Alejandro finally spoke.
“Do you have somewhere safe to go?”
She hesitated.
“With a cousin.”
“Where?”
“Iztapalapa.”
One of the bodyguards exchanged a quick look with Alejandro.
Alejandro understood at once.
“No.”
Valeria frowned.
“No what?”
“If Rodrigo has your photo, he can find your relatives too.”
Her stomach tightened.
He was right.
Her cousin posted everything on social media.
One photo.
One location.
That was all Rodrigo would need.
“So what am I supposed to do?”
Alejandro inhaled slowly.
“You can stay at my house for a few days.”
Valeria stared at him.
“I’m sorry?”
“Until we figure this out.”
She immediately shook her head.
“No. I can’t accept that. I don’t even know you.”
Alejandro smiled slightly.
“Three hours ago, you didn’t know the man whose shoulder you slept on for two hours either.”
For the first time since the divorce, Valeria laughed.
Only a little.
But she laughed.
“That was different.”
“Why?”
“Because then I didn’t know you were a multimillionaire.”
“And what changed?”
Valeria had no answer.
Alejandro continued gently.
“I’m not offering because you’re beautiful. And not only because you have a child. I’m offering because years ago, someone did the same for me.”
She looked at him with quiet curiosity.
“What happened?”
He turned his gaze toward the road.
“My wife died twelve years ago.”
Valeria stopped breathing for a moment.
“We had a baby too.”
His voice grew softer.
“The baby didn’t survive.”
Silence filled the SUV.
Now Valeria understood the sadness in his eyes.
The exhaustion.
The way he looked at Sofia with tenderness and pain tangled together.
Alejandro had never truly escaped that loss.
An hour later, they passed through the massive gates of a residence in Bosques de las Lomas.
Valeria sat frozen.
It was not simply a house.
It looked like a private resort.
Perfect gardens.
Lit fountains.
Ancient trees.
Tall windows glowing in the night.
But what struck her most was not the luxury.
It was the silence.
There was no loud music.
No parties.
