—No, Lau. He wasn’t like this. He’s going to change.
Laura sighed, like someone who sees an inevitable blow coming.
Caridad didn’t know it, but Gerardo had already crossed a line. In a lounge in Chapultepec, amid expensive music and unforgiving lights, he met Liliana.
Liliana was everything Caridad wasn’t: loud, bright, and an expert at flattery. She would touch his arm when she spoke to him, laugh loudly at his jokes, and tell him “what a successful man” as if she were crowning him.
Gerardo felt important with her.
At first there were messages. Then dinners. After that, whole nights without him coming back. Caridad would call him and he wouldn’t answer. Caridad would wait and he would arrive smelling of someone else’s cologne and offering lame excuses.
Until one night, audacity sat down in their living room.
Gerardo opened the door and entered with Liliana as if nothing had happened.
Liliana looked around with a mocking smile, as if evaluating furniture.
“Charity,” Gerardo said coldly. “This is Liliana. She’s going to stay here.”
Caridad froze. She felt the ground turning into water.
—How…? —the voice didn’t come out completely.
Gerardo raised his chin, as if he could finally be cruel without consequences.
—If you don’t like it, you can leave.
Caridad didn’t scream. She didn’t break anything. She didn’t fight. She just nodded, walked to the room, and slowly closed the door. That night she cried silently until exhaustion overtook her.
Gerardo felt powerful. He believed that money made him the owner of everything… even other people’s pain.
In the following days, Liliana fed him ego like someone fattening up a monster.
“You deserve a woman of your own caliber, Gera. That… your wife is so country.”
And Gerardo, instead of defending Caridad, laughed.
At work and with friends, he began to lie.
“I married her out of pity,” he said. “She’s nice, but… she’s not up to the task.”
Each lie made his chest harden a little more.
One afternoon, Laura appeared at the apartment and found Liliana sitting like the owner, with her feet up on a chair, scrolling on her cell phone.
Laura exploded:
—What are you doing here? This is his wife’s house!
Gerardo burst out laughing.
—I pay for everything. I decide who stays.
Laura looked at Caridad.
—See? This man doesn’t respect you. Leave.
