The mansion on Santa Eleanor Drive smelled of cold luxury—of artificial flowers and money that had never passed through working hands. I, Rosa Calderón, seventy-nine years old, felt from the very first second that I did not belong there. My worn shoes stained the white marble. My hands, marked by decades of cleaning other people’s houses, felt like an offense in that palace.
My daughter Lucía walked ahead of me, nervous, constantly glancing toward the staircase.
“Mom… please, don’t make any noise,” she whispered. “Adrián has already come down from the office.”
Since Lucía married Adrián Beltrán, an influential real estate businessman, fear had become part of her daily life. He didn’t always shout. Sometimes he only looked. And that was worse.
I had arrived that morning because my small apartment had lost its heating. I only needed a hot cup of coffee and a few hours to warm up. Outside, the rain fell mercilessly.
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