Chapter 2: The Night Before They Took Her
I told Mama to stay where she was.
She nodded like a child who'd been corrected too many times to argue.
Rafael followed me into the kitchen.
Bianca was two steps behind him.
"Put the phone down," he said.
"You're overreacting."
"Cora didn't leave." I set the medicine box on the counter.
"You had her removed."
"She was getting old.
She couldn't manage Mama anymore."
"Then why is Mama's name not on that prescription?" I turned the box so he could read it.
"Cora Mendoza.
Patient number.
Admission date.
The same week you told me Cora quit."
Bianca stepped forward.
"Cora had her own health problems.
That's not our responsibility."
"You used Mama's account to admit her somewhere and you put Cora's name on the paperwork."
Nobody denied it.
Rafael set the mug down slowly.
"You need to be careful about what you're accusing us of."
"I need to meet Daniel in person.
Tonight."
That's when Bianca's composure cracked — just slightly.
Her hand moved to the bracelet on her wrist and turned it once, the way people touch something they're not sure belongs to them.
She knew I'd seen it.
"That bracelet was a gift," she said quickly.
"Mama gave it to me."
I didn't answer her.
I was already thinking about the video.
About what Cora had seen inside this house for nineteen months.
About why she'd made Daniel promise to hand it only to me.
And about one other thing — something Daniel had said just before I hung up.
*"There's a second recording.
Cora made it the night before they took her."*
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What Cora recorded the night before she disappeared from that house will change everything Andrea thought she knew.
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