Treacherous Impulses: Day 19

Word Count: 114,016

Summary of Events:

Hilton got to be worried in Salto, being as he hadn't heard back from Mackenzie as to where the kidnappers had gone. Mackenzie watched as Líliana and some of her men tortured Dr. Haner with hot sauce, and foiled their attempts to do the same to her. Hilton got some advice on where to look from an old woman, and dropped off the money he'd offered her in thanks off at the local Catholic church as per her request, before making for Rivera. Mackenzie watched Líliana talk to a picture for a long time before Líliana explained how she knew Dr. Haner, and the romance they'd shared . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

""He told me he couldn't bring me to America, but he would come and visit me," Líliana went on. "I was content. But then I was terrified, horrified even: he'd left me with a child. A young life within. My parents hated him, but once the initial fear passed I grew excited, I was going to bear the child of the man I had loved so. Surely that would mean he would return to me, marry me, bring me to America, and we would be a beautiful family.". . 

. . . "I decided to keep it a secret from him until the child was born," Líliana said. "And so I carried the child, and on the eighth of June I gave birth to my daughter: Alejandra Briann Haner-Nuño."

She turned the picture around to reveal a colour image of a small child with dark hair, light brown eyes, and skin the lightly tanned shade that both Mackenzie and Líliana shared. She was a beautiful and lively child whom Mackenzie thought took much more after her mother than her father.

"I then wrote Brian and told him," Líliana continued. "His words were happy which he sent back, along with a bag of powder. He told me to add the powder to her milk, and it would make her stronger and healthier."

Contempt was strong on her words now. Hatred and venom. Mackenzie almost thought that she should plug her ears, lest she end up being poisoned by the words.

"Naïve and foolish, I did," Líliana spat. "Almost instantly my daughter started to fail, getting weaker, so we gave her more. Then I laid her down for a nap and she never woke."

Tears started down Líliana's cheeks again, and Mackenzie felt warmth and moisture coming to her own eyes — but she quickly blinked it away.

"I didn't understand, I didn't know why my daughter had been stolen from me," Líliana went on, her voice trembling. "I felt it was what Brian had sent me, and so I held onto it, and I waited until finally I was able to get someone to tell me what it was. It was a poison."

Mackenzie glanced past Líliana at Dr. Haner. She couldn't imagine him doing such a thing, he seemed a little too stupid to come up with something like that.

"Brian murdered our daughter," Líliana said, bringing Mackenzie's gaze back to her and her expression of pure fury and rage.

To think that Dr. Haner would do such a thing left Mackenzie's insides twisted. She had no idea what to think. Líliana was supposed to be the bad person harming an innocent man. But Dr. Haner was far from innocent, so far from innocent Mackenzie had no idea why she'd embarked on this whole adventure."