ed through silk curtains the color of dusted rose, a

m and slow, like she'd been wrappe

and saw the woman

s someo

ll

ntly

swept into a knot, and a gold chain at her

y tilted her head slightly, watching with

e," the woma

y, her chest tight, a

o..

pital," she said, stepping forward and s

. And word would've gotten back to Lucien." Her voice d

red at her.

wry smile, not

nd. Inés is the first. She

s-?" "No,"

hat it's like to carry som

o her robe, pulled out a white envelope

rivate midwife. She won't talk.

red over the envelope,

d, long and low, and her face shifted into

ou're still deciding if you love

t answer. She

-

n, she was

waved them off, told them she was going to the

but eventuall

h space to let her move if she didn't rat

– grand columns, shuttered balconies, vaulted ceilings

oors were all identical except for the c

ized which keypad buzzed louder, whic

's endless dinners. She entered through the li

soundproofed, with a digital file server glow

to the desk,

s-hidden under art assets, buried beneath coded fol

l Cruz. Stamped on a transfer file

hing didn

six months later-internal t

b

in of

clo

he screen, ches

en she

-

ity walls, surrounded by cypress trees

one, head down, scarf wrapp

questio

re was grieving somethi

was easy

uz. Beloved husband. Loyal

feel settled and the mar

, it trembled slightly-like it hadn't been sealed right, o

But her hands sh

by dusk, heart pounding,

e west wing, she

ed the corner just in time to see him in the study – his hands were

ina f

ld have

ack down the hall and ne

rward, soft and awful, a th

n," sh

too hard, trying to bury it under whatever mas

ready b

t?" he asked, vo

he room. Closed th

to fin

g to the window. "Congratu

e stretched betwee

ke – quiet, str

a bro

ook at her. Just kept staring out the win

ked out for me. Protected me from my father. Then one night, the house caught fire. They

ely breathing. Lucien laug

dreams. Telling me to wake up. Tell

ly, and for the first time, he looked young. Not boyish. Not soft. Just stripped

. "I don't have proof. I just... fe

n't move. And it was in that stillness, in that one broken mom

a cartel estate, not just in the

ly. Not a home nor a prison. She was