Antonio sped back to the hospital and quickly ran to the family room, which was empty, no one was there, he reacted with a jolt, she was in the room!
Kimberly is getting worse?
Without time to think about it, he turned quickly to go to the next door, and the moment he pushed the door open, he could already hear Kimberly’s voice, a gurgle from her throat, from her chest: the
-Oh! Oh! Oh!
In the room are Marisa, Katarina, the caregiver and the doctor attending Kimberly.
Marisa and Katarina burst into tears.
As if sensing something, Kimberly strained to look sideways at the door, the growl from her mouth louder, seemingly excited….
Marisa saw Antonio and grabbed her husband’s hand, crying as she said.
-Kimberly, Antonio is back, he’s back….
The doctor strides over, puts a hand on his arm, looks at the faint mark of the slap on his face and, without asking, speaks forcefully.
-Back to the light, there is no point in resuscitating, he must have something to tell you, send him for the last time -?
Said the doctor, greeting the caregiver and retiring together.
The last moments are reserved for the family.
Antonio’s heart sinks hard….
Although I knew this day would come, when it did, it was still a bit overwhelming and my feet weighed like lead….
Katarina’s eyes were swollen from crying and she looked away from him….
Father still thinks of seeing him even now on his deathbed….
She believed her father hated him, but his reaction was less like hatred and more like a desperate need to see his own son, whom he had never met….
Antonio looked into Kimberly’s cloudy, wet eyes and stepped forward with extraordinarily mixed emotions….
At last he knew it was his blood and his bone…..
Would he hate himself?
…
Himself hoarding his favorite daughter, knowing it’s wrong, and dragging her down with him?
Was he trying to get rid of Katarina?
No, no…
Without Katarina, he doesn’t know what the point of living is….
A few steps away, seemingly a long, long walk, and seemingly only a few seconds, he stopped next to Katarina, leaned down, and as naturally, as he had done countless times before, and seemingly in a different way, shouted out
-Daddy…
This daddy, no longer screaming with Katarina, was no longer daddy in the father-in-law sense….
Kimberly’s tears rolled, she clearly had a thousand words, but she couldn’t say them again, she looked extraordinarily pained, seeing Marisa’s heart pounding in her chest….
-Kimberly, calm down, do you still have something on your mind?
Antonio calmed down first, looked at Marisa and Katarina, clenched his fists and said seriously.
-Dad, I will take all the shares of the Carballo Group and give them back to Katarina…..
-Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!
Kimberly instantly struggled more excitedly, moving her whole body and shaking her head hard….
Katarina knew that this was not this, that this was not her father’s intention, that she had communicated these issues to him first before her mother came, and that the reactions he was giving her were all resistant…..
Antonio continued.
-I’ll be good and obedient to mom with Katarina, don’t worry…..
Kimberly pauses for a few seconds and then continues to struggle to show resistance….
Antonio’s heart skipped a beat as he looked into her wet eyes and spoke shyly.
-I will love Katarina for the rest of my life, I will protect her, I will love her and I will never let her down…..
Kimberly instantly fell silent, looking relieved as she exhaled a sigh of disgust…..
Katarina tilted her head to one side, tears slipping down her face again….
Why…
Dad you know everything and you still want me to stay with him….
Feeling her hand being grabbed, Katarina looked down and discovered that it was actually her father holding her hand….
-Daddy…
Kimberly looks at Antonio and lifts her other hand with all her might….
Antonio was quick to hold out his hand….
Kimberly had warmth in her eyes and, little by little, she moved Antonio’s hand, to her daughter’s, and then over her….
It was the last thing she did on her deathbed, handing Katarina, once again, over to him…..
Katarina is more surprised than she thinks she is….
Antonio squeezed Katarina’s hand tightly and looked at Kimberly with steady eyes and an unmistakably serious tone of assurance.
-Dad, I will, don’t worry.
-Beep…
The cardiograph beeps to indicate that the patient has stopped…..
Kimberly’s hand came to rest on the white sheets….
The expression on her face was serene, the corners of her lips still turned up….
Marisa threw herself on top of Kimberly and collapsed….
…
Micaela had no idea that the first news she would receive upon her return to Teladia would be the sad news that Kimberly had passed away….
Kimberly’s funeral was a low-key and somewhat rushed event, but even so a steady stream of people came to pay their respects, all of them prominent figures in Teladia.
The entire room, silent and heavy.
Marisa fainted several times and was sent home.
Katarina, dressed all in black, looked at her father in his glass coffin, dressed in decent clothes, calm as if he were asleep, with the corners of his lips still turned upturned, as if he no longer had any regrets and was going away happy….
The guests had to approach in orderly fashion to send flowers and say goodbye for the last time, looking at Kimberly’s smile and whispering.
-Mr. Martinez thought there would be no regrets.
-Mr. Martinez is actually very relieved that his son-in-law did everything he could for the Carballo Group and stabilized the Carballo Group’s stock despite the circumstances.
-Yes, he was sick for a long time and the few times I visited him, I saw Antonio taking good care of him and being gentle and considerate with his daughter Katarina, such a son-in-law is rare.
-In her last days tormented by illness, Kimberly was relieved to see her daughter in a good home and heir to her career.
Katarina listened numbly to the whispers around her, ducking her head, not a single tear could fall, probably all dried from the night before….
Carlos, Micaela, Ernesto, Alba and Eric rushed over as soon as they got off the plane and as soon as they entered the lobby they felt the lingering atmosphere of grief.
Carlos and Ernesto took their girlfriends to deposit flowers and incense to Mr. Martinez and, after a series of formalities, the men stood next to Antonio, while Micaela and Alba stood next to Katarina with red eyes….
Micaela reached out and took Katarina’s cold hand between her own, silently giving her strength.
Katarina’s heart-rending screams over the phone yesterday still echo in my ears, but now that the tea is gone, Micaela and Alba are in a particularly heavy mood….
Tomas and Leonardo arrived next and, after incense and a moment of silence, the staff prepared to start carrying the body to the crematorium.
I wonder who suddenly said.
-Mr. Antonio and Mrs. Fabiana are here.