As if someone had ripped away not only my child, but a part of my soul.
— Stay with me… breathe… don’t fall asleep… — the nurse whispered, gripping my hand tightly.
I tried. I really did. But everything blurred. Voices faded. Faces disappeared.
The last thing I remember was the cold ceiling of the operating room and the doctor’s voice:
— Emergency surgery. Internal bleeding.
I woke up twelve hours later.
A white room. The smell of disinfectant. The steady beep of machines. And emptiness.
Instinctively, I placed my hand on my stomach.
It was flat.
Too flat.
— Where is… my baby? — I whispered.
The doctor lowered his eyes.
— We did everything we could… but the impact was too severe.
Those words shattered me.
I screamed.
Not from pain.
From despair.
Because the tiny heart inside me was no longer beating.
Two hours later, he walked in.
Judge Santiago Herrera.
Without his robe. Without authority. Without confidence.
Before me stood a broken man with red, tired eyes.
— Elena… forgive me… — he whispered.
— For what? — I asked coldly.
He sat beside me.
— Your mother… Maria Marquez… was my first love. I left to study. I never knew she was pregnant…
He pulled out an old photograph.
It showed a young woman wearing the same necklace I had worn in court.
— I gave it to her twenty years ago…
Everything suddenly made sense.
Dates.
City.
Names.
— Are you… my father? — I whispered.
He began to cry.
— Yes… And I allowed my daughter to be humiliated and destroyed…
He fell to his knees beside my bed.
A judge. On his knees.
— I will never forgive myself.
Three days later, Javier was arrested.
For domestic abuse.
For threats.
For attempted bribery.
For fraud.
Lucía was caught at the airport.
She tried to run.
She was charged with causing serious harm to a pregnant woman.
She faced up to twelve years in prison.
In handcuffs, she stared at me with hatred.
— You ruined my life! — she screamed.
I replied calmly:
— No. You ruined it yourself.
The trial lasted six months.
My father recused himself.
— I cannot judge those who destroyed my daughter’s life, — he said.
Another judge took over.
The verdict was harsh.
Javier — 7 years.
Lucía — 9 years.
No favors.
No connections.
No money.
Today, a year has passed.
I am learning to live again.
To breathe.
To smile.
To believe.
I started studying psychology to help women who stay silent out of fear.
My father is by my side.
He is trying to make up for lost time.
We are learning how to be a family.
Sometimes, at night, I still cry.
I think about the little heart that never got to see the world.
But I know it existed.
It loved me.
And it gave me strength.
If you are reading this and living in fear, pain, and humiliation — do not stay silent.
Silence kills.
Speak.
Leave.
Save yourself.
You deserve life.
You deserve love.
You deserve happiness.
Even if right now everything feels lost.
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