“Mariana,” he said, his voice breaking, “forgive me… but I need to know what’s happening.”

She shook her head desperately.

“No, Julian… if you see it, everything is going to break.”

He swallowed hard.

His hands trembled as he reached for the edge of the blue blanket.

For one second, the apartment was silent. No buses outside. No voices in the hallway. No sound from the bakery downstairs. Just Mariana crying softly, and Doña Carmen standing behind him, waiting.

Then Julian lifted the blanket.

And what he saw underneath took every word out of his mouth.

Because Mariana hadn’t been hiding betrayal.

She’d been hiding pain.

And the person who knew exactly how it had happened was standing in the doorway, pretending to be innocent.