Chapter 10 - The Final Sunset
Two weeks later, the rain had cleared, leaving behind the brilliant, golden warmth of an April afternoon.
Leticia Rivas was now living in a cramped, two-bedroom apartment on the far outskirts of the city—a modest place with peeling wallpaper and a view of a noisy highway. Her society friends had vanished. Her bank accounts were frozen pending federal asset forfeiture investigations. And her prized collection of Polanco porcelain had been auctioned off to pay legal fees.
She sat alone on a worn-out velvet sofa, staring blankly at a small television screen broadcasting the grand opening of the new San Ángel Children’s Arts and Education Foundation.
On the screen, a reporter stood in front of the grand colonial estate, holding a microphone with a bright, enthusiastic smile.
“...and today, the magnificent historic property once owned by the disgraced Rivas family officially opens its doors to the public, entirely funded and operated by philanthropist Mara Rivas-Vance and her husband, financial expert Andrés Vance...”
The camera panned across the sunlit courtyard, cutting briefly to a shot of me kneeling on the grass, laughing as I helped four-year-old Sofia paint a bright, beautiful blue flower on a brand-new ceramic egg—one that would never be shattered by anyone’s cruelty again.
Leticia raised a trembling hand to her mouth, a bitter sob catching in her throat as she realized the full, crushing magnitude of her own arrogance.
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She had thrown away the only person who had ever truly protected her, all for the sake of an empty title and a rotten dinner table.
Outside, the sun sank slowly behind the horizon, bathing the old colonial roof of San Ángel in a brilliant, unyielding golden light—a light that belonged entirely to us.
