I warned you not to get involved, Sara. Gonzalo, we can talk about this. It doesn’t have to end badly. It already did.

Things ended badly when you decided to threaten me. Aurelio says you’re a loose end, and loose ends get cut. He lunged at her.

Sara tried to defend herself, but Gonzalo was stronger. He hit her. She fell against the table. Her vision blurred. The last thing she saw before losing consciousness was her daughter.

Salomé stood in the hallway, her eyes wide with terror. Sara gathered her last bit of strength and signaled her. Silence.

Hide. Don’t make a sound. Salome obeyed. She hid in the hallway closet. The next thing Sara remembered was waking up in a moving car.

Martin was taking her somewhere safe. “My daughter,” she murmured. “My husband. We can’t go back,” Martin said.

“Gonalo thinks you’re dead. If you come back, he’ll finish killing you and kill the girl as a witness.”

Sara wept all the way to San Jerónimo, but a resolve was forming in her mind. Someday, when it was safe, she would return and destroy those who had stolen her life.

That day had arrived. The emergency hearing began at 10 a.m.

Eight hours remained until Ramiro’s scheduled execution. The courtroom was empty, except for those involved.

Judge Fernanda Torres, Dolores Medina, Sara Fuentes, Martín Reyes and a representative of the Public Ministry who had no connection with Aurelio Sánchez.

“Proceed, Attorney Medina,” the judge ordered. Dolores presented the evidence methodically. First, the DNA analysis confirming Sara’s identity.

Then the original will of the parents was compared with the one forged by Aurelio.

After the recording of the night of the attack, when the voices of Gonzalo and Aurelio filled the courtroom, the representative of the Public Ministry turned pale.

“This involves a sitting judge,” he murmured. “Do you have any idea what that means? It means an innocent man is hours away from being executed for a crime he didn’t commit.”

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