“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.
“She begged her not to separate the children. Left the pendant for Valeria if she didn’t make it.”
Valeria clutched it tighter.
“You didn’t give it to her,” I said.
Valentina lowered her eyes.
“No.”
“How did she get it?” I asked.
Thomas answered.
“I gave it to her.”
We all turned.
“I saw it sitting on the nurse’s desk,” he said. “And I saw the truth being pocketed.”
Valentina didn’t deny it.
“I found the girl later,” he said. “Gave it to her. Told her not to let go.”
Valeria started crying silently.
I lifted a bottle to one of the babies—just to do something.
“Why?” I asked Valentina quietly. “Why leave an eight-year-old alone with two newborns?”
She leaned against the couch.
“Because Ines always ruined everything,” she said.
No one spoke.
“She showed up out of nowhere when my life was finally perfect. My name, my career, this wedding—everything I built. If I acknowledged her… all of it would come out.”