She gave the exact address she’d read on the building’s facade. They assured her two patrol cars were on their way. She wasn’t going to wait outside. Not while that woman had a syringe near her daughter.
Elena took two steps back, gathered momentum, and kicked the metal side door with all the force her adrenaline and instinct could muster. The crash was deafening. The door gave way and slammed against the interior wall.
Everyone in the room jumped. Sofia was the first to react.
“Mom!” cried the little girl, jumping out of her chair and running towards her with tears in her eyes.
Elena fell to her knees and wrapped her in her arms, pressing her against her chest, feeling her daughter’s heart beat at a terrifying speed.
Mateo stood frozen in the center of the makeshift clinic. The color drained from his face completely. His eyes widened in disbelief, unable to process how the woman he thought he had left at home was now standing before him, shattering his perfect plan.
“What… what are you doing here?” he stammered, trying to regain his composure, but his voice tre:mbled. “You’re crazy, Elena. Did you follow me?”
Elena stood up slowly, still holding Sofia’s hand. Her gaze was cold, de:adly.
—I’ve come to take my daughter away from you.
The supposed specialist in the pink uniform stood behind the desk, visibly tense, trying to maintain a professional appearance.
—Ma’am, I’m going to ask you to calm down. You can’t just barge into these premises like this. We’re carrying out a procedure authorized by the legal guardian present. Your husband has explained his emotional state to us and…
“Shut up,” Elena interrupted, her voice so firm it echoed off the peeling walls. “This man isn’t my daughter’s legal guardian. He’s her stepfather. And you’re about to face charges for attempted unlawful deprivation of liberty of a minor with falsified documents. I have everything recorded. The police will be here in a minute.”
The pen the woman was holding fell to the floor.
Mateo took one step toward Elena, raising his hands in a gesture of apparent surrender, instantly changing his strategy. He wanted to use that conciliatory voice that had worked so well for him in the past.
“My love, please, you’re misunderstanding everything. You’re in the middle of a crisis, just like I explained to the doctor. Sofia has serious adjustment problems; she’s destroying our marriage. I only came to ask for an evaluation. It’s for the good of the family.”
“Don’t you dare take one more step,” Elena warned him, pulling out her phone and showing him the lit screen. “I heard you, Mateo. I heard every damn word from the trunk of the car. I heard you manipulating my four-year-old daughter, telling her that locking her up was the cure for my supposed problems. You’re not trying to help anyone. You want to get rid of her because she’s in your way.”
Sofia, hidden behind her mother’s leg, sobbed loudly.
—He told me that if I didn’t come, you would d1e of sadness because of me,
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