Mariana finished reading. For seven years, Alejandro had used those first painful months of grief as evidence of his supposed heroic sacrifice.
Every argument eventually came back to the same sentence:
“I was the one who stayed when everyone else left.”
He had stayed.
But he had turned a spouse’s responsibility during tragedy into a lifelong debt Mariana was expected to repay by surrendering her dignity.
Mariana lifted her eyes from the phone, her voice completely flat. “You weaponized our daughter’s death to make yourself look noble to your mistress.”
“It wasn’t like that!” he stammered, panic finally breaking through his composure.
“I just read your exact words, Alejandro.”
Alejandro raised his voice, waving his hands in frustration. “I was there when you couldn’t get out of bed! I took you to doctors! I made sure you ate!”
“Yes,” Mariana said quietly.
The simplicity of her response left him completely disarmed.
