Victor couldn’t take his eyes off the skeleton’s left hand.
He was missing a phalanx.
The same small bone that Catalina had lost at seventeen, when a metal door crushed her finger at her grandmother’s house, was not broken.
It was complete.
Victor felt the floor disappear beneath his feet.
“No… it can’t be…” he stammered, bringing a hand to his mouth. “This isn’t Catherine.”
The impact was so brutal that for a moment no one reacted.
The funeral home employees stood motionless, still holding part of the skeleton.
Clara burst into tears.
And Dr. Valeria took a step back, her pallor unlike that of mourning.
It resembled fear.
“Mr. Victor, please, you’re in shock,” she said, trying to remain calm. “This isn’t the time to…”
“Shut up!” he roared, jumping to his feet. “My wife broke a bone in her finger. I was there. I took her to the hospital. This isn’t Catalina’s body!”
A thick murmur rippled through the room.
Their faces went from pain to horror.
The funeral director looked at her employees, confused.
“That’s not possible,” he whispered. “The remains were handed over with all the documentation.”
“Well, their documents are lying,” Victor spat. “And someone here knows why.”
His eyes were fixed on Valeria.
The doctor swallowed hard.
For the first time since she had arrived, she no longer resembled the serene woman who had sustained Luna during her worst nights.
He looked like a person cornered.
—Victor, don’t do this here —she murmured.
“Here?” he repeated, his voice breaking. “Here, in front of my dead daughter? In front of my other little girl? When did you want me to do it? When we buried a lie with them?”
Clara clung to his arm, trembling.
—Dad… what’s happening?
He hugged her while still looking at Valeria.
And then he remembered something.
Something small.
Something she had let slide in her grief.
Luna’s last night.
The way she squeezed his hand.
The way she wanted to speak, but she looked at the doctor first.
And then he just said:
—Forgive me, daddy.
At that moment, Victor felt his heart break in a different way.
Not just because of death.
But rather because of suspicion.
“You knew something,” he said quietly, looking at Valeria. “Luna knew something.”
Valeria closed her eyes.
For a few seconds she seemed to be fighting against herself.
Until finally his shoulders gave way.
“Get the girl out of here,” he said in a hoarse voice.
“No!” Clara shouted. “I’m not leaving!”
But an aunt picked her up and carried her to the hallway, while she cried calling for her father.
When the door closed, silence fell once more.
Valeria looked at Luna’s coffin.
Her eyes welled up with tears.
“I never wanted it to end like this,” she whispered.
—Then tell me how it started —Victor said.
The doctor took a few seconds to speak.
As if each word tore something away from him.
—Catalina did not die instantly that day of the accident.
Victor felt a sharp blow to his chest.
—What did you say?
—She arrived at the hospital alive. Very seriously ill. But alive.
The entire room froze.
“That’s impossible,” he murmured. “I was told there was nothing to be done.”
Valeria nodded slowly, tears now falling uncontrollably.
—That’s what they told you. But it wasn’t the whole truth.
Victor took a step forward.
His jaw was so tense it looked like it might break.
-Speaks.
Valeria lowered her gaze.
—Catalina had an extremely rare blood type. That night, a very powerful young woman was also admitted. The daughter of a businessman. She needed urgent intervention. There was pressure. Money. Orders. People pulling strings above everyone else.
The funeral home, the family members, everyone listened without daring to interrupt.
“Catalina was stabilized,” Valeria continued. “But when they saw her compatibility, they made her a donor without her real consent. They altered paperwork. They rushed decisions. They used her body as if it were already lost.”
Victor put a hand to his chest.
Not because of drama.
Purely due to physical pain.
-No no…
“When I got involved in the case, it was already too late,” Valeria said, crying. “I was a resident. I saw things. I heard things. I wanted to report it. They threatened me. They said they would ruin my career. That no one would believe me.”
“And my wife?” he asked, his voice turning to ash.
