Chapter 8 - The Departure
When Natalia and her mother descended the grand staircase, the sprawling house had fallen into a deafening, uneasy silence. The bravado from earlier had evaporated. Javier, Doña Graciela, and the three sisters were standing in the foyer, watching them closely.
Javier’s eyes immediately locked onto the massive suitcase rolling behind Natalia. He let out a condescending scoff, assuming she had packed her designer clothes in a fit of feminine hysteria. He had no idea the suitcase contained the absolute financial destruction of his entire family.
Doña Graciela tilted her head back, crossing her arms defensively. She couldn't resist one last, venomous attempt to establish dominance.
“This house belongs to my son,” Graciela announced proudly, her voice echoing off the marble walls. “You are making a massive mistake leaving his protection.”
Natalia paused with her hand resting on the heavy brass handle of the front door. She didn't turn around. She simply looked over her shoulder, her eyes cold and empty.
“Then he can pay the eighty-thousand-peso mortgage due tomorrow morning,” Natalia replied flatly.
Nobody said a single word. The silence that followed was absolute.
Natalia pushed the door open. Outside, the evening air smelled faintly of approaching rain, a cleansing storm rolling in over the city. She hailed a passing taxi, carefully helping her mother into the back seat before hoisting the heavy suitcase into the trunk.
As the taxi pulled away from the curb, turning the corner onto the main boulevard, Natalia’s cell phone began to vibrate violently in her purse.
First, it was Javier calling.
Then, Doña Graciela.
Then Jimena.
Next was Karla.
May you like
Finally, Mónica.
Natalia didn't answer a single one of them. She just stared out the window. Because long before the sun rose the next morning, every single one of those parasites would discover that the woman they had just brutally humiliated didn't just hold the keys to the house. She held the irrefutable evidence of a massive financial lie that was going to bring their entire world crashing down.
