“The monthly transfer?”
“Stop it.”
A few minutes later, my phone lit up with an email requiring my signature. I signed.
Then another.
I signed that too.
By early afternoon, I was sitting near a library window with a gardening book open in front of me. I was not really reading. I was sitting quietly, letting myself think. The world outside continued moving as usual, but my life inside that house had shifted.
Then the first text arrived.
Mom, there’s something wrong with the card.
Twenty minutes later:
Did you change something?
Then Renata:
The card was declined at the grocery store.
I turned my phone facedown and kept reading.
At six, I drove home.
This time, I did not touch the keypad.
I rang the bell.
Matias opened almost immediately. His face looked different now. The confidence from earlier was gone. He looked confused, worried, and uncertain.
“Mama, what’s going on?”