—Lucas, don’t disrespect him!

“Valeria put the watch there!” the boy shouted. The words came out like bullets. “Mateo and I saw her! We were playing hide-and-seek under your bed. She came in, took the watch out of your drawer, laughed nastyly, and put it in Clara’s bag.”

Alejandro froze. His mind tried to reject the information. Valeria was a high-class woman, his fiancée. Why would she do something like that?

“They must have seen wrong…” Alejandro stammered.

“No!” Lucas insisted, hitting his father’s leg. “She said she was going to send us to Switzerland. She said we’re parasites and that Clara is a burden. She said she hates children!”

“Dad, please, never chase her again,” Mateo begged, hugging Clara’s neck. “Clara smells like Mom used to. Valeria smells of cold and fear.”

Clara smells like her mother used to smell.

That phrase pierced Alejandro more deeply than any knife.