THE CAMERA THAT YOU SHOULDN’T LOOK AT
A story of family betrayal, lies, secrets, revenge and justice.
CHAPTER 1. LUCÍA’S TWO SLAPS
The first slap slammed like a shot in the living room.
The second was even more violent.
Don Ernesto did not understand what was happening until Lucía fell to the ground and began to scream.
“Help! Someone help me! Your father assaulted me! »
Three seconds earlier, this woman had been standing in front of him, looking at him with a coldness he had never known her to be.
She had first gripped the neckline of her burgundy dress.
Then she had pulled violently on the fabric, exposing her shoulders and making her dress a mess.
And before Don Ernesto could react, she had slapped herself twice on the left cheek.
With his own hand.
Deliberately.
Now she was lying on the carpet, crying as if she had just been assaulted.
Don Ernesto, who was seventy years old, remained motionless by the sofa.
His hands were shaking.
“Lucía… What the hell are you doing? »
She did not answer.
She just looked at him for a moment.
And he saw something that made his blood run cold.
Lucía wasn’t really crying.
His eyes were dry.
But when she heard footsteps approaching in the hallway, her expression changed immediately.
“Javier! Please help me! »
The door of the drawing-room opened abruptly.
Javier enters the courant.
At thirty-three, he was a robust man, broad-shouldered and impulsive.
He was wearing a navy blue polo shirt and dark jeans.
He froze when he saw his wife on the ground.
Her dress in disorder.
His cheek reddened.
Her father standing next to her.
“What happened here?”
Lucía reached out a hand to him.
“Your father tried to hurt me!”
“That’s not true! Don Ernesto exclaimed. Javier, listen to me! She has herself… »
He could not finish his sentence.
Javier walked through the living room with a fury he had never shown in front of his father.
“What the hell did you do to my wife?!”
“My son, please!”
The punch came before Don Ernesto could defend himself.
A sharp blow to the jaw.
The old man’s dentures were thrown out of his mouth and fell to the carpet with a strange noise.
Don Ernesto lost his balance.
He bumped into a small side table before collapsing onto the cream-colored couch.
For a second, no one spoke.
The old man put a hand to his jaw.
He looked at his son.
There was no anger in his eyes.
There was something much worse.
A disappointment so deep that Javier felt a pain in his chest.
“Javier… murmured his father. Did you really hit your own father? »
Javier was breathing hard.
His fist was still clenched.
“Never touch Lucía again.”
Don Ernesto lowered his eyes.
“I raised you for thirty-three years.”
His voice broke.
“And you didn’t even let me explain myself.”
From the ground, Lucía watched the two men.
For the first time, his anguish seemed genuine.
Not because she felt remorse.
But because Javier hadn’t reacted exactly as she had planned.
She wanted her husband to kick the old man out of the house.
She wanted an argument.
A threat.
A definitive break.
But she hadn’t foreseen this punch.
Nor the dentures abandoned on the carpet.
Nor the way Don Ernesto now looked at his son.
“Honey… she murmured.
Javier didn’t answer.
He continued to look at his father.
Suddenly, something caught his attention.
A small green light, in the upper corner of the living room.
The surveillance camera.
She had been there for months.
Discreet and white, it was located above a shelf.
Javier had bought it after several pieces of jewelry belonging to his mother disappeared.
He had almost forgotten about it.
Until this moment.
He raised his head.
“Wait a minute… »
Lucía retint son souffle.
Javier pointed to the device.
“The camera.”
His father also looked up.
“Yes, my son.”
Javier is tourna vers Lucía.
“Everything had to be recorded.”
The young woman sat up abruptly.
“What?”
“We can look at what happened.”
Javier took a step towards the hallway, where they kept the tablet connected to the system.
Lucía jumped to her feet.
She ran after him.
She grabbed his arm with both hands.
“Honey, don’t look at that camera!”
Javier stopped.
He looked at her, stunned.
“Why?”
She tightened her fingers around his forearm.
“Please trust me.”
“Lucía, let go of me.”
“No! Don’t look at her! »
Javier frowned.
Something didn’t add up.
His wife had just accused her father of assaulting her.
So why was she trying to prevent him from examining the only evidence capable of confirming his accusations?
“What are you hiding from me?”
Lucía opened her mouth.
