But the person who haunted my dreams wasn’t Mateo. It was the woman in the orange jumpsuit sitting in the back: Aunt Patricia.
The Evidence of Betrayal
The trial centered on the contents of the “calming” tea. The lab results had come back months ago, and the testimony of the toxicologist was a blur of long, scientific names for substances that should never be near a pregnant child.
“The defendant, Patricia Gomez, systematically administered abortifacients under the guise of familial care,” the prosecutor announced, his voice echoing.
I looked at my mother. She was weeping silently, her face buried in my father’s shoulder. To lose a sister and a daughter’s trust in the same breath was a wound that hadn’t begun to scab. My father’s eyes were fixed on the judge, his jaw set so tight I thought his teeth might break. He had spent the last year working double shifts at the warehouse to pay for the lawyers, determined that justice wouldn’t be another thing the wealthy could buy.
When it was my turn to speak, I didn’t look at the judge. I looked at the back of the room, where Lucia sat. She had become my shadow, my mentor, and my strength.
“Valeria,” the defense attorney said, standing up. He was a man with a silver tongue and a shark’s smile. “Isn’t it true that you were overwhelmed? That you told your aunt you didn’t want this baby?”
“No,” I said, my voice surprisingly steady. “I told her I was scared. There is a difference between being afraid and being a murderer.”
A gasp rippled through the gallery. Mrs. Rebeca flinched as if I’d struck her.
“I was fifteen,” I continued, looking directly at Mateo now. “I trusted the person who made my tea. I trusted the boy who said he loved me. I was a child. But the life inside me? It was never a ‘problem’ to be solved with poison and envelopes of cash. It was my future.”
The Verdict of the Heart
The legal battle lasted three grueling weeks. In the end, the evidence provided by Mr. Rivas—the father who chose his conscience over his family’s “reputation”—was the final nail in the coffin.
Aunt Patricia was sentenced to eight years for child endangerment and the illegal administration of controlled substances.
