Chapter 6
The first night Isabella slept in my room, she woke screaming.
I was out of bed before I knew I had moved.
She sat upright, hands held away from her body like they still burned.
“I dropped it,” she cried. “I’m sorry. I’ll pick it up.”
I sat beside her.
“Isabella.”
She stared through me.
“I’ll pick it up.”
“Sweetheart, you’re dreaming.”
Her eyes focused slowly.
Then she saw me.
The shame returned instantly.
“I’m sorry I woke you.”
I wanted to tear the world apart.
Instead, I kept my voice gentle.
“You never apologize for needing me.”
She shook her head.
“Beatriz said you need rest because you work hard.”
“I work hard for you. Not instead of you.”
She cried then.
Finally.
Not silent tears.
Real ones.
I held her carefully, because of her hands.
She sobbed into my shirt until her body gave out.
The next morning, Rafael brought more news.
Beatriz had hired a lawyer.
Not surprising.
She had also filed a statement claiming I was unstable from exhaustion, that Isabella had behavioral problems, and that I had returned from Dubai in a paranoid state.
Also not surprising.
Then Rafael hesitated.
“What?”
“She filed a claim regarding Lucia’s trust.”
My breath stopped.
Lucia had left Isabella shares in several family properties.
Protected until Isabella turned eighteen.
I managed them as guardian.
“What claim?”
“She alleges you are mismanaging the trust and using Isabella to block Beatriz from marital assets.”
I stared at him.
“That makes no sense.”
“It doesn’t need to make sense at first. It needs to create smoke.”
“Why?”
Rafael placed another document on the table.
“Because next month, there is a scheduled review of the trust’s property restructuring. If she can portray you as unfit or Isabella as unstable, she may try to force appointment of an outside guardian.”
My blood went cold.
“Who?”
He looked grim.
“A foundation attorney connected to Beatriz’s family.”
Money.
There it was.
Behind the chores.
Behind the hunger.
Behind the humiliation.
Money.
My daughter was being broken to make her look damaged before a court review.
That afternoon, Officer Molina called.
They had extracted part of Beatriz’s deleted messages.
One voice note was from Beatriz to her cousin.
The little princess cries faster when her hands hurt. By the review, she’ll look impossible to manage.
I played it once.
Then never again.
Rafael said, “Ivan, this changes everything.”
May you like
I looked toward Isabella’s room.
“No,” I said. “It explains everything.”
