— Where does all of that come from?
Doña Soledad looked at me with cold eyes.
— From wherever it needs to come from. Don’t question what you don’t understand.
I understood perfectly.
It came from me.
At first I tolerated it out of love for Iván. Then from exhaustion. Then from the fear of appearing to be the difficult daughter-in-law.
Until one afternoon I came home early and heard Doña Soledad say to Marisol from across the hallway:
— Let Renata pay. She doesn’t dare do anything.
That phrase woke me up.
From that day on, I began keeping records. Receipts, screenshots, transfers. Not to start a fight, but to remind myself that my patience had been tested for years.
And that day at the supermarket, I finally acted.
I didn’t pay.
PART 2
Iván called twenty minutes later.
His voice was no longer composed.
— Did you leave my mother at the register with eighteen thousand pesos of groceries? — he asked.
— I didn’t put anything in the cart.
— Renata, everyone is watching them.
— Exactly. That’s why it’s yours to handle. You’re her son and her brother. Solve it.
A silence full of swallowed rage.
— Transfer the money and we’ll discuss it at home.
— No.
— Don’t be stubborn. My mom says she did have money but forgot it.
— Then she can go back for it or leave the items. It’s not my problem.
Through the phone I heard Doña Soledad’s voice.
— Tell her to come back. What kind of daughter-in-law abandons her mother-in-law like a beggar?
I smiled bitterly.
— Did you hear that, Iván? Your mom still believes I’m the problem. Not the bill she can’t pay.
I hung up.
That night Iván arrived with a red face. He dropped his keys on the table without a greeting.
— You humiliated her.
I had prepared a folder.
I placed it in front of him.
— Look through this. Then we’ll talk.
Inside were four years of bank statements. Transfers to the alleged family fund. Restaurant charges. Receipts for Marisol’s phone. Bills for perfumes, clothing, and loans that were never repaid.
Iván turned the pages. Fast at first, then slower.
— What is all this?
— My money.
