CHAPTER 3: THE WOMAN WITH THE SCISSORS
“And she has a pair of scissors in her hand.”
For one horrifying second, no one moved.
Camila instinctively covered her stomach.
Bruno's face turned white.
“Where is she?” he shouted.
“In the maternity wing,” the nurse replied, trembling. “Security is looking for her.”
Bruno rushed toward the door.
“Stay here,” he said.
“No,” Camila answered firmly. “If she's here for me, I'm not hiding.”
“Camila, you're pregnant!”
“And I'm tired of running from your family.”
Before he could stop her, she walked into the hallway.
The hospital corridors suddenly felt colder.
Every footstep echoed.
At the end of the maternity wing, a woman in an elegant black dress stood perfectly still.
Doña Mercedes Santillán.
She looked as sophisticated as always.
Pearls around her neck.
Perfect makeup.
And in her hand…
A pair of surgical scissors.
Security guards stood a few feet away, unsure what to do.
“Mother,” Bruno said sharply.
Mercedes slowly turned.
Her eyes landed on Camila's belly.
A strange smile appeared on her face.
“So it's true,” she said quietly.
“You're pregnant.”
Camila didn't answer.
Mercedes took a step forward.
“You should have disappeared when you had the chance.”
“Stop right there!” Bruno shouted.
The old woman looked at her son as if he were a stranger.
“You brought her back into our lives.”
“She was never gone,” he replied. “You made sure of that.”
A dangerous silence followed.
Then Mercedes sighed.
“I suppose the little girl talked.”
Bruno's blood froze.
“You know exactly what I'm talking about.”
The woman didn't deny it.
Instead, she smiled.
“You've always been too emotional, Bruno.”
“Did you hide her letters?”
“Yes.”
The answer came so easily that even Camila looked shocked.
“Did you know I had a son?”
“Yes.”
“Did you keep us apart?”
“Yes.”
Bruno could barely breathe.
“But why?”
Mercedes' face hardened.
“Because I built this family with my own hands.”
She pointed at Camila.
“And she would have destroyed everything.”
Camila laughed bitterly.
“I was a resident doctor making minimum wage. What exactly was I going to destroy?”
“You were poor.”
The words echoed through the hallway.
“You had no family name, no influence, and no place beside my son.”
Bruno stared at his mother in disbelief.
“You destroyed my life because of money?”
“I protected your future!”
“You stole my child from me!”
Mercedes looked away.
For the first time, she seemed uncomfortable.
Then Camila asked the question that had haunted her for eight years.
“The night I lost my baby…”
Everyone became still.
“Did you have anything to do with it?”
Silence.
Mercedes looked directly into her eyes.
Then she whispered:
“Yes.”
The entire hallway seemed to stop breathing.
Bruno took a step back.
“No…”
Tears filled Camila's eyes.
“What did you do?”
“I only wanted to scare you.”
“What?”
“I asked someone to talk to you.”
“Talk to me?”
“I paid a man to convince you to leave Bruno.”
Camila couldn't believe what she was hearing.
“But he pushed me,” she whispered.
“I know.”
“You knew?”
“He panicked.”
Tears rolled down Mercedes' face.
“He wasn't supposed to hurt you.”
Camila's knees almost gave out.
“You killed my baby…”
“No,” Mercedes cried. “I didn't mean to!”
“You killed my son!”
Bruno's voice thundered through the hallway.
Everyone jumped.
“You murdered your own grandson!”
“Bruno…”
“Don't call me that!”
For the first time in his life, he looked at his mother with hatred.
“You lied to me for eight years.”
“I did it for you!”
“You did it for yourself!”
The old woman began crying.
“Everything I built was for this family.”
“Then why are we all miserable?”
The question hit her like a slap.
Silence.
Then suddenly—
A sharp pain crossed Camila's face.
She grabbed her stomach.
“Ah…”
Bruno turned.
“Camila?”
Another pain.
She bent over.
The nurse's eyes widened.
“Oh my God…”
“What is it?” Bruno asked.
The nurse looked terrified.
“She's bleeding.”
Everyone froze.
A drop of blood slowly ran down Camila's leg.
“No…” she whispered.
Another drop.
Then another.
The scissors fell from Mercedes' hand.
“Call the operating room!” the nurse shouted.
Everything became chaos.
Doctors appeared from everywhere.
Camila was placed on a stretcher.
“No…” she cried. “Not again…”
Bruno grabbed her hand.
“Look at me. Nothing is going to happen.”
“I can't lose another baby.”
“You won't.”
She looked at him with terrified eyes.
“Promise me.”
He squeezed her hand.
“I promise.”
The stretcher began moving.
Then Camila suddenly pulled him closer.
There was something she needed to say.
Something she had hidden for months.
“Bruno…”
“Yes?”
“If something happens to me…”
“Don't say that.”
“Please listen.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“The baby…”
“What about the baby?”
She looked directly at him.
Then she whispered the words that made his heart stop.
“You already know one of your children.”
He frowned.
“What?”
“The baby I'm carrying…”
She took a shaky breath.
“…isn't your only child.”
Bruno's face lost all color.
“What did you just say?”
Camila's eyes filled with tears.
“There is another.”
The hallway fell silent.
“Another child?”
She nodded.
“A child who never died.”
Bruno couldn't breathe.
“What do you mean?”
But the nurses were already taking her away.
“Camila!”
She reached out her hand.
“Find… our son…”
The operating room doors slammed shut.
And Bruno Santillán stood frozen.
Because eight years ago he hadn't lost one child.
He had lost two.
And somewhere in Mexico…
May you like
His son was still alive.
TO BE CONTINUED…
