Chapter 8 - The Birth in the Storm
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Elena felt a heavy lump form in her throat. “Laura… there’s something else. In the audio recording from my watch… just before he shoved me… Alejandro said something terrible.”
Laura raised an eyebrow. “What did he say?”
“He said: ‘I’m not going to lose another family because of a woman who doesn't know how to obey.’” Elena’s voice cracked. “What did he mean by another family?”
On the screen, Laura’s face completely collapsed. She covered her mouth with both hands, a soft, strangled sob escaping her lips.
For a long moment, the only sound in the hospital room was the steady beep of Elena’s heart monitor.
“Laura?” Elena asked softly, terrifying answers swirling in her mind.
“I was four months pregnant when I left him, Elena,” Laura revealed, her voice dropping to a painful whisper. “He didn't just push me during an argument. He locked me in the guest room for two days without my phone. The stress… the physical trauma… I lost the baby on the floor of that room.”
Elena gasped, covering her mouth in sheer horror.
“That was the night I realized I had to run,” Laura wept. “I knew if I stayed, he would eventually kill me. I took the settlement money not to get rich, but to buy a plane ticket and pay for therapy.”
In the corner of the room, Rafael’s knuckles turned bone-white as he gripped the edge of the mahogany table so hard the wood groaned.
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“He lied to me,” Elena whispered, looking over at little Nicolás. “He told me you had an abortion because you hated children.”
“He flips the narrative so he is always the victim,” Laura said firmly. “Do not let him do it to you, Elena. Fight him with everything you have.”
