Chapter 16: Not for Sale

All week, Valeria heard Aurora's voice in every quiet room.

*I will be watching every face.*

Aurora knew someone had opened her safe, and she did not know who.

Fabiola put copies of the photographs in a locker at her court, under a clerk's lock.

Rodrigo stopped going to the big house at all.

On Saturday, he carried the groceries up four flights and brought a second envelope.

This one was thick, and it had a notary's stamp on the flap.

He set the bags on the kitchen floor and stayed exactly on the doormat.

"Before you say anything," he said, "it's a deed."

Valeria dried her hands on a dish towel.

"For what?"

"My personal shares, the ones that aren't in the trust. The house on the lake. The account my father left me."

"Everything I own outright. It's yours, and the children's."

Fabiola stopped chewing her toast.

"Is he buying you?" she asked the ceiling.

"I'm not buying anything," Rodrigo said. "She's owed it."

Valeria took the envelope and weighed it.

Then she held it out to him, flat on her palm.

"No."

"Valeria, it's half of what we..."

"I know what it is. No."

He did not take it.

"For four years I thought you stayed for the house," he said. "The cars, the trips, the name."

"It was easier than asking myself why you put up with her."

Valeria stared at him.

"You thought I stayed for money."

"I thought you endured my mother for money. I never thought it was worth it. I just couldn't think what else it could be."

"Rodrigo."

"Yes."

"Your mother's table cost me more than your house is worth."

She pushed the envelope against his chest.

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