Chapter 2 - The Doctor Who Came After Midnight
Dr. Mateo Rivas arrived at the mansion twenty-two minutes later.
Alejandro counted every minute.
He spent those minutes beside Valeria.
Not questioning her.
Not accusing her.
Just watching her breathe.
Esther remained near the fireplace.
Rafael sat silently in an armchair.
Nobody spoke.
When the front doors finally opened, Mateo entered carrying a dark medical bag.
He was in his mid-forties, with tired eyes and the posture of a man who had already made peace with walking into danger.
Alejandro recognized him immediately from the photograph.
Same face.
Same dark coat.
Same silver-framed glasses.
The stranger he had spent three days hating.
The stranger he had imagined touching his wife.
The stranger who, apparently, had been keeping her alive.
Mateo looked at Valeria first.
“How are you feeling?”
“Dizzy.”
“Cramping?”
“A little.”
Alejandro stiffened.
Mateo immediately approached her and checked her pulse.
He asked several quiet medical questions.
Then he looked at Alejandro.
“She needs to leave.”
“We’re going to the hospital.”
“Not the Aranda family clinic.”
Alejandro understood instantly.
“Why?”
“Because somebody accessed her patient file.”
Esther laughed bitterly.
“Do you have evidence of that?”
Mateo turned toward her for the first time.
“Yes.”
The answer landed like a hammer.
Esther’s expression froze.
Mateo opened his bag and removed a sealed folder.
“I ordered independent laboratory work after Valeria contacted me.”
Alejandro frowned.
“How did she know you?”
“My sister was her college roommate.”
Valeria nodded.
“Lucia gave me his number.”
Mateo continued.
“When Valeria described dizziness, unexplained bruising, repeated weakness, and unusual reactions after receiving injections, I told her to stop taking everything provided inside this house until I could evaluate her.”
Alejandro looked at the small bandages.
“What were the injections?”
“I’m not going to speculate beyond the confirmed results.”
Mateo opened the folder.
“But they were not routine prenatal vitamins.”
Rafael flinched.
Alejandro saw it.
Mateo saw it too.
Esther’s eyes narrowed.
“You’re making a serious accusation.”
“I’m stating laboratory findings.”
“What findings?”
Mateo looked at Alejandro.
“Your wife’s blood showed traces of medication that had never been prescribed by her obstetrician.”
Alejandro went pale.
“What would it do?”
“In combination with her pregnancy complications, it increased the risk of bleeding and other dangerous problems.”
Valeria lowered her eyes.
Alejandro’s jaw clenched.
“Could it have killed her?”
Mateo paused.
“Yes.”
The room became silent.
Alejandro looked at his mother.
Esther shook her head.
“You cannot possibly believe I would harm my own grandchild.”
Valeria whispered, “You told me this baby would destroy everything.”
Esther’s head snapped toward her.
“I never said that.”
“Yes, you did.”
“When?”
“The night Alejandro left for Monterrey.”
Rafael suddenly stood.
Esther looked at him.
“Sit down.”
He did not.
Valeria continued.
“You came into my room.”
Her voice trembled.
“You told me the family had survived wars, scandals, lawsuits, and weak men.”
Alejandro watched his mother’s face.
Valeria’s eyes filled.
“You said you would not let an outsider’s child take control of the Aranda name.”
Alejandro frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Esther’s lips tightened.
“Nothing.”
Rafael whispered, “It means the trust.”
Alejandro turned.
“What trust?”
Esther’s voice became dangerous.
“Rafael.”
But his father looked at Alejandro.
“The family trust.”
Alejandro stared.
“I know about the family trust.”
“No.”
Rafael shook his head.
“You know what your mother wanted you to know.”
Esther stepped toward him.
“Enough.”
Rafael finally shouted.
“No.”
The sound startled everyone.
Rafael had spent most of his life speaking quietly.
He looked older than he had that morning.
Older and tired.
“You said nobody would be hurt.”
Esther’s face went completely still.
Alejandro felt cold.
He walked toward his father.
“What did she tell you?”
Rafael’s hands shook.
“She said Valeria needed to leave.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“She said once Valeria was gone, everything would remain stable.”
“What would remain stable?”
Rafael looked toward the large portrait above the fireplace.
It showed Alejandro’s late grandfather, Don Emilio Aranda.
Founder of the modern Aranda agricultural empire.
A man who had controlled the family until the day he died.
Rafael whispered, “Your grandfather changed his will.”
Alejandro looked at him.
“When?”
“Three months before he died.”
“That was five years ago.”
“Yes.”
“And nobody told me?”
Rafael’s eyes moved toward Esther.
“No.”
Alejandro followed his gaze.
Esther straightened.
“You were not ready.”
“For what?”
Rafael answered.
“For control of the company.”
Alejandro frowned.
“I already own forty percent.”
“Not full control.”
Rafael took a breath.
“Your grandfather placed another twenty-one percent into a restricted trust.”
Alejandro stared at him.
“Who gets it?”
Rafael looked toward Valeria’s stomach.
The answer became obvious before he said it.
“Your first child.”
Valeria closed her eyes.
Alejandro slowly turned toward his mother.
Esther said nothing.
Rafael continued.
“Until your first child is born, those voting shares remain under temporary administration.”
Alejandro’s voice dropped.
“Whose administration?”
Nobody needed to answer.
He looked at Esther.
“You.”
Her silence confirmed it.
Alejandro felt sick.
The entire nightmare suddenly had a shape.
A reason.
A number.
Twenty-one percent.
Mateo closed the medical folder.
Alejandro stared at his mother.
“You thought my baby would take the company away from you.”
Esther’s eyes hardened.
“I protected this family for thirty-seven years.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“You have no idea what I sacrificed.”
“What did you do to my wife?”
Esther shook her head.
“I did nothing.”
Mateo interrupted.
“Then somebody else in this house did.”
Alejandro looked at him.
“What do you mean?”
Mateo reached into the folder again.
“The most recent trace in Valeria’s blood is from less than twenty-four hours ago.”
Valeria frowned.
“That’s impossible.”
Mateo looked at her.
“Think carefully.”
“Yesterday I didn’t take anything.”
“No pills?”
“No.”
“No injections?”
“No.”
“No drink somebody specifically prepared for you?”
Valeria went silent.
Then her eyes widened.
Alejandro saw it.
“What?”
She looked toward the dining room.
“The tea.”
May you like
Esther’s face changed again.
Valeria whispered, “Your mother brought it to me herself.”
