CHAPTER 2 – THE WOMAN EVERYONE HATED… AND THE SECRET SHE TRied to Stop
The emergency room seemed to shrink around them.
“There was poison in his stomach,” the doctor repeated. “And based on the amount we found, someone deliberately put it into his food.”
“No…” Sofía whispered.
Her legs gave out.
Rafael caught her before she hit the floor.
“This has to be a mistake,” he said. “Who would poison a four-year-old child?”
The doctor shook his head.
“We've pumped his stomach and given him medication. He's stable for now, but he needs to remain under observation.”
“Can we see him?” Sofía cried.
“In a few minutes.”
As the doctor walked away, Lucía still held the phone in her trembling hands.
The video remained frozen on the screen.
Camila's face.
The small glass bottle.
The hand pouring something into the capirotada.
Rafael stared at it as if he were looking at a ghost.
“That's not possible,” he murmured.
“She loves Emiliano.”
“Then explain this!” Lucía said, tears in her eyes.
Sofía slowly turned toward her husband.
“You saw it too.”
Rafael said nothing.
“She poisoned our son!”
“No…” he whispered. “There has to be another explanation.”
Sofía couldn't believe what she was hearing.
“Another explanation?” she cried. “Our child is in the hospital!”
Before Rafael could answer, the elevator doors opened.
Several relatives hurried into the hallway.
At the front was Doña Guillermina.
She was still wearing her purple shawl.
Still carrying the same cold expression.
The moment Sofía saw her, rage exploded inside her.
“You!” she shouted.
The entire corridor fell silent.
“You humiliated my son, and now he's fighting for his life!”
Doña Guillermina didn't respond.
“You knew something was wrong with that capirotada, didn't you?”
The old woman looked away.
“Answer me!”
Finally, she spoke.
“I never wanted him to eat it.”
Everyone froze.
“What?” Rafael whispered.
“I tried to stop him.”
The words hung in the air.
Sofía stared at her in disbelief.
“You kicked the plate because you wanted to stop him?”
Doña Guillermina slowly nodded.
“No…”
“You expect me to believe that?” Sofía shouted.
The old woman's eyes filled with tears for the first time.
“I saw someone tampering with the tray.”
Silence.
“I saw a hand pour something into one of the servings.”
“Whose hand?” Rafael asked.
Doña Guillermina hesitated.
Then she whispered:
“Camila's.”
A collective gasp filled the hallway.
Lucía covered her mouth.
Rafael stepped back.
“No…”
“I didn't know what she put in it,” the old woman said. “But I knew something was terribly wrong.”
“Then why didn't you say anything?” Sofía demanded.
“Because…” her voice broke, “because I couldn't believe what I had seen.”
The elevator doors opened again.
This time, Camila stepped out.
She looked worried.
“What happened? How's Emiliano?”
Nobody answered.
Twenty pairs of eyes turned toward her.
She suddenly stopped walking.
“Why are you all looking at me like that?”
Lucía slowly raised her phone.
“Because we saw the video.”
Camila's face lost all color.
“What video?”
“The one where you're putting something into the capirotada.”
Silence.
A terrible, suffocating silence.
Then Camila laughed nervously.
“This is crazy.”
Rafael walked toward her.
“What was in the bottle?”
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
“What was in the bottle?” he repeated.
“Nothing!”
“Camila…”
“It was nothing!”
Rafael's voice shook.
“My son almost died.”
Tears appeared in Camila's eyes.
“I didn't mean—”
She stopped.
The hallway exploded.
“You didn't mean what?” Sofía screamed.
Camila covered her mouth.
She had said too much.
“No…” she whispered.
“No, no, no…”
Rafael grabbed her shoulders.
“Tell me the truth.”
Camila burst into tears.
“I never wanted to hurt him!”
The words echoed through the corridor.
Sofía felt her blood run cold.
“You admit it?”
“I didn't know there would be so much!”
“What did you put in the food?” Rafael shouted.
Camila collapsed into a chair.
“I only put a little powder.”
“What powder?”
She looked up, terrified.
“It was supposed to make him sick.”
Nobody moved.
“What?” Sofía whispered.
“I only wanted him to have stomach pain… so you and Emiliano would leave the party.”
The hallway became completely silent.
Rafael's face turned white.
“Why would you do that?”
Camila began sobbing uncontrollably.
“Because if you stayed… everything would come out.”
“What are you talking about?”
She looked at her mother.
Then at her brother.
Then at the floor.
“I've been hiding something for five years.”
A chill passed through everyone.
“What secret?” Rafael asked.
Camila's entire body trembled.
“Because…” she whispered, “Emiliano isn't the only child whose life was built on a lie.”
Nobody breathed.
Then she slowly raised her head.
Her eyes met Rafael's.
And with tears streaming down her face, she said the words that shattered the entire family:
“Brother… you and I don't have the same father.”
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Even the nurses stopped moving.
Doña Guillermina suddenly closed her eyes.
As if she had been waiting for this moment for years.
Rafael looked at his mother.
“What did she just say?”
The old woman didn't answer.
“Mom…”
A tear rolled down her cheek.
“Tell me she's lying.”
Instead, Doña Guillermina whispered:
“She isn't.”
Rafael stumbled backward.
“What?”
“Your father…”
Her voice cracked.
“...wasn't your biological father.”
The world seemed to stop.
Sofía covered her mouth.
Lucía burst into tears.
Camila kept crying.
And Rafael…
Rafael could only stare at the woman who had raised him.
Because in a single night, his son had been poisoned…
His sister had become a criminal…
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And the mother who rejected his child had just revealed that the entire Robles family was built upon a secret buried for more than thirty years.
To be continued…
