CHAPTER 4 — THE FIRST REAL CELEBRATION
CHAPTER 4 — THE FIRST REAL CELEBRATION
Nearly a year later, Valeria celebrated another birthday.
This time, the gathering was small.
Just family.
A few close friends.
Her father.
No elaborate decorations.
No forced smiles.
No pretending.
Ernesto handed her a small wrapped box.
She laughed.
"You know you don't have to bring me presents."
"I know."
"But I wanted to."
Inside was the steel wristwatch he had placed on the entry table that afternoon.
It had been carefully engraved.
For every new beginning.
Valeria looked at him.
"You kept it?"
He smiled.
"I wanted to remember the day my daughter chose not to stay silent."
She hugged him tightly.
Outside, children laughed in the park nearby.
Someone lit the birthday candles.
This time, everyone sang.
When it was time to make a wish, Valeria closed her eyes.
"What did you wish for?" a friend asked afterward.
She smiled.
"I don't need to tell you."
"Because it already came true."
The most important gift she received that year wasn't wrapped in paper.
It wasn't jewelry.
It wasn't money.
It was the chance to live without fear.
And as Ernesto watched his daughter laugh freely for the first time in years, he realized something every prosecutor eventually learns:
Justice cannot erase the past.
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But it can help create a future where the past no longer has the final word.
The End.
