THE NIGHT THEY LOST EVERYTHING

 

His voice hardened.

“Come home.”

“No.”

“Valeria.”

“No.”

“The penthouse is my marital residence too. You cannot just throw me out because you had a tantrum.”

Lucía quietly wrote something on a notepad and slid it toward her.

ASK ABOUT MONEY.

Valeria took a breath.

“Did you take money from my accounts?”

Silence.

Then:

“What?”

“Did you?”

“I manage our finances.”

“No. You manage certain household expenses.”

“Everything I did was for the family.”

Her stomach dropped.

Not a denial.

“Did your father receive money?”

“He invested money for us.”

“With my permission?”

“You would have said no.”

Lucía closed her eyes for a second.

Nicolás kept talking.

“You don’t understand how humiliating it is for my father to ask you for money.”