diapers and an ashamed face.
“I know I have no right to ask you for anything,” she said, “but the girls refuse to eat.”
Lucia’s facial expression hardened.
—You should call a pediatrician.
—That was already 4.
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