Alejandro signed everything without looking at the papers twice.
I offered to testify again if necessary.
I also offered something else.
“If Mateo wants, I can continue taking him to school when this is over. Only if he wants.”
Alejandro nodded, but the important answer wasn’t his.
The next morning, when the sun streamed through the kitchen windows, Mateo came downstairs wearing a baggy sweatshirt and walked straight to Claudia. Then he looked at me.
“Are you coming back?”
I couldn’t speak for a second.
“Yes,” I said. “If you want me to, yes.”
He held my gaze, as if testing whether that promise would be easily broken or not.
Then he nodded.
It was a small gesture.
But this time I wasn’t filled with fear.
Two weeks later, Valeria was already facing charges. The press uncovered the case anyway. There were headlines, cameras outside, rumors, garbage. The Herrera family no longer seemed untouchable. And perhaps that was necessary.
