Nobody protested.
Nobody dared.
They knew Steven Márquez as a disciplined, precise, and almost impossible-to-disrupt man, so seeing him leave like that indicated to them that something serious was happening.
While waiting for the elevator, he called Jimena three times.
Three.
All three calls went straight to voicemail.
She wasn’t asleep.
He was not unconscious.
I was ignoring it.
And that detail, so small and so deliberate, caused something in Steven to change forever.
For years he had been considered a man difficult to deceive.
He had built companies, negotiated with sharks, fired corrupt executives, and anticipated crises before they exploded in the markets.
However, in his own home he had not seen what was happening right in front of his eyes.
Or worse.Yes, I had seen it in parts, but I had chosen to believe the more convenient version because I worked too much, arrived late, and needed to think that at least the home was in order.
That made her nauseous.
The elevator descended with unbearable slowness.
Every second felt like a betrayal.
He went out to the parking lot, threw the briefcase onto the back seat of his BMW and drove off before the door had completely closed.
Chicago roared outside with its rush-hour traffic, with honking horns, red lights, and endless lines of cars that seemed to mock its urgency.
Steven drove like someone chasing the last minute of a life that was already slipping through his fingers.
During the journey, as I jumped from lane to lane and clenched my jaw until it hurt, memories came to me that at first seemed loose, but began to form a monstrous figure.
Caroline said weeks ago that she was very tired lately.
Caroline asking if she could go to the office with him more often.
Caroline falling asleep on her plate one ordinary night.
Caroline stopped drawing at the breakfast table to simply stare out the window with that strange seriousness that should never have existed in a child.
And Jimena.
Jimena always has sweet and perfect explanations.
“She’s in a sensitive stage.”
“She’s acting strangely because of her jealousy over the baby.”
“He needs discipline.”
“She exaggerates a lot when she wants to get attention.”
Steven had wanted to believe her because the alternative was unbearable.
