“That’s great,” I replied calmly. “So you’re a ‘real man’ now, aren’t you? Congratulations. Now support your family with what you have in your pockets.”
And I hung up.
Five minutes later, Lidia, my ex-mother-in-law, called with her voice like a fallen queen:
—Ungrateful wretch! After everything we did for you!
That’s when I understood the ultimate truth:
They never loved me. They managed me. As if I were a bank account with legs.
“Mrs. Lidia,” I replied, “the only thing they did for me was teach me what kind of love I never want to accept again.”
And I hung up too.
VALERIA REACHED OUT TO ME… AND I DIDN’T DO WHAT SHE EXPECTED
Two days later, I received a message from an unknown number:
“Sofia, please. I need to talk to you. Mauricio told me the house was his… I didn’t know…”
We met at a discreet coffee shop, far from Polanco. She arrived without makeup, with dark circles under her eyes, her pride wounded.
And when she sat down across from me, I sensed something uncomfortable:
Valeria wasn’t the brains.
She was the tool.
Even so, that didn’t make her innocent. It just made her… human.
“She promised me that you knew…” she whispered. “That they were already separated.”
