Teresa spun around. Her face, usually a mask of composure, crumbled into pure horror. All the blood drained from her skin, leaving her looking like a wax figure.
I pulled the oxygen mask away from my face. I smiled. It wasn’t a nice smile. It was a predator’s smile.
“Hi, honey,” I rasped. “Did I ruin the schedule?”
“Impossible,” Teresa whispered. “This is… impossible.”
“What’s impossible,” I said, my voice gaining strength with every word, “is how you thought you could sell my daughter and get away with it.”
“I… I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Teresa stammered, stepping back toward the door.
“Don’t lie, Teresa. It doesn’t suit you,” I said. “I heard about the insurance. I heard about Karla. I heard about the thirty days. I heard you call me a vegetable.”
Andrés was hyperventilating. “Lucía, baby, I can explain. It was grief. I was out of my mind with grief!”
“Grief?” I laughed, a dry, harsh sound. “Was it grief when you let your mistress wear my wedding dress? Was it grief when you negotiated the price for my second daughter?”
The bathroom door burst open. My father, a man of gentle nature, looked like he wanted to kill. My mother was sobbing.
At the same moment, the main door swung open. The police officers stepped in, followed by Ms. Castillo.
“Andrés Molina, Teresa Molina,” the officer announced, his voice booming. “You are under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder, fraud, and human trafficking.”
Teresa screamed. A high, animalistic sound. She lunged for the door, but the officer grabbed her arm. She thrashed, spitting curses, her mask of high-society elegance completely gone.
Andrés just sank to his knees. He looked at me, tears streaming down his face.
“Lucía, please…”
“Don’t speak to me,” I said. “You didn’t ask if I was okay when I was dying. Don’t ask me for mercy now.”
The trial was swift. The evidence was overwhelming: the recordings, the signed documents, the testimony of Dr. Martínez and the nurses.
I sat in the front row, flanked by my parents. I wore a red dress—bold, bright, alive.
I watched as the judge read the sentencing.
Teresa: Twenty years. Trafficking and conspiracy.
Andrés: Fifteen years. Accessory and fraud.
Karla: Five years. Complicity.