‘We already handled everything,’ she said. ‘You don’t need to worry about anything anymore.’
Anything anymore.
She had been saying things like that for months.
When she talked about selling the house.
When she asked where Ricardo kept the deed.
When Mateo stopped visiting unless money, signatures, or paperwork somehow found their way into the conversation.
My knees weakened so fast I had to grab the railing.
And then Ricardo did the strangest thing of all.
He took my wrists gently, lowered my hands from the door, and looked straight into my face.
‘Don’t beg them,’ he whispered.
