Damian sank deeper into the sofa, as if the leather might swallow him whole. I know, I know everything, but this is theft. Ruth frantically flipped through the pages. How could you do this without telling me?
Without telling you? Damian looked at her incredulously. Ruth, you knew perfectly well where the money came from. Did you think I had a hidden gold mine? I thought you owned the company.
You told me it was all yours, and I believed it was. Damian stood up and began pacing in circles. Until this morning, I too believed it was my company, but it turns out that all these years I’ve just been an employee with access to the safe.
Ru continued reading, her voice growing increasingly high-pitched. Total funds misappropriated: €79,847. According to Article 252 of the Spanish Penal Code, misappropriation of amounts exceeding €50,000 constitutes a serious crime.
She dropped the report as if it were poison. Serious crime. Serious crime. Calm down. Don’t tell me to calm down. We just got married and it turns out my husband is a criminal. Damian went to the window, watching the lights of Barcelona beginning to twinkle at dusk.
From the ninth floor, the city looked like an illuminated chessboard, and he had just realized that he had been a pawn throughout the entire game. Ru, we need to think.
We need to find a solution. What kind of solution? Ruth had started to cry, her makeup running for the second time that day. How are we going to pay back almost €80,000? Where are we going to get that money?
I don’t know, but there has to be a way. A way. Ruth wiped her tears with the back of her hand. The only way is if Cristina decides not to report you.
And after what we did to her, why on earth would she do that? Damian turned to her and for the first time since he had known her, he saw something resembling real fear in Ruth’s eyes.
Not the calculated fear she used to get things, but genuine terror. We could talk to her, explain the situation, propose a payment plan. A payment plan. Ru laughed bitterly.
Damian, you earn €2,500 a month as an administrator. I’ve been unemployed since I left my consulting job to enjoy our relationship. How many years would it take us to pay back €80,000?
They did the math mentally, excluding basic living expenses, allocating every euro to debt, for more than two years; with actual living expenses, probably five or six years. Maybe we could sell something.
My furniture. The car—your car is twelve years old, and you bought your furniture at IKEA a decade ago. Ruth slumped into a chair. Damian, we’re broke. And the worst part is, I thought I was stealing Cristina’s perfect life, but it turns out it was hers all along.
The ensuing silence was broken by Damian’s cell phone. A message from Elena Ruiz. Damian, Cristina wants to see you tomorrow at 9:00 in my office. Come prepared to discuss refunds or criminal lawyers.
Your choice. Ru read the message over her shoulder and collapsed completely. Our honeymoon is going to be in a cell, right? Damian didn’t answer, he just watched as the candles slowly burned down, taking with them the last vestiges of his old life somewhere in Barcelona.
Cristina Montalvo slept peacefully for the first time in months, and the baby in her womb kicked gently as if it knew that the future had finally begun to clear. Elena Ruiz’s office, 8:55 a.m.
Damian arrived five minutes early for the appointment, but the purplish dark circles under his eyes betrayed a sleepless night. He was wearing the same clothes as the day before, slightly wrinkled, and the aroma of cold coffee mingled with the scent of anxiety that seemed to emanate from his pores.
Ruth had decided to stay in the apartment, claiming she couldn’t bear to see Cristina pretending to be the victim. Elena greeted him with a serious expression and led him to the meeting room, where Cristina was already waiting.
But the woman he saw sitting at the table was not the same one he had met seven years earlier. This Cristina wore an emerald green dress that accentuated her eight-month pregnancy, her hair was styled in an elegant bun, and she wore an expression of serenity that contrasted dramatically with his distraught appearance.
“Good morning, Damian,” she said without getting up, gesturing to the chair in front of her. “Thank you for coming, Cristina.” “I—” he began, but she raised a hand, signaling for silence. “Before you say anything, I want you to know that I’ve spent all night thinking about this, about what it means, about what it implies for our son.”
She stroked her belly tenderly. And I’ve made a decision. Damian shifted nervously in his chair, his hands trembling slightly as Elena arranged several documents on the cherry-colored table.
But first, I need you to explain something to me. I need to understand why not the money. I already understand that. I need to understand why you lied to me for so many months while I was working double shifts to save for the baby.
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