“No, never,” Mariana said, her legs feeling weak. “It smelled strange, it was sick. I threw it away to save it.”
“And why didn’t you keep it for analysis?” he insisted. “That’s what anyone who really suspected something would do.”
She was speechless. He was right. She hadn’t thought of that. She’d only thought about the baby breathing.
Renata sighed theatrically.
—Doctor, I don’t want to accuse anyone without proof, but… since she arrived, strange things have been happening: money disappearing, objects being broken… And now this.
The verdict was delivered like a sentence. That same night, Eduardo didn’t show his face. He sent Renata to see her off with an envelope of cash.
—We think this is too much for you, Mariana. It’s best if you rest. Don’t come back.
Not only had she lost her job. She had lost the only three people who had looked at her with absolute trust in a long time.
But the worst came later.
The mansion was filled with lights, flowers, and important guests. It was Eduardo and Renata’s engagement party. From behind the gate, under a cold drizzle, Mariana watched from afar, with the absurd hope of being able to speak to Eduardo, to explain things to him, even just once.
The guards wouldn’t let her in.
“They told us not to see you around here again,” they warned him.
Inside, Renata took the microphone. Her voice came through the speakers clearly, all the way to the street.
She spoke of love, of how happy she was, of how hard everything had been… And suddenly she mentioned “a humble employee” who had betrayed her trust. On a giant screen, an edited video began playing showing Mariana breaking the vase, putting money in her pocket, pouring something from a dark bottle into a baby bottle.
A perfect setup.
The guests were scandalized. She, from outside, saw her own face transformed into a villain.
Something broke inside.
She turned around and began to walk aimlessly, the rain mingling with her tears. She felt the world was a cruel joke where the rich always won, where the truth was worthless if it came from the wrong mouth.
She was about to turn the corner when someone grabbed her arm.
—Wait, my daughter.
It was Doña Magali, flustered, her apron stained with sauce. She glanced toward the mansion to make sure no one was watching and reached into her pocket. She pulled out a small red USB drive.
—Here. Before I change my mind.
Mariana took it, confused.
-What is it?
“The truth,” the cook said, her eyes blazing with old rage. “I followed her. I recorded her. That woman is a demon. Don’t let her do to those children what they did to you.”
Mariana froze.
—How do you know about… Ariana?
—Because I also lost a child because of people with money and zero conscience. And I swore to myself that I would never stay silent again.
He placed the USB drive in Mariana’s hand and squeezed it tightly.
—Go. And use it well.
That night, in the small, dark room in Iztapalapa, Mariana couldn’t sleep. The power was still out. Her mother was snoring on the other side of the curtain. The only object that seemed to matter in the world was that little piece of red plastic in her hand.
At dawn, he ran to the house of Don Ramiro, the neighbor who had an old computer. He inserted the USB drive, opened the video file, and was left breathless.
There was Renata, alone with the babies, putting drops into the bottles from the unlabeled bottle. There she was, tampering with the notebook, breaking the vase, taking the receipt out of Mariana’s jacket pocket.
And then, the video call with a lawyer.
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