After the divorce, my ex-mother-in-law stood outsi…

But Gerardo, in the end, had understood what Dr. Escamilla’s documentation represented. The alternative to the settlement was a discovery process that would have required the Cortez Group to open its books.

They did not want that. I looked at Rodrigo, at his mother, at all of them assembled in the pale November light like a family portrait of people who had never doubted themselves for a single day and considered that certainty a virtue. “Come to Easter dinner,” I said.

My voice was completely level. “Come see how I live without your money.”

Doña Teresa’s smile was venom in a silk dress. “Which little restaurant?” she asked.

“Or are you renting a place just to pretend?”

“I’ll send the address,” I said. Then I turned. A black car was waiting at the curb, a Mercedes S-Class I had not mentioned to Rodrigo or anyone in his family because there had never been a reason to.