CHAPTER 1: THE WOMAN HE THOUGHT HE'D NEVER SEE AGAIN
“Somebody help her! Please! My daughter is bleeding!”
The scream echoed through the emergency entrance of Juárez Hospital.
People turned.
Nurses ran.
A man in an expensive suit burst through the automatic doors carrying an eight-year-old girl in his arms. Blood covered his white shirt.
“Daddy… it hurts…” the little girl cried.
“Stay awake, Renata. Look at me, sweetheart. You're okay.”
But Bruno Santillán knew she wasn't okay.
Ten minutes earlier, his daughter had been laughing at school.
Now she was covered in blood.
The principal had called him in tears.
There had been an accident on the playground.
No one could explain exactly what had happened.
All he knew was that his daughter had fallen from the metal stairs and hit her head.
And all he could think was:
Please don't let me lose her too.
He had already buried one woman.
He couldn't bury his daughter.
“Examination Room Three!” a nurse shouted.
Bruno followed, his hands trembling.
For the first time in years, the powerful businessman didn't care about meetings, money, or reputation.
He was simply a terrified father.
Then the doctor entered.
And the world stopped.
The woman wore a white coat and surgical gloves.
Her dark hair was tied in a messy bun.
One hand instinctively rested on her swollen belly.
She was heavily pregnant.
And she was the last person Bruno expected to see.
Camila Ríos.
The woman he had abandoned.
The woman he had once promised to marry.
The woman he had left standing in the rain six months ago.
For a long moment, neither of them breathed.
Then Camila looked directly into his eyes.
No surprise.
No tears.
Only ice.
“Put the child on the stretcher,” she said.
“Camila…”
“Dr. Ríos,” she corrected sharply.
Her voice cut through him.
“Now.”
Bruno obeyed.
It was the first order he had ever taken from her.
Renata looked at the doctor with frightened eyes.
“Am I going to die?”
Camila's face softened instantly.
She knelt beside her.
“No, sweetheart. You're not going anywhere. You're very brave.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
She squeezed the little girl's hand.
Something inside Bruno twisted painfully.
This was the same woman his mother had called a liar, a gold digger, and a manipulator.
Yet she was comforting his daughter as if she were her own.
“Six stitches,” Camila said after examining the wound. “And X-rays.”
“Is she okay?” Bruno asked.
“She will be.”
He released a shaky breath.
Then his eyes dropped to her belly.
Pregnant.
Seven months.
A cold sensation crawled through his body.
He counted.
One month.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Six.
Seven.
The baby…
The timing…
No.
It couldn't be.
Could it?
“Camila…”
She ignored him.
“Is the baby…?”
Her eyes became hard again.
“The patient is your daughter.”
“I just need to know—”
“You lost the right to ask me personal questions six months ago.”
The words hit him harder than a punch.
For the first time in his life, Bruno had no answer.
Hours later, Renata was sleeping.
The hallway outside the emergency room was almost empty.
Bruno finally found Camila reviewing medical reports.
“Please,” he said quietly. “Talk to me.”
She didn't even look up.
“I have patients.”
“I was wrong.”
Silence.
“I shouldn't have left you.”
Nothing.
“My mother told me you had another man.”
Camila slowly raised her head.
Then she laughed.
A cold, bitter laugh.
“Another man?”
“Yes.”
“You really believed that?”
“I…”
She closed the folder.
“Do you know what I did after you left me?”
Bruno said nothing.
“I called you every day.”
His heart stopped.
“I went to your office.”
“What?”
“I left letters.”
He frowned.
“I never got anything.”
“Exactly.”
The color drained from her face.
“You never got my calls because someone made sure you wouldn't.”
A terrible feeling settled inside him.
“My mother…”
Camila smiled sadly.
“Now you're starting to understand.”
Before he could speak, she walked away.
Bruno remained frozen.
His mother hated Camila from the beginning.
She had always said she wasn't good enough for the Santillán family.
But to go this far?
No.
His mother couldn't be capable of that.
Could she?
Hours later, Renata woke up.
“Daddy?”
“I'm here.”
“I want to see the doctor.”
Bruno smiled.
“The pretty doctor?”
She nodded.
“The one with the baby.”
A few minutes later, Camila entered the room.
She approached the bed gently.
“How's my brave girl?”
“Better.”
Renata smiled.
Then her expression changed.
She looked at Bruno.
Then at Camila.
“Can I tell you a secret?”
Camila nodded.
The little girl lowered her voice.
“Grandma Mercedes doesn't like you.”
The room suddenly became very quiet.
Bruno's smile disappeared.
“She says you're dangerous.”
Camila said nothing.
“She says if Daddy ever finds out about your baby…”
The little girl hesitated.
“…our family will be destroyed.”
Bruno felt his blood turn cold.
“Renata…” he whispered.
But the girl continued.
“She also said something else.”
Camila's hand instinctively covered her belly.
“What did she say, sweetheart?”
Renata looked up innocently.
“She said your baby should never be born with the Santillán last name.”
Silence.
Complete silence.
Then came the sentence that changed everything.
“Grandma said she already got rid of one Santillán baby before… and she'll do it again if she has to.”
The room froze.
Bruno stopped breathing.
Camila turned pale.
“What… did you say?”
Renata looked confused.
“That's what Grandma said.”
A folder slipped from Camila's hands and hit the floor.
Because there was something Bruno didn't know.
Something she had hidden for six months.
She had once been pregnant before.
Years ago.
And she had lost that baby after a mysterious accident.
Only three people knew about it.
Her.
The doctor.
And…
Doña Mercedes Santillán.
Camila slowly raised her eyes.
For the first time, fear appeared in them.
Because suddenly, her miscarriage no longer looked like an accident.
It looked like murder.
And the child she carried now…
May you like
might be next.
TO BE CONTINUED…
