PART 2
Catalina stared at the bottle in Valeria's hand.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
The nurse's sobs echoed through the room.
Then Catalina crossed the distance between them and snatched the bottle.
"What is this?" she demanded.
The nurse shook her head violently.
"I... I don't know..."
"That's a lie."
Valeria's voice remained calm.
"The smell is wrong. Whatever is inside this bottle isn't part of any treatment."
The nurse's legs gave out.
She collapsed into a chair.
Bruno appeared in the doorway.
"What is all this noise?"
Catalina turned toward him.
For the first time, Valeria saw fear flash across his face.
Only for a second.
But it was there.
"The nurse was giving Diego an unregistered substance," Catalina said.
Bruno laughed.
"A village girl smells a bottle and suddenly she's a doctor?"
Nobody laughed with him.
Not even the nurse.
Catalina looked at the bottle.
Then at the trembling woman.
"Call the laboratory," she ordered.
The nurse began crying harder.
"Please..."
The room froze.
"Please don't send it."
Catalina's eyes narrowed.
"Why not?"
The nurse covered her face.
Because she knew she was trapped.
Three hours later the laboratory director arrived personally.
The results took less than an hour.
When he entered the mansion library, everyone stood.
Catalina.
Valeria.
Bruno.
The family doctor.
The nurse.
The director placed a report on the table.
"This substance contains powerful sedatives."
Silence.
"Enough to keep a patient unconscious for an extended period."
Catalina nearly dropped the paper.
Bruno stepped forward.
"There must be some mistake."
The director looked directly at him.
"There is no mistake."
Valeria watched Bruno carefully.
He wasn't shocked.
He was calculating.
That frightened her more.
The nurse finally broke.
"I didn't want to do it!"
Everyone turned.
Tears streamed down her face.
"He paid me!"
Bruno's expression shattered.
"You stupid woman."
Catalina staggered backward.
"No..."
The nurse pointed directly at Bruno.
"He said Diego would never wake up anyway. He said nobody would get hurt."
Catalina slapped Bruno across the face.
The crack echoed through the mansion.
"You did this to your brother?"
Bruno's eyes hardened.
For the first time, he stopped pretending.
"He was going to inherit everything."
The room went silent.
"And I was supposed to stand there and watch?"
Catalina looked as if her heart had stopped beating.
The police arrived before midnight.
But Bruno was gone.
He had disappeared.
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And before dawn, Diego's fingers moved for the first time in three months.
Valeria was the only one who saw it.
