Carolina explained that, after waking up in the public hospital, she had been transferred without her family’s consent to a small clinic on the outskirts of town.
At that moment I was too hurt to understand what was happening.
He had been told that his family had died in the fire.
Then they told her that no one had claimed her.
It took weeks before he could walk.
When he started insisting on calling home, a nurse showed him an old newspaper.
His own funeral was featured on the cover.
Carolina remembered seeing her mother dressed in black.
He remembered the photograph of Julieta next to the coffin.
For years, that image had haunted her.
“I thought I’d been misidentified and that it was too late,” he said. “I thought someone had found another body.”
Eduardo swallowed hard.
—There were remains.
-I know.
—The police said…
—The police said they were a match for someone of my age and build. The DNA wasn’t conclusive because of the condition of the body. You accepted the identification because you found my watch nearby.
Elena started crying again.
—It was your watch.
—Yes. Because I lost it inside the house.
Ramón turned the page.
Arce Servicios had received regular payments for almost a year after the fire.
These were not enormous amounts compared to the fortune of the Montes family.
But they were too regular to be a coincidence.
Álvaro looked at Julieta.
—Were you paying to keep her hidden?
—No.
Carolina watched her.
For the first time, he didn’t see anger in his sister.
He saw fear.
—Then tell us what those payments were for.
Julieta looked at her mother.
Then to his father.
Finally, Álvaro.
—You don’t understand what happened.
Carolina felt something tense up inside her.
For six years I had imagined that moment.
I had thought it would require a confession.
That I would scream.
Perhaps he wanted to see Juliet humiliated in front of everyone.
But when she had it in front of her, she just wanted a clear answer.
—Then explain it.
Julieta took a deep breath.
—I didn’t light the fire.
Eduardo slammed his palm against the table.
—But you were there!
-Yeah.
—And you forged your sister’s signature!
-Yeah.
Elena let out a sob.
Julieta closed her eyes.
—But I didn’t light the fire.
That was the first real crack in the story that Carolina had built.
—Who did it?
Julieta opened her eyes.
-Don’t know.
Carolina took a step forward.
—I smelled gasoline.
—Because someone had spilled it.
—You were in the office.
—Because I needed to get the documents out before Dad found out what I had done.
—And when I found you, you told me that the next day nobody would care about those papers.
Julieta put a hand to her forehead.
—I meant that I was going to return them.
Carolina let out an incredulous laugh.
—After forging my signature?
-Yeah.
—And then you locked me in?
—I didn’t close that door.
The response came in a strange way.
Carolina remained still.
She had spent six years remembering the sound of the door she couldn’t open.
I had never seen Julieta close it.
She had only found it locked after her sister left.
That did not absolve Juliet of anything.
He had forged documents.
He had hidden the fact that Carolina was still alive.
I had paid the clinic.
But Carolina realized that she was mixing proven facts with a conclusion she had never been able to prove.
Ramón intervened.
—There is someone else connected to Arce Servicios.
He took a photograph.
Eduardo took it.
A middle-aged man appeared shaking hands with the company’s founder.
Carolina’s father remained motionless.
—Santiago.
Santiago Llorente had been the financial director of the Montes family for twelve years.
He was also the man who, after the fire, had handled the insurance, the properties, and almost all the paperwork related to Carolina’s death.
He had died of a heart attack two years earlier.
Elena seemed confused.
—What does Santiago have to do with this?
Carolina responded.
-A lot.
During her recovery, Carolina had managed to escape from the clinic thanks to a nurse named Teresa, who suspected that something was wrong.
Teresa had helped her get to the home of a cousin of hers outside of Madrid.
Carolina did not return to her family immediately.
She had severe scarring, could barely sleep, and was convinced that someone in her own home had tried to kill her.
Above all, he knew that Julieta had been in that clinic.
That was enough to keep her away.
Years later, Teresa died.
Among his belongings, his daughter found a box with documents and an old appointment book from the clinic.
That’s where the visitors appeared.
One of them was that of “Julia Montez”.
