Chapter 9 - Dr. Paloma’s BargainPaloma entered a cooperation agreement.
Not immunity.
She had committed crimes.
She had signed false documents.
Administered drugs she knew were being misused.
Participated in births where children were removed from a mother who had not consented.
She would face consequences.
Her testimony still mattered.
Paloma explained how the system evolved.
The first time, Mateo approached Beatriz with what he described as a discreet surrogacy arrangement.
“Lupita has agreed spiritually,” he said.
Paloma asked for written consent.
Mateo provided it.
She did not verify it directly with Lupita.
That was the first failure.
After Isabella’s birth, Paloma saw Lupita screaming for her baby.
That was the moment she knew.
“What did you do?” the prosecutor asked.
“Nothing.”
Paloma began crying.
“Why?”
“Because Beatriz said if I exposed them, they would say I performed the procedure illegally. Which was true.”
“So you protected yourself.”
“Yes.”
Second pregnancy.
More money.
More sedation.
Paloma’s shame became routine.
By the third pregnancy, she had begun copying documents because she was considering confession.
“Why didn’t you?”
“I kept telling myself I needed one more piece.”
Inés understood that trap.
Evidence can become an excuse for delayed courage.
Then Paloma revealed something crucial.
Mateo had originally planned to use several women.
But Lupita conceived easily after the first insemination.
Healthy pregnancy.
Uncomplicated delivery.
No family members actively checking on her.
No outside employment.
No independent bank account.
No husband.
No children publicly acknowledged.
“She was ideal,” Paloma said.
The word nearly stopped the interview.
Ideal.
Everything Inés had observed—the repetition, the “miracles,” Beatriz’s confidence—came from that first successful exploitation.
Lupita was not chosen repeatedly by chance.
Success had turned her into a system.
Then Paloma added:
“Mateo said after the first birth, she was psychologically attached enough to Santa Clara that she would never leave.”
That statement mattered.
Because the prosecution still needed to show the scheme was not something that developed opportunistically after Lupita joined.
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The old candidate file suggested more.
And Part 10 proved it.
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