“Where are the car and the house we bought for you?”
At that, Sofía finally broke.
She pressed her lips together, trying to stop the tears, but they came anyway.
“Gone,” she whispered.
I tightened my grip on the steering wheel.
“What do you mean, gone?”
She looked down at the handful of coins in her palm.
“Daniel took the car. He said it was in his name now, because I had signed some papers after Valentina was born. I thought they were insurance documents.”
My stomach turned.
“And the house?”
“My mother-in-law convinced me to put it under both our names after the wedding. She said it was ‘the right thing to do.’ After Daniel started gambling and losing money, they used the house as collateral.”
She took a shaky breath.
“When he couldn’t pay, they sold it.”
I stared at her in disbelief.
“And your savings?”
“Daniel had access to everything. He said husbands and wives shouldn’t keep secrets.”
She let out a bitter laugh.
“He emptied the account three months ago.”
The light turned green, but the cars behind me honked before I realized I hadn’t moved.
I drove in silence until we reached my home.
—
The moment we stepped inside, my housekeeper rushed over.
“Señor, what happened?”
“Prepare the guest suite,” I said. “And call Dr. Mendoza. I want him to see the baby immediately.”
Sofía looked around like she had entered a foreign country.
She used to call this house home.
Now she stood there uncertain, as if she didn’t know whether she belonged.
I took the coins from her trembling hand and set them on the entry table.
“You will never have to do that again.”
She burst into tears.
—
That night, after Valentina had been examined and fed, Sofía told me everything.
At first Daniel had been charming.
