“What… what are you saying, kid?” he murmured, barely able to speak.
Valeria looked up for the first time in days.
Something… something lit up in her eyes.
Hope?
Fear?
Memory?
“I saw him, sir…” the boy said, swallowing hard. “I live behind your house… well… I hide there… and one night… I saw her…”
Before he could finish, a voice cut through the air like a knife.
—Ernesto, don’t listen to him!
Lucia’s heels clicked on the floor as she approached. Elegant, impeccable… but her face was tense, almost distraught.
“That boy is lying,” he said, taking Don Ernesto by the arm. “He probably wants money. You know how they are.”
The boy shook his head, with tears in his eyes.
—No, ma’am… I’m not lying… the girl was always good to me… her mother too…
That name fell flat.
Ernesto’s late wife.
The only woman he had ever truly loved.
Valeria whispered weakly:
—Dad… I… remember something…
Lucia bent down quickly, almost desperately.
—My love, you’re confused… it’s the effects of the medicine…
“What medicine?” the boy suddenly interrupted.
The silence was immediate.
The wind stopped blowing.
“Which doctor is seeing her, sir?” the boy asked, looking directly at Ernesto. “Because I heard the lady on the phone… she said that doctor has gambling debts…”
Don Ernesto felt the ground disappear beneath his feet.
The doctor…
The treatment…
The medicines…
Everything… had been chosen by Lucia.
“How do you know that?” he asked, his voice trembling.
“Because I observe…” the boy replied. “If I don’t… I won’t survive.”
Lucia let out a dry, fake laugh.
—Please… Ernesto, this is ridiculous. Let’s get out of here.
But this time…
Ernesto didn’t move.
For the first time in weeks… he really looked at her.
And something didn’t add up.
Too many things didn’t fit.
“Dad…” Valeria whispered, squeezing his hand. “I felt… like someone touched my head one night…”
Lucia tensed up.
Just one second.
But it was enough.
The boy took a step forward.
“Not only that, sir…” he said softly. “I also saw her… burning her hair… in the courtyard… in the early morning…”
The air became heavy.
Unbreathable.
Ernesto slowly turned his head towards his fiancée.
—Lucía… —he said, very slowly—. What’s happening?
She did not respond immediately.
And that silence…
That small, damned silence…
It was more terrifying than any words.
The boy spoke again, almost whispering:
