Chapter 2 - THE HUSBAND WHO ARRIVED TOO LATE
Mateo woke at eleven in the morning with a splitting headache and Valeria's hair scattered across his pillow.
Sunlight poured through the curtains.
His phone was charging beside the bed.
When he switched it on, dozens of notifications appeared.
Missed calls.
Messages.
Voicemails.
He laughed at first.
Camila had probably sent another long message about his behavior.
Then he noticed the first message from his house manager.
"Mr. Mateo, please contact the hospital immediately. Mrs. Camila has been admitted following a serious accident."
The smile vanished from his face.
He called the house manager.
"What accident?"
"She fell down the staircase, sir. Mr. Alejandro Reyes took her to the hospital."
Mateo sat upright.
"Who?"
"Mr. Reyes. He arrived with doctors and security."
"Why was Alejandro at my house?"
"I don't know, sir. Your wife called him."
Mateo stared at the phone.
Camila had called Alejandro.
The one man she had promised never to contact again.
His first emotion wasn't fear for his wife.
It was rage.
"Put the guards on the phone."
"They're being questioned by the police."
Mateo froze.
"The police?"
"Yes, sir. They're investigating the incident."
He ended the call and immediately dialed the hospital.
A nurse confirmed that Camila was alive but not yet able to receive visitors.
Then he asked about the baby.
There was a pause.
"Your son was delivered prematurely. He's receiving specialized care."
Mateo felt the room tilt.
His son.
His heir.
His future.
For a moment, guilt pierced through his arrogance.
Then Valeria walked into the bedroom wearing one of his shirts.
"What's wrong?"
"Camila fell down the stairs."
Valeria's face changed, but only briefly.
"Is she dead?"
Mateo stared at her.
"No."
"Then why are you looking at me like that?"
"Because our son was born prematurely."
Valeria folded her arms.
"Your son? You mean the baby you keep saying is going to complicate everything?"
Mateo stood.
"Don't talk about him like that."
She laughed bitterly.
"Yesterday, you told me you couldn't wait to get away from your wife. Now you're suddenly pretending to be a devoted husband?"
He grabbed his clothes.
"I'm going to the hospital."
"Fine. But don't expect me to sit around waiting while you play family."
Mateo ignored her.
Twenty minutes later, he arrived at the hospital and found Alejandro standing near the intensive care unit.
The sight of his former friend immediately ignited his anger.
"You!"
Alejandro turned slowly.
"Mateo."
"What the hell are you doing here?"
"Your wife called me for help."
"You had no right to enter my house."
Alejandro stepped closer.
"Your wife was unconscious on the floor, bleeding, and carrying your child. Your security guards refused to open the gate. I did what you should have done."
Mateo's jaw tightened.
"Stay away from my family."
Alejandro looked at him with undisguised contempt.
"Your family? Interesting. You weren't available when your wife needed you."
Mateo grabbed Alejandro's jacket.
"Listen to me, you arrogant—"
Two hospital security officers immediately intervened.
Alejandro didn't resist.
He simply looked Mateo in the eyes.
"Before you threaten me again, check your phone. Your wife called you seventeen times."
Mateo released him.
For the first time, the number felt real.
Seventeen.
He remembered rejecting calls at the club, laughing as Valeria mocked Camila's supposed neediness.
He remembered switching on airplane mode.
He remembered raising his glass.
The hospital suddenly seemed unbearably quiet.
"Can I see her?" he asked.
Alejandro stepped aside.
"That's her doctor's decision."
"I'm her husband!"
"Then you should have acted like one when it mattered."
Mateo pushed past him and approached the nurse's station.
After several minutes of arguing, he was permitted to see Camila briefly.
He entered the room expecting anger, tears, accusations.
Instead, he found a woman who looked almost unrecognizable beneath the medical equipment.
He approached her bed.
"Camila?"
No response.
He touched her hand.
"I'm here, sweetheart."
A monitor beeped steadily.
He swallowed.
"I didn't know."
The words sounded pathetic even to him.
He looked at the small photograph beside her bed. It showed Camila smiling at a beach, one hand resting on her pregnant stomach.
She had sent him that photograph three weeks earlier.
He had never replied.
A nurse entered.
"Mr. Mateo, visiting time is over."
"Just five more minutes."
"I'm sorry."
He turned toward the door, then noticed a small plastic bag on a nearby counter.
Inside was Camila's cracked phone.
A paper label listed the seventeen rejected calls.
Beside them was a note from the emergency team.
"Patient repeatedly attempted to contact spouse before calling emergency contact."
Mateo's throat tightened.
For the first time, he understood that Camila hadn't simply been calling him.
She had been trusting him.
And he had rejected that trust every single time.
As he left the room, Alejandro was waiting.
"Who is the emergency contact?" Mateo demanded.
"I was."
"Why?"
"Because years ago, Camila told me that if she ever needed help and couldn't reach you, she knew I'd answer."
Mateo felt the words strike harder than a punch.
Alejandro continued.
"She didn't call me because she wanted to hurt you. She called because she was afraid she was dying."
Mateo looked away.
Behind them, the intensive care unit doors closed.
May you like
And for the first time in his life, Mateo realized that money could buy almost anything.
Except the chance to answer a phone call that would never come again.
