Chapter 2 - The Severance
The silence that followed Dr. Vance's words was louder than the alarms on the monitors.
My father stood up, his tall frame straightening with a quiet, terrifying dignity that I had only seen a few times in my life—usually when he was dealing with corrupt business partners or union bosses who tried to cheat his construction company. He didn't look at me, and he didn't look at Daniela. He walked straight down the corridor toward the vinyl bench where Gabriela sat.
Rubén saw him coming and stepped back, his hands rising in a gesture of respect, but my father ignored him entirely. He stopped two feet from Gabriela, looking down at his daughter.
"Dad," Gabriela whimpered, reaching up to touch his hand. "Please... you have to understand. The party was so expensive. I spent three weeks planning it. Mateo was so happy, and Emiliano... he just started complaining the moment the cake was brought out. I thought he was jealous. I thought he was trying to make everything about him, like he always does when Daniela—"
"Be quiet, Gabriela," my father said.
His voice wasn't loud. It was low, level, and carried a cold, absolute finality that made my sister’s words dry up in her throat.
"I raised you after your mother died," Don Arturo said, his silver eyebrows knitting together. "I paid for your college. I bought you the house you live in. I gave you everything because I thought that if I kept you safe, you would grow up to be a woman of character. A woman who understood that family is a duty, not an ornament for your social media."
"Dad, I love Emiliano—"
"You left a sick child in a freezing basement so you could eat cake," my father said, his voice dropping to a whisper that made the surrounding nurses stop to watch. "You took his phone so he couldn't call his father. You lied to my son when he called you. You are not a mother, Gabriela. You are a monster. And as of tonight, you are no longer my daughter."
"Dad, no!" Gabriela shrieked, standing up, her fingers catching the lapels of his woolen coat. "You can’t do this! The trust fund... we need that money! Rubén’s business is struggling, we have the mortgage on the Lake Forest house! You promised me!"
"The promise was made to a daughter," Don Arturo said, gently but firmly removing her hands from his coat. "Not to a woman who almost murdered my grandson for a Spider-Man piñata. Rubén, take your wife home. And if I see either of you at my house, or near my grandson, I will have the security team remove you."
Rubén didn't argue. He looked at my father, then at me, a deep, silent apology in his eyes, before he grabbed Gabriela by the elbow and began to pull her toward the exit.
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"Javier!" Gabriela screamed as she was dragged through the sliding glass doors, her voice echoing off the brick walls of the parking structure outside. "Javier, please! Tell him! We're family! You can't let him do this to me!"
I didn't look at her. I turned my back to the glass, walking into the quiet of Room 304, where my son was waiting.
