Chapter 7 - DIEGO FINALLY STOPPED BLAMING HIS MOTHER
The divorce took fourteen months.
During the first three, Diego blamed Teresa.
“Mom pushed me.”
“She told me the loan was temporary.”
“She said Sofía needed discipline.”
“She hired the first lawyer.”
“She told me Natalia understood me better than you did.”
At mediation, I finally stopped him.
“Was your mother inside your phone when you sent the forged document?”
Silence.
“Was she holding your hand when you moved Sofía’s money?”
No answer.
“Did she force you into Natalia’s bed?”
His eyes filled.
“No.”
“Then stop using her as your final excuse.”
He cried.
I did not feel victorious.
I remembered the man who once drove across town at midnight because I told him I wanted cheesecake.
The man who held Sofía the night she was born.
The man I had loved.
People are not always monsters before they betray you.
Sometimes they are weak.
Entitled.
Cowardly.
And they choose wrong so many times that eventually the distinction stops mattering.
Diego whispered:
“I was afraid of losing Mom.”
“And you were willing to lose us instead.”
“Yes.”
First honest answer.
Then:
“I’m sorry.”
I believed he meant it.
I still divorced him.
May you like
An apology can be real without becoming a return ticket.
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