Chapter 6 - THE ULTRASOUND THAT BELONGED TO SOMEONE ELSE
Clara entered through the garage carrying nothing.
That scared me more than luggage would have.
She walked into the nursery and stopped when she saw the open drawer.
“You went through my things.”
“Our things,” I said. “In our house. Inside the room for a baby you still haven’t proved exists.”
Her eyes landed on the prepaid phone.
For the first time all night, she looked genuinely afraid.
“Give me that.”
“No.”
She rushed forward.
Camila stepped between us. “Back up.”
Clara stared at her. “You’ve always hated me.”
“This is not about me.”
“No, it’s about all of you waiting for me to fail.”
I held up the ultrasound photo. “Who is M.R.?”
Silence.
“Marisol?”
Clara’s face answered before her mouth did.
“She helped me.”
“With what?”
“Pictures.”
“Of whose baby?”
Clara looked toward Sofia.
I moved my daughter behind me.
“Don’t look at her. Look at me.”
Clara sank into the rocking chair.
“Marisol is pregnant. She needed money.”
The words seemed to come from very far away.
“You paid a pregnant woman for ultrasound images?”
“She didn’t know what I was using them for.”
The prepaid phone buzzed again.
M: Clara, answer me. Brandon says tomorrow’s papers could make me part of this.
Camila read the name aloud.
“Brandon?”
I knew only one Brandon connected to us.
Brandon Hale, the attorney who handled my company contracts and had drafted the family estate update Clara had been pushing me to sign.
Tomorrow morning.
Nine o’clock.
My stomach turned.
Clara stood quickly. “Mateo, listen to me. The paperwork has nothing to do with this.”
“What paperwork?”
“You know what paperwork.”
“No. I know what you told me it was.”
She took another step.
“It protects the baby.”
I looked at the fake stomach on the dresser.
“What baby?”
Clara closed her eyes.
May you like
And finally said the words I had been waiting for all night.
“There isn’t one.”
