Elena answered immediately.
“No.”
Teresa’s face collapsed.
“I apologized!”
Elena’s voice remained calm.
“An apology is not a transaction.”
Teresa stared at her.
“You do not purchase forgiveness with words because a contract is at risk.”
Javier stepped forward.
“Mrs. Mendoza—”
Elena looked at him.
He stopped.
She had never interfered in Sofia’s marriage.
She had deliberately remained respectful of boundaries.
Now there was no warmth in her expression.
“I watched you sitting in that car.”
Javier looked down.
“I made a mistake.”
“You watched my daughter stand outside in a storm.”
“I know.”
“You heard your mother tell her to walk.”
“Yes.”
“And you stayed seated.”
“Yes.”
Elena nodded.
“Then this part has nothing to do with Altavista.”
She looked toward Sofia.
“This part belongs to my daughter.”
Javier turned toward his wife.
“Sofia, please.”
For a moment, she saw the man she had married.
The man who had made coffee for her before early meetings.
The man who remembered how she liked the lights dimmed while watching movies.
The man who had held her hand during their wedding vows.
And that made what had happened even more painful.
Because cruelty from a stranger could be dismissed.
Cowardice from someone you loved could not.
“I need one answer,” Sofia said.
“Anything.”
“If there had been no contract, would you have come back for me?”
Javier opened his mouth.
No sound came out.
That silence answered everything.
Sofia nodded slowly.
“Thank you.”
“Sofia—”
“I needed the truth.”
“I would have eventually.”
Eventually.
The word cut through whatever hope remained.
“Eventually?”
“I mean—”
“No.”
Sofia took off her wedding ring.
Javier stared at it.
She didn’t throw it.
She didn’t scream.
She simply placed it on the table beside him.
“I’m not making a permanent decision tonight.”
Hope returned to his face for half a second.
Then Sofia continued.
“But I’m not going home with you.”
His shoulders dropped.
“You need to decide whether you want to be a husband or a frightened son who sacrifices his wife every time his mother disapproves.”
Teresa started to speak.
Elena raised one hand.
Teresa stopped.
Sofia picked up her handbag.
“And if you ever tell me again that cruelty is something I should tolerate to avoid making a scene, there won’t be anything left to discuss.”
She turned toward Elena.
“I’m ready.”
They started toward the door.
Mariana suddenly called out.
“Sofia.”
Sofia stopped.
Mariana was holding her phone.
For once, she looked genuinely ashamed.
“I deleted the video.”
Sofia studied her.
“That doesn’t delete what happened.”
