“Oh, Dad.

We tried to tell you.

We never thought she’d go this far.”

What passed between the three of us at that table was the hardest and most important part of the whole affair, harder than any of the maneuvering that came after.

Because I had not merely been fooled by Dulce; I had, in being fooled, wounded my own children badly.

I had chosen a stranger’s flattery over their honest concern.