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012: The Exposure

Author: Monday Luisa
last update publish date: 2025-12-02 20:16:47

My phone won’t stop ringing.

I silence the seventh call from an unknown number and keep walking toward Café Zurich. It’s 7:45 PM. Fifteen minutes until I meet the woman who might destroy whatever is left between Mateo and me.

Another call. This time it’s a number I recognize. My mother.

I answer. “Mama…”

“What have you done?” Her voice cracks. “Elena, what have you done?”

I just know there is trouble. “What are you talking about?”

“It’s on the news. Your name. Your professor’s name. Everything.
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  • The Professor’s Canvas    41:

    I open my laptop. Pull up the MIT acceptance form. Cursor hovering over submit.Sofia appears with food. “Eat first. Then decide.”“I’ve already decided.”“Then eat to celebrate. Or eat to grieve. But eat.”I eat mechanically while Sofia packs my books. My research. My life into boxes.At 11:30 PM, I hit submit on the MIT form.Confirmation email arrives instantly. *Welcome to MIT. We look forward to your arrival Monday, January 6th.*Three weeks. I have three weeks to pack up four years in Barcelona. Say goodbye to everything.“Done?” Sofia asks.“Done.”“Good. Now you can actually rest.”But I can’t rest. Can’t sleep. I lie awake thinking about Mateo in his hospital bed. About my father in his grave. About the person I was four months ago who thought she had everything figured out.At 2 AM, my phone buzzes.Text from Mateo: *I lied.*I stare at the screen.Another text: *I don’t want this to be over.*My heart pounds.Another: *I know you accepted MIT. Isabella told me. And I know y

  • The Professor’s Canvas    40: The Truth

    I spend seventy-two hours at Mateo’s bedside while he stays comatose.Sofia brings me changes of clothes. My mother calls twice, says nothing useful both times. Isabella sends flowers with a card: *Fighting for him in every way I can.*The MIT offer ticks down. Forty-eight hours becomes twenty-four. Becomes twelve.“You need to decide,” Sofia says on the third morning. “The deadline is tonight.”“I can’t decide until he wakes up.”“What if he doesn’t wake up before midnight?”“Then I decide without him.”“And if he wakes up but doesn’t remember you?”I don’t answer because I don’t know.The doctor reduces his sedation at noon. Says he should wake within hours if he’s going to wake at all.I hold his hand and wait.At 3 PM, his fingers twitch.At 4 PM, his eyes flutter.At 4:37 PM, they open.“Mateo.” I’m leaning over him instantly. “Can you hear me?”His eyes track to my face. Confused. Searching.“Do you know who I am?” The question costs me everything.He blinks slowly. His mouth mo

  • The Professor’s Canvas    039:

    ~Elena’s POV~Patricia checks her phone. “The police want formal statements in the morning. From all of us. They’re charging Marina posthumously, apparently you can do that for conspiracy to commit murder. Your mother’s shooting will be ruled self-defense.”“And my father?”“His crimes died with him. Technically he was a victim of Marina’s conspiracy. The cameras he installed will be listed as coerced actions.” She pauses. “Your father’s reputation stays mostly intact. That was his final gift to you, taking the fall for Marina’s plan so you wouldn’t have to.”“He was still manipulating me. Even in death.”“Yes. But he was trying to protect you while doing it.” Patricia heads for the door. “I’ll be around if you need anything. Testifying. Evidence. Someone to explain all this to Mateo when he wakes up.”“If he wakes up.”“When.” Patricia echoes my earlier correction. “When he wakes up. Because men like Mateo Sandoval are too stubborn to die from something as mundane as a bullet wound.”

  • The Professor’s Canvas    Chapter 38: The Ex-Wife

    ~Elena’s POV~I shove past the doctor into Mateo’s room.“You can’t be in here…” A nurse reaches for me.“I’m not leaving him.” I’m at his bedside, grabbing his hand. The one without an IV. “Mateo, don’t you dare. We didn’t survive all of this for you to die now.”The machines scream. Flatline.“Clear!” The doctor charges the defibrillator.Mateo’s body convulses. The line stays flat.“Again. Clear!”Another shock. Still nothing.I’m squeezing his hand so hard I might break bones. “Come back. Please. Come back to me.”“Miss Vega, you need to step out…”“No.”Third shock. The monitor blips. Once. Twice. A rhythm establishes.“We’ve got him.” The doctor’s voice is a cautious relief. “Sinus rhythm. Stabilizing.”The machines settle into steady beeping. Mateo’s chest rises and falls with the ventilator.“What happened?” I’m still holding his hand.“Internal bleeding we missed. Damaged blood vessel finally gave out.” The doctor checks his vitals. “We need to take him back to surgery. Now.

  • The Professor’s Canvas    037: Settlement

    “What the hell happened here?”Patricia stands, shows her ID. “Patricia Sandoval. Private investigator. I have evidence of conspiracy, attempted murder, and fraud involving Marina Castillo and Antonio Vega. The shooting was self-defense. I have it all on recording.”She holds up a small device. Still recording.“She filmed everything?” Sofia whispers to me.“Everything,” Patricia confirms. “From the moment Marina walked in until now. Including her confession to murdering Antonio.”The paramedics lift Mateo onto a stretcher. His vitals are crashing.“We’re losing him!” one shouts. “We need to move!”They rush him out. I try to follow.Morales stops me. “You’re not going anywhere. You’re all staying until we sort this out.”“My boyfriend is dying…”“And two people are dead. Until I understand what happened, nobody leaves.”I watch through the window as the ambulance pulls away. Lights flashing, Mateo inside. Possibly dying.“He will make it,” Sofia says. She doesn’t sound convinced.Pat

  • The Professor’s Canvas    036: Impersonation

    ~Elena’s POV~Sofia bursts through the door. “I heard gunshots…” She stops, her eyes picks the scene. “What the fuck happened?”Behind her Mateo appears. “Elena, I followed you from the station. I needed to explain…” He sees Marina’s body. Goes white. “No. No, no, no…”“She tried to kill us,” I say before he can speak. “She was working with my father. Planning to steal your inheritance through a fake marriage between us.”“Marina?” Mateo is shaking his head. “That’s impossible. She has been my lawyer for years…”“She has been planning this for years.” I show him my father’s phone with all the messages. “She orchestrated everything Mateo. Your divorce, your move to Barcelona, us meeting. All of it.”He reads, face draining of color with each line.“And now she is dead,” Sofia says quietly. “So what happens now?”We all look at each other. Four people in a room with a body and a choice.“We call the police,” Mateo says. “Tell them the truth, well tell them it was self-defense. She threa

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