PART 2 The next morning, Valeria came downstairs with a black bandana covering her head….

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PART 2
The next morning, Valeria came downstairs with a black bandana covering her head. She changed into simple clothes and walked slowly, as if she were truly defeated. Doña Carmen was eating sweet bread and drinking coffee, sitting at the table like the owner of a house she'd never paid for. "Did you send in your resignation?" she asked without looking at her. "Yes," Valeria lied. "I'm not going back to the office." Her mother-in-law smiled. "Then go to the market. Buy good meat, fruit, cheese, freshly made tortillas, and my vitamins. Use the card you gave me." "Of course, Doña Carmen. You have the PIN." The woman left dressed up, with a nice purse and dark glasses. Half an hour later, Valeria's cell phone started vibrating: payment declined, payment declined, payment declined. She imagined Doña Carmen standing in front of the butcher, with everyone watching as her "important lady's" card wasn't even good enough to pay for a kilo of steak. Then Raúl started. He called once. Then 5. Then 12. He sent desperate messages: “I’m with my boss at a restaurant,” “Why isn’t the card going through?” “Transfer the money to me, you’re making me look like an idiot.” Valeria didn’t answer. That night, Raúl arrived furious. He threw the keys on the table. “What did you do with my money?” “Nothing,” she replied calmly. “Since I quit, I can’t afford expenses anymore. You said you were the man of the house. Now it’s your turn.” Doña Carmen came in behind her, red with embarrassment. “You made me look like a beggar at the market!” “No, Doña Carmen. It made you look bad to depend on a card that wasn’t yours.” The silence was louder than any shout. In the following days, the house began to fall apart. Overdue bills arrived. They cut off the internet, then the electricity, and then the water. Doña Carmen, who always left the air conditioning on, ended up fanning herself with an old magazine. Raúl took out loans to reconnect services and began receiving strange calls at all hours. Valeria continued working from her studio. Her company never received any resignations. On the contrary, her boss had given her a few days off remotely and legal support when she told him part of what had happened. On the fourth day, Valeria found what she needed on Raúl's old laptop: online gambling, loans with exorbitant interest rates, photos of hotels, and transfers to a woman named Brenda. That night she laid the papers on the table. "You owe more than 900,000 pesos," she said. "You also sold my wedding coins and pawned the bracelet my grandmother left me." Doña Carmen turned pale. "Raúl, tell me you didn't do that." "I did it because she abandoned me!" he shouted, pointing at Valeria. "A man needs to feel cared for, too." Valeria let out a bitter laugh. "And to feel cared for you, you needed a mistress and stolen money?" That same night, she installed small cameras in the living room and hallway. She knew that when someone loses privileges, they show their true colors. She wasn't wrong. At midnight, she pretended to be asleep. Raúl and Doña Carmen entered her room with a flashlight. They opened drawers,They searched bags and tried to force open a safe where they thought the deeds were. Inside, they found only a piece of paper: “The house is in my name. The proof of ownership too. Good night.” The next day, no one spoke to her. But Raúl still had an even dirtier trick up his sleeve. Two days later, he came in with Brenda, a woman wearing heavy makeup, high heels, and a round belly beneath a tight dress. “I’d like you to meet the woman who’s going to give me a family,” Raúl said. “She’s pregnant with my child. So sign the divorce papers and leave us the house.” Doña Carmen wept with joy and hugged Brenda. “My first grandchild, my blessing.” Brenda looked at Valeria with disdain. “It’s not my fault a wife doesn’t know how to take care of her own.” Valeria observed her strange belly, too firm, too perfect. Her firm steps. Her long nails. The way she sat without any discomfort. Then she smiled. “Fine. Stay a few days while I arrange everything with my lawyer.” They thought they had won, never imagining that Valeria had just invited them to the exact place where she was going to expose their lie in front of everyone… What do you think Brenda is hiding? Because that belly and that self-assurance don't seem as innocent as they want you to believe.
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