“I know enough,” Lucy replied. “I know she recognized her. I know Ines called her by name. And I know she said she had no family in that room.”
Thomas quietly closed the door behind her.
The click echoed.
I still had the ring in my hand.
It felt heavy now.
Ridiculous.
“Explain,” I said.
Valentina looked at me… then at Valeria… the babies… the ruined cake.
For the first time, she didn’t have an answer ready.
Lucy opened the folder.
“Ines came in three months ago,” she said. “Bleeding. Early labor. Head injury from an accident. The girl was with her—never left her side.”
Valeria lowered her head.
“I was in neonatal that night,” Lucy continued. “Your fiancée was at a hospital foundation meeting. When Ines saw her… she started crying.”
Valentina closed her eyes for a second.
“Not from pain,” Lucy said. “From relief.”
I turned to Valentina.
“She called her Vale,” Lucy added. “Not Valentina.”
Silence.
“Your sister?” I asked.
Valentina hesitated.
“Half-sister,” she said finally. “We hadn’t seen each other in years.”
That word hit harder than a lie.
Lucy didn’t let her take control.
“It’s not just that you didn’t recognize her,” she said. “It’s what you did after.”
She held up another paper.
“Ines went into surgery. Before they took her, she begged to see her daughter again. But security got an order. They removed Valeria from the hallway.”
Thomas spoke for the first time.
“I was there,” he said quietly. “I saw who gave that order.”
Valentina turned sharply.
“You don’t understand what was happening.”
“Then explain it,” I said. “Because right now it looks like you erased your dying sister.”
Valentina let out a dry laugh.
“You don’t know where I came from,” she said. “You don’t know what she and her mother did to my life.”
Lucy’s grip tightened on the folder.
“That doesn’t give you the right to falsify records.”
I took the paper.
Even without being a lawyer, I knew what I was looking at.
“Patient without family support present.
Minor not confirmed as direct relative.
Refer to social services.”
At the bottom—
Valentina’s signature.
Perfect. Elegant.
Like she’d approved flowers for an event.
Valeria looked up at me.
“They told me my mom left me,” she whispered. “But I heard her screaming my name.”
My jaw clenched.
Lucy kept going.
“Ines woke up once after surgery. Asked for her daughter. For the twins. For her sister. Your fiancée was in the room.”
“Stop,” Valentina said.
“No,” Lucy replied.