Chapter 5 - Rosa's Phone
Rosa answered after the third call.
When I said my name, she went silent.
I could hear traffic behind her.
Then a bus horn.
“Mrs. Ortega?”
“Mariana.”
Another pause.
“Is Camila with you?”
“Yes.”
Rosa began crying.
Not loudly.
The quiet kind of crying that comes from holding guilt too long.
“I am sorry.”
My hands tightened around the phone.
“For what?”
“I should have called you.”
I closed my eyes.
“Tell me.”
Rosa had worked in our home for almost two years.
She told me Carmen had changed slowly after Camila turned three.
At first, it was small things.
No dessert.
No cartoons.
No favorite toys.
Then the punishments became harsher.
If Camila cried for me, Carmen called her spoiled.
If she refused to nap, Carmen withheld snacks.
If she spilled milk, Carmen made her sit alone near the balcony door.
Then one afternoon, Carmen put the chair outside.
“For how long?”
“Ten minutes at first.”
Rosa's voice cracked.
“Then twenty.”
My stomach turned.
“Was Daniel there?”
“Sometimes.”
“And he allowed it?”
“He said his mother knew what she was doing.”
I stared through the hotel window at the city below.
I could barely hear my own voice.
“Why did you leave?”
“Because I opened the balcony door when Carmen told me not to.”
Rosa said Carmen screamed at her.
Valeria filmed part of the argument.
Daniel came home and accused Rosa of disrespecting his mother.
Three days later, Rosa was fired.
But the money for Rosa's salary never stopped leaving my account.
“Rosa, do you have proof?”
Silence.
Then she said something I had not expected.
“I have videos.”
My pulse jumped.
“What kind?”
“I started recording after Carmen told Camila that if she complained to you, you would stop loving her.”
I covered my mouth.
Rosa continued.
“I have pictures too.”
“How many?”
“A lot.”
She had never deleted them.
Not because she planned to blackmail anyone.
Because she had been afraid something worse would happen.
We met that afternoon.
Rosa arrived carrying an old Android phone wrapped in a scarf.
She placed it on the table between us.
“I never wanted to hurt your family.”
“You didn't.”
I pressed my palm against the phone.
“They did.”
The first video lasted forty-three seconds.
Carmen stood inside the kitchen.
Camila stood barefoot beside the table.
A plate of food sat less than two feet away.
Camila asked for a tortilla.
Carmen pushed the plate farther back.
Then she said the sentence that made Sofía stop the video.
“Your mother pays me to fix what she ruined.”
Sofía looked at me.
“Mariana.”
I couldn't speak.
She rewound the recording.
This time, I noticed something else.
May you like
Daniel's voice could be heard in the background.
He had been in the room.
