Chapter 6 - Friday
“Who needs the balance?”
Marco slipped the phone into his pocket.
“A contractor.”
“For what?”
“Nothing you need to worry about.”
I almost smiled.
That sentence had cost me so much.
Whenever a bill appeared, a plan changed, or Teresa moved another box into my house, Marco told me there was nothing to worry about.
What he meant was that he had already decided.
Elena ended the confrontation.
We collected Mateo’s clothes, medical papers, feeding supplies, and the bag I had packed before his birth.
I left the wedding photograph against the wall.
Marco followed me to the car.
“Can we talk without your father’s people listening?”
“Talk.”
“Alone.”
“You had me alone outside the hospital.”
He rubbed his forehead.
“I made a bad call.”
“You made several.”
“Mom gets anxious. You know how she is.”
“And you know how stitches work.”
His face hardened.
For one second, the apology vanished completely.
Then he looked toward the house and lowered his voice.
“I’ll fix the sale. Just tell your father to back off.”
“What does Papa have to do with the sale?”
“Nothing.”
But he answered too quickly.
That afternoon, Elena received a call from the company’s finance director.
Six weeks before Mateo’s birth, I had signed a board resolution approving a routine review of vendor advances. It had been one of the last files I handled before maternity leave.
The review had reached Marco’s department.
His access restrictions were not my father’s punishment.
They were part of an inquiry already underway.
A renovation vendor had received an advance for a model-unit project.
The project had not begun.
The receipts did not match.
Marco was one of the employees who had submitted the supporting documents.
“Are you saying he stole money?” I asked.
“I’m saying the records need explaining,” Elena said. “We should be careful about the difference.”
I pressed a hand over my incision.
“What vendor?”
She gave me the company name.
It meant nothing until she added the registered contact.
Teresa.
I closed my eyes.
Friday was not a contractor’s deadline.
It was the deadline for answering finance.
The house deposit had not bought our family a new future.
It had bought Marco a few more days.
That evening, he sent me a photograph.
The empty infant seat sat in the back of my SUV.
Come home. Mateo needs his father.
For a moment, I felt the old pull.
May you like
Then another message arrived, clearly meant for someone else.
She saw the authorization. Please tell me you got rid of the practice pages.
