Mateo’s blood was boiling. His mother was being enslaved in her own home while that woman stole her life’s work. « Put cameras in the whole house. Today. I want irrefutable proof, » he declared.
Taking advantage of Valeria’s five-hour spa appointment, technicians installed microphones and microscopic cameras in every corner of the mansion. At 6 p.m., Mateo turned on his tablet from the hotel. He saw Valeria arriving and demanding that Doña Carmen prepare Oaxacan mole because she had a « special guest. » His hands trembled with rage when he saw Elías enter through the front door. The lover sat in her dining room, drank her wine, and ate her mother’s food.
“And what about your idiot husband?” Elias asked, laughing.
“In Asia, thinking he’s going to be a dad,” Valeria mocked, sitting on the criminal’s lap. “When the baby’s born, we’ll ask for a 50,000 a month pension and we’ll get out of here.”
Elias burst out laughing and looked toward the kitchen. “Your maid is very slow.”
“She’s my mother-in-law,” Valeria said with a wicked smile. “I told her that if she wanted to stay, she had to earn her keep. She works for free and doesn’t say anything to Mateo because she’s afraid of ruining his ‘happiness.’ She’s pathetic.”
On the screen, Mateo saw Doña Carmen hiding behind the kitchen door. She had heard everything. The older woman pulled an old photograph of Mateo when he was five years old from her apron, kissed it, and whispered through tears, “I endure everything, my child, as long as I see you happy. You deserve this life; I won’t let my suffering ruin you.” Mateo burst into tears. His mother was swallowing poison out of love for him.
That same night, Mateo called his father, Don Roberto, and his sister, asking them to take the first flight from Oaxaca to Mexico City. Three days later, everything was ready. The storm had arrived.
Valeria had organized a gala dinner at the mansion for 20 people, inviting the capital’s high society to announce her fake pregnancy. Mateo watched from a van parked two blocks away, accompanied by Sofía and her family. On the screens, he saw Doña Carmen serving canapés to the guests, ignored like a ghost in her own personal hell.
At 9 p.m., Valeria tapped her glass. “Thank you for coming. I have a wonderful surprise… I’m pregnant!”
The applause erupted, but was brutally cut short by the loud bang of the front door bursting open. Mateo entered, impeccably dressed, his face a mask of stoniness. Behind him came Sofía with a briefcase, Don Roberto with his fists clenched, and his sister.
“My love! What are you doing here?” Valeria stammered, turning pale.
“Change of plans,” Mateo replied in an icy voice, walking to the center of the room. “I arrived just in time to celebrate your pregnancy… which is a true medical miracle.”
The murmurs began. Mateo took a document from Sofia’s briefcase and held it up. “Official Medical Report. Patient: Mateo Vargas. Procedure: Irreversible Vasectomy. Date: 2 years ago. That child is not mine.”
The glass fell from Valeria’s hands, shattering against the marble. The silence in the room was deafening. « It’s a lie! » she shouted, trying to approach, but Mateo backed away in disgust.
“Sofia, turn on the screen,” Mateo ordered. The enormous 82-inch television in the living room lit up. The video of Valeria and Elias kissing on that very sofa appeared, laughing about the robbery and planning the 50,000-peso pension. The guests gasped in horror. Some women covered their mouths, others started recording with their cell phones.
But the video changed. Now it showed the kitchen. It showed Valeria throwing water on the floor, forcing Doña Carmen to scrub on her knees, calling her a « sellout, » and cruelly humiliating her. In the living room, Don Roberto burst into tears at the sight of his wife’s suffering. Several guests lowered their gaze, deeply ashamed of having been silent accomplices by ignoring the woman.
“Turn that off! It’s an invasion of my privacy!” Valeria yelled desperately.
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