Sofia’s voice broke.
“She grabbed me by the hair and asked when I was signing the condo over to her family. I told her never.”
She swallowed hard.
“Then she slapped me. Again and again and again. I counted forty. The other women laughed and said a disobedient daughter-in-law has to be trained early.”
My whole body went cold.
“And Javier?”
Sofia cried harder.
“He was outside the door. I heard him say, ‘Mom, don’t hit her too much in the face. People will notice tomorrow.’”
A rage I had never felt before rose in my chest like fire.
I remembered my own marriage to Alexander, his mother controlling every room she entered, my silence, my fear, the years it took me to finally leave. But this was different.
They had humiliated me.
They had beaten my daughter bloody.
I grabbed my phone.
Sofia tried to stop me.
“Mom, Dad hasn’t spoken to us in years.”
I looked at her swollen face.
“You are still his daughter.”
Then I called the number I had not used in almost ten years.
Alexander answered with a rough, sleepy voice.
“Elena?”
I took one breath.
“Your daughter was almost killed on her wedding night.”
There was silence.
Then his voice changed.
“Send me the address. I’m coming.”
I hung up and held Sofia while she shook in my arms. For the first time since she arrived, I saw something flicker in her eyes.
Not hope.
Not yet.
But a spark.
Thirty minutes later, the doorbell rang.
When I opened it, Alexander stood there in a wrinkled shirt, pale face, and eyes colder than I had ever seen them.
The moment he saw Sofia, he dropped to his knees beside the couch.
“Baby girl…”
Sofia opened her eyes.
“Dad.”
And when Alexander saw the bruises on his daughter’s body, I understood one thing immediately.
The real storm had just begun.
