Chapter 1
“Get out of this house today!” Mauricio shouted.
Before Verónica could even respond...
He slapped her across the face in front of all 18 family members gathered in the mansion's grand foyer.
The force of the blow sent her stumbling into a marble console table.
A wine glass crashed to the floor and shattered.
No one moved.
Not her sister-in-law.
Not the uncles.
Not the cousins who had been singing "Las Mañanitas" just minutes earlier to celebrate Ofelia's 62nd birthday.
They all waited for Verónica to cry...
To apologize...
Or simply walk away.
Only Ofelia smiled.
“It's about time you put her in her place, son,” she said, adjusting the pearl necklace Verónica herself had given her as a birthday gift.
“She was starting to think she owned everything.”
The argument had begun during lunch inside the lavish mansion in Bosques de las Lomas—the very home Ofelia proudly claimed was hers.
Verónica had paid for every single peso of it.
But no one knew.
Halfway through the birthday cake...
Ofelia raised her champagne glass.
“I'd like to toast my son, who supports this entire family...”
“Despite marrying a woman who's cold and obsessed with her career.”
Then she added...
“Maybe that's why God never wanted to give her a child.”
The words stole the air from Verónica's lungs.
She had lost her baby eight months earlier.
Even now...
Some nights she still woke up crying.
Mauricio knew exactly how deeply she was hurting.
Yet he kept slicing the birthday cake...
As though his mother were simply commenting on the weather.
Verónica finally spoke.
“Don't ever use the loss of my baby to humiliate me again.”
Ofelia calmly set down her spoon.
“That baby was my grandchild too.”
“Then you should have honored that child's memory.”
Ofelia dramatically placed a hand over her chest.
“Did everyone hear the way she talks to me...”
“In my own home?”
Mauricio slowly stood.
For one brief moment...
Verónica believed he was finally going to defend her.
Instead...
He walked straight toward her...
And slapped her.
As her cheek burned...
She realized it hadn't been an impulsive act.
Before striking her...
He had looked at his mother.
He had made a choice.
He had chosen to humiliate her.
“Go upstairs.”
“Pack your clothes and leave,” Mauricio ordered.
“The jewelry...”
“The SUV...”
“The credit cards...”
“The keys...”
“They all stay here.”
“You're not taking anything I paid for.”
Ofelia folded her arms.
“And leave your handbag too.”
“This house belongs to the Alcázar family legacy.”
Verónica quietly looked around the marble floors...
The grand oak staircase...
The luxurious home surrounding them.
She had purchased the property through a family holding company...
Six months before marrying Mauricio.
She was also the one depositing the 180,000 pesos every month that funded Ofelia's chauffeur...
Country club membership...
Medical expenses...
And luxury vacations.
Mauricio believed all that money came from a trust fund left by his late father.
That trust...
Had been empty for four years.
Verónica had also rescued her husband's construction company after it lost two major contracts.
She had covered payroll.
Paid off outstanding debts.
And quietly financed everything through loans issued by a company Mauricio had never bothered to investigate.
Everyone believed...
She lived off the Alcázar family name.
The truth...
Was exactly the opposite.
Verónica picked up her purse and calmly walked toward the front door.
“You're not even going to apologize?” Mauricio asked.
She stopped...
But didn't turn around.
“I just want to remember all of your faces.”
Ofelia let out a dry laugh.
“So you can tell your therapist?”
Verónica took out her phone.
She snapped a picture of the foyer.
Then looked directly at the security camera mounted above the staircase.
“No.”
“So my attorney knows exactly where to begin.”
Mauricio raised his hand again...
But one of his uncles grabbed his arm before he could strike her a second time.
Without another word...
Verónica walked out.
She never looked back.
As she waited for her car...
Her phone buzzed with a banking alert.
Ofelia had just spent 74,000 pesos at a luxury jewelry store...
Using an authorized credit card issued under Verónica's account.
For the first time that entire afternoon...
Verónica smiled.
They still had no idea...
May you like
That it would be Ofelia's last purchase.
And before sunrise...
