I was sitting in the doctor’s waiting room when my phone rang. It was Angela, my only daughter. Her voice sounded strange, almost cold, when she said, “Mom, we’re going to Europe tomorrow. I already sold your beach house and your car.”

Mrs. Antonia, I have important news. We managed to locate Eduardo. Where is he? In Paris, as your daughter suspected. But here’s the interesting part. He’s trying to get French residency through a sham marriage with that young woman your daughter mentioned. A sham marriage. Yes. Apparently, the girl needs papers, and he needs a way to stay in Europe without being deported.
But the most important thing is that we found evidence that he deliberately forged your daughter’s documents with the intention of fleeing the country. That means Ángela can be free of her debts. With this evidence, we can prove fraud and coercion. Your daughter wouldn’t have to pay for anything Eduardo did behind her back. It was perfect.
I had a way to legally save Ángela from all her debts without her suspecting that I had the money to do it. “Jorge, I want you to start the legal process immediately,” I tell your daughter. “No, I still want the process to be completely finished before I tell you anything. I don’t want to give you false hope.
” “Understood! This is going to take about three weeks, maybe a month. Perfect.” When I hung up, Angela looked at me curiously. Who was Mom? A woman who was asking for Doña Mercedes, the neighbor on the corner, had the wrong number. Lying had become easy.

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