Chapter 17: Not for the House

On Monday morning the headline lay on every chair in the boardroom.

Lorena counted fourteen copies before she sat down.

The tower's top floor was bright and cold, and the long table was full.

Twelve board members sat along it, with the lawyer at one end and Consuelo in navy beside him.

Ignacio stood at the window with his hands behind his back.

He had told her on Saturday that she did not have to come.

She had come anyway, in the gray dress and with a pencil behind her ear.

They had not touched since the night of the crackers.

She had not asked, and he had kept to her terms so exactly that it hurt.

"Señora Barrera," the lawyer said. "Thank you for joining us."

"Did I have a choice?"

"You always have a choice," Consuelo said warmly. "That is what we are here to give you."

She nodded at the lawyer, and he slid a folder down the table.

Lorena opened it.

It was a settlement, six pages long.

It named a generous sum and the house in Zapopan.

At the bottom was a clause about silence.

"This ends the matter," Consuelo said.

"How?"

"You sign a short statement that the marriage was a family arrangement, made in good faith. You accept the sum."

She folded her hands.

"You say no more to the press. And in a few days you are free to go, with our thanks."

"A family arrangement," Lorena said.

"Which it was."

"And the loan?"

"Cancelled, of course. Your family will be spared."

A board member coughed.

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