Part 2…
“The boy everyone despised… was the only one who dared to defy death.”
The monitor’s long beep continued.
Continuous. Cold. Final.
No one spoke.
The doctors lowered their gaze.
A nurse slowly lifted the white sheet.
Camila collapsed, screaming her son’s name as if that could pull him back from death.
Don Ernesto remained still.
It was as if time itself had frozen inside him.
But amid that silence…
Mateo’s breathing was rapid.
Very rapid.
“No…” he whispered, shaking his head, “it can’t be…”
No one listened.
Or worse… no one wanted to listen.
The guard stepped toward him.
—Okay, that’s enough… get out of here.
A firm hand grabbed his arm.
But at that instant…
Mateo felt it.
He didn’t see it.
He didn’t think about it.
He felt it.
A tiny tremor.
Barely perceptible.
On the baby’s neck.
Exactly where his eyes had never left.
