The rich aroma of cedar and Italian leather filled Héctor Salgado’s office. From the window on the 35th floor, Mexico City unfolded like a chessboard of power and ambition. Héctor sipped his black coffee, observing his computer screen with a satisfied smile.
The new real estate project in Santa Fe had doubled the expected profits.
But his real victory was something else entirely: he had just signed the purchase of a mansion valued at 20 million pesos.
It wasn’t for his wife.
It was for Valeria.
Sitting opposite him with perfect composure was Elena, his legal wife of fifteen years. She was calmly leafing through an architecture magazine, as if nothing extraordinary had happened.
That calmness… irritated him.
“Don’t you have anything to say?” Hector asked, putting down the cup with a thud.
Elena slowly raised her gaze, as if he were just part of the furniture.
—Say what, Hector? That you bought another very expensive property? You’ve always been a… generous man.
The word generous fell like a knife.
“I’m not talking about money,” he replied disdainfully. “I’m talking about the woman. You know perfectly well who that house is for.”
Elena barely smiled. A smile that didn’t touch her eyes.
—Ah… her. The “well-to-do girl,” daughter of a supposedly important business partner. The one you were “getting to know” for months behind my back. Did you think I was blind?
Hector leaned back in his chair, arrogant.
—So you know… and you’re still sitting there reading magazines? What did you expect? To cry? To make a scene? To beg? I was all set for the classic betrayed wife drama.
Elena carefully closed the magazine and placed it on the desk.
—Your script is outdated, Hector. It’s something you’d see in a cheap soap opera. I don’t need to humiliate myself to keep anyone.
He stood up.
—I have no objection to you buying the house. In fact, I think it’s an interesting investment. It doesn’t matter whose name it’s in.
Hector frowned.
—Valeria says she understands me. That she’s cultured, elegant, from a good family. Not like you…
Elena shrugged.
—Of course. I was just the “practical” wife: I gave you two children, built the company with you, managed the finances while you philosophized about life with another woman. But it’s your decision. I respect it.
He walked towards the door.
—I’ll give you five days.
“Five days for what?” Hector laughed. “To pack? For the divorce?”
Elena turned around. Her smile was now dangerous.
—Five days for you to enjoy your greatness. For her to fully enjoy those 20 million.
After that… I’ll take two special people to meet your “princess.”
The mansion was a dream. Marble, crystal, perfect gardens.
Valeria leaned back against Hector’s chest.
—You’re amazing, Hector. My future husband should be a man like you.
“You deserve all this,” he replied. “I’m tired of Elena’s rigidity. Always so calculating.”
“A modern woman must know her place,” Valeria said with a haughty smile.
At that moment, the doorbell rang.
Hector looked at the security camera.
It was Elena.
Next to him were Diego (7 years old) and Sofia (5 years old).
“I didn’t invite you,” he said over the intercom.
—I don’t need an invitation to bring your children to meet the woman for whom you destroyed their family.
Hector opened the door.
Valeria appeared in a silk dress, chin held high.
—Hello, Elena. I’m sorry about your situation, but love can’t be forced.
Elena looked her up and down, without jealousy, without anger.
—Hector, aren’t you going to introduce her to the children?
—Diego, Sofia… she is a friend.
Diego watched Valeria intently. Then he turned to his mother and asked, with complete innocence:
—Mom… is she the new girl who cleans the house? Why is she inside?
The silence fell like a blow.
Valeria paled.
—What is this child saying?!
Elena let out a soft, sharp laugh.
—Very observant, my son.
“Elena!” roared Hector. “Valeria is a woman from a distinguished family!”
Elena stepped forward.
—Distinguished? Valeria… or rather, María Valeria González, daughter of Doña Toña, the lady who sold quesadillas outside my mother’s house in Iztapalapa.
Do you remember when you cleaned the kitchen? When you broke the antique vase and cried so they wouldn’t fire you?
Valeria stepped back, trembling.
—You’re lying!
—The jade ring? It was my mother’s. She gave it to you when you quit your job, saying you were getting married.
Everything you know about art, wine, and travel… you copied it from me.
Hector felt the ground disappear.
—Was it all a lie…?
—No, love, I love you! —Valeria shouted.
“No,” Elena interjected. “You love the 20 million.”
Hector hit the wall.
—Why did you come, Elena?
—So you can see who you chose.
And to let you know that, in these five days, I transferred most of the joint assets and shares into a trust in your children’s names.
I left you enough to live on… not to be powerful.
—You can’t!
—Of course I can. She was your wife. And the true administrator of your fortune.
“And this house?” Hector asked, his voice breaking.
Elena looked at Valeria.
—The house is yours. You signed everything. You can’t get it back.
Valeria smiled, triumphant.
Hector looked at her and then at Elena. He had lost everything.
“The 20 million,” Elena said, “was a lesson.
I don’t need it.
You needed to learn who you are… and who surrounds you.”
He took the children by the hand.
—Let’s go home.
The divorce is over.
Hector had changed.
“You taught me more than any loss,” she said. “You protected our children.”
—I wish you hadn’t had to lose everything to understand it —Elena replied.
Over time, Hector became a present father.
Elena, an even stronger woman.
They never remarried.
But they learned to be a family in a different way.
Because no palace is worth more than dignity.
And no price is too high to reclaim your soul.
