“I decided your mother wanted your father for the money, without ever once speaking to her long enough to learn I was wrong.

And when he died, my pride wouldn’t let me go looking for her, or for you.

One phone call.

That’s all it would have taken.

I didn’t make it.

And you paid for that, for fifteen years.”

Chapter 33 — Forgiveness Without Erasure

Santiago was quiet for a long moment, and Aurelio braced himself for the anger he knew he deserved.