Chapter 3 — The Birthday Video
Valeria sat alone in the garden, unable to hear every word inside the house.
But she heard enough.
Then her phone vibrated.
A message from her father.
Come inside. It's over.
Her legs trembled as she walked back through the sliding glass doors.
The birthday decorations suddenly looked absurd.
Pink balloons.
Wrapped presents.
The untouched cake.
A celebration built on lies.
Inside the dining room, another investigator connected a laptop to the television hanging above the fireplace.
Julián frowned.
"What is this?"
The screen lit up.
Security footage.
Not from Ernesto.
From Julián's own smart home system.
He had installed cameras throughout the house to monitor Valeria.
Every hallway.
Every entrance.
Every living space.
He never realized the recordings were automatically backed up to cloud storage.
The first video showed Julián grabbing Valeria by the throat during an argument.
The second captured him slapping her hard enough to send her crashing into a kitchen cabinet.
The third showed Ofelia standing nearby.
She didn't stop him.
Instead, she calmly handed her son an ice pack.
Then she looked directly at Valeria.
"If anyone asks..."
"...you slipped."
Gasps echoed throughout the room.
One elderly guest quietly covered her mouth.
Another woman began crying.
Valeria stared at the screen, unable to breathe.
She had lived those moments.
Seeing them through someone else's eyes made them even more horrifying.
Julián lunged toward the television.
"You can't use those recordings!"
An investigator intercepted him before he reached it.
Another officer calmly placed handcuffs on his wrists.
The click of metal echoed louder than any scream.
May you like
For the first time in months...
Valeria watched her husband lose control instead of herself.
