Paula looked away.
I nodded slowly.
“That’s what I thought.”
Diego lowered his voice.
“Let’s talk at home.”
I laughed.
“You don’t live there anymore.”
“I can come back.”
“No.”
His eyes sharpened.
“Laura, those are my children.”
I stepped closer.
The parking lot wind lifted my hair.
For the first time in weeks, I did not feel like a discarded wife.
I felt like a mother.
“You called them another man’s children before you knew they had heartbeats. Do not use them now as a key to the door you slammed behind you.”
He went pale.
Then I turned and walked to my car.
That evening, I called a lawyer.
Her name was Valeria Montes.
She was recommended by a woman from my old office who had once divorced a man so politely dangerous that even her dog had needed therapy.
Valeria listened without interrupting.
The vasectomy.
The pregnancy.
The accusations.
The mistress.
The social media post.
The coercive divorce agreement.
The ultrasound room.
The twins.
