I left the hospital carrying my daughter’s ashes when my husband finally called from wherever he was with his mistress and coldly said, “The bill has been taken care of. Stop bothering me.” I didn’t argue with him. I didn’t allow him to hear my voice break.

On the seventh day, Chloe died in her sleep.

That evening, I heard Brendan downstairs discussing me with his sister in the grand kitchen.

“Ximena did the right thing putting the brakes on her,” Brendan told Brenda.

“Nora thinks she can spend family money whenever she wants without asking.”

Something inside me finally became completely quiet.

I opened the back of my closet and removed an old cellular phone I had not switched on since my wedding day.