PART I: Truth Between the Lines
"The one named after my father."
The sentence fell, cold and sharp.
On the other end of the line, Catarina felt her heart freeze.
A breath. Then nothing.
Even the silence seemed to hold its breath.
"Althéa..."
Her voice trembled slightly, but she knew.
She knew it was all over.
"Tell me it's not true, whispered the young girl.
Tell me I misunderstood.
That my father didn't... that you and he, you..."
The words choked in her throat.
Catarina closed her eyes. Her fingers clenched the phone so tightly that they turned white.
"Althéa, listen to me..."
"Answer me!"
Her voice suddenly rose, broken.
Catarina took a slow breath, but no lie would come out.
She knew there was nothing left to save.
"It's true," she finally whispered.
Silence.
Long.
Unbearable.
"No... no, I don't believe you.
You're saying that to... to hurt me. Is that it?"
"I wish I could, Althea. I wish it were a lie."
A muffled sob came through the line.
Catarina felt her throat tighten even more.
"Since when?"
"September."
"September?!"
Her voice broke.
"All this time, you were looking at me...
telling me I was your best friend,
your one and only... and you..."
The words died away, swallowed up by a mixture of rage and disgust.
Catarina closed her eyes.
"I'm sorry."
"Sorry?! repeated Althea, her voice trembling.
Do you think that erases anything?"
Catarina didn't answer.
There was nothing to defend.
Nothing to explain.
"I loved you like a sister, Cat.
And him... he was all I had left of my family. And you..."
Her voice broke again.
Then, lower, almost a whisper:
"You stole both of them from me at the same time."
Catarina felt something inside her tear apart for good.
Part of her wanted to confess everything, to say that she hadn't planned it, that it had happened despite themselves, that every moment had hurt her as much as it had hurt him.
But what was the point?
"Althéa, if I could erase everything..."
"But you can't! Do you understand that? You can't!"
Anger gave way to pure despair.
Althéa's sobs almost drowned out her own.
"You should have left before.
You should have told me the truth."
"I wanted to protect you," Catarina whispered.
"Protect me? By sleeping with my father?"
The words came out harshly, violently, with no turning back.
Catarina closed her eyes, a tear sliding down her cheek.
"I loved him," she whispered.
On the other side, nothing.
Not a sound.
Just trembling breaths.
Then Althea's voice, low, unfamiliar:
"You were all I had.
And you took the only other person I had."
Catarina's breath caught in her throat.
A sharp click. The call was cut off.
She stood there, motionless, the phone still pressed to her ear.
Outside, the snow fell slowly, indifferent.
Silence filled the room.
She gently placed the phone back on the table.
Then, in a voice so low that even she could barely hear it:
"No, Althea. He took me.
And I never knew how to come back."