He didn't return to surprise anyone.
He returned to look.
Because doubt was already eating away at him.
The night before, Patricia, his fiancée, had leaned across the dining room table and whispered something that kept him awake.
"You trust Rosa too much," she said, lowering her voice. "That girl is stealing from you. And worse... she's manipulating your daughters."
Emiliano didn't want to believe it right away.
Rosa had worked in his house for four years. She was discreet, punctual, and quiet. She came from Oaxaca, sent money to her sick mother, and had never asked for anything beyond her salary.
But Patricia had been planting seeds of suspicion for weeks.
That a bracelet was missing.
That the girls ran ahead of Rosa.
That Rosa knew too much about the house.
That such a quiet employee was always hiding something.
At first, Emiliano ignored it.
Then he began to see things differently.
