Chapter 9 - CAMILA'S TEST
Mariana stared at the test.
Camila stared at the floor.
“I didn’t know where else to go.”
“That is a terrible reason to come here.”
“I know.”
“Does Arturo know?”
“No.”
“Is it his?”
Camila’s head snapped up.
“Yes.”
Mariana regretted the question.
“Sorry.”
“No, you’re not.”
Camila was right.
Mariana stepped aside anyway.
They sat in the kitchen.
The same kitchen where Arturo had kissed Mariana goodbye before his fake Monterrey trip.
Camila started laughing.
“I imagined telling him in some stupid restaurant.”
Mariana poured water.
“Life has poor timing.”
Camila looked at her.
“Do you hate me?”
“Yes.”
The answer surprised both of them.
Mariana continued.
“Not every minute.”
Camila nodded.
“That’s fair.”
She had stopped cooperating with Arturo entirely.
Her employer had suspended her pending investigation into undisclosed gifts and conflicts of interest.
She might lose her career.
The pregnancy did not erase any of that.
Camila called Arturo from Mariana’s kitchen.
He answered immediately.
“I knew you’d come back.”
“I’m pregnant.”
Silence.
Then:
“Are you sure it’s mine?”
Camila closed her eyes.
Mariana looked away.
Arturo began talking about lawyers, timing, and “options.”
Camila interrupted.
“I didn’t call for permission.”
She hung up.
Her hands shook.
Mariana pushed the water closer.
Camila whispered, “I thought he loved me.”
Mariana said nothing.
Some sentences did not need correction.
The next morning, Arturo’s attorney filed an emergency petition claiming Mariana had unlawfully accessed confidential business material and orchestrated his professional suspension.
Most claims were weak.
One was not.
Mariana had secretly recorded a conversation in Arturo’s home office while he spoke with Héctor.
Her attorney had warned her not to do it.
She had done it anyway.
The recording contained useful evidence.
It might also have been obtained unlawfully.
Octavio stared at her.
“You told me you had documents.”
“I did.”
“You did not tell me about this recording.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because you would have told me not to use it.”
“I would have told you not to make it.”
Mariana looked down.
Another mistake.
Her own.
Then Octavio said:
“And Arturo knows exactly which recording it is.”
Because on that recording, another person could be heard in the room.
May you like
Sergio Molina.
