PART 1

She'd just returned from Querétaro after six days of work, carrying a suitcase, a laptop bag, and a small bag of mazapanes for her daughter's nightly video calls.

'Mami, when you come back, will you braid my hair with my pink hair ties?' That phrase had given her strength throughout the journey.

But when she opened the door to her apartment in Del Valle, she found the TV blaring, the smell of reheated food, and a tension so thick it seemed stuck to the walls.

Her mother-in-law was in the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel, and her sister-in-law Brenda was sitting in the armchair, her phone in her hand, with a venomous smile.

'Where's Renata?' Sofía asked.

Doña Yolanda pointed to the balcony.

'Punished.'

Sofía rushed in, still not understanding.

On the other side of the glass, she saw her daughter standing there, her thin pajamas, her arms crossed, and her eyes lost in the street.

Then she saw her head.

The black, smooth hair that Sofía treated like silk was gone, shaved almost to the scalp.

'Nat...' The girl turned, her face swollen from crying.

When she saw her mom, she ran to her, but she didn't scream. She just hugged her neck and whispered,

'Mommy, I didn't take anything.'

Sofía felt her chest split open.

'Who did this to you?'

Doña Yolanda replied,

'I did. And I still came up short.'

Sofía hugged her daughter tighter.

'How dare you shave the head of a 3-year-old?'

Don Ramiro, her father-in-law, emerged from the hallway with a tequila glass in his hand, looking unsurprised.

'Come on, Sofía. Don't make a scene. Your daughter stole a gold necklace.'

'Brenda chuckled.

'Ah, cousin, everyone says that about their kids. Then they turn out just like their moms.'

Sofía stared at her.

'Watch what you say.'

Doña Yolanda stepped forward, her eyes blazing.

'My Virgin of Guadalupe necklace vanished. The girl was the only one who entered my room.'

'Renata can't even reach the dresser.'

'I guess she learned it from somewhere,' Brenda said, still smiling.

The girl hid her face in Sofía's neck.

'I won't let them humiliate you.'

'Don't you dare!' Don Ramiro slammed his fist on the table,

'Here, you don't rule! This is my son's house, and your mother-in-law took care of it while you were off doing important things.'

Sofía took a deep breath.

'This is child abuse. And I'm going to report it.'

She didn't get to finish.

Don Ramiro slapped her so hard that she crashed into the balcony frame. The suitcase fell to the floor, and the mazapanes scattered like garbage.

Renata started screaming.

'Mommy! Don't hit my mommy!'

Sofía stood there for a few seconds, her lip bleeding, her cheek throbbing.

She looked at her mother-in-law, her sister-in-law, and her father-in-law. They all stared back at her as if she was the problem.

Something inside her broke, but she didn't make a scene.

She slowly got up, took Renata in her arms, and went into the bedroom. She locked the door while doña Yolanda kept pounding on it.

'Get out, thief! Give me back my necklace!'

Sofía didn't respond. She stuffed a document bag with Renata's birth certificate, her ID, credit cards, clothes, a jacket, and the small bag with the 180,000 pesos she'd saved without telling anyone.

When she opened the door, doña Yolanda was still there.

'If you leave, you'll never come back.'

Sofía looked at her, her lip still bleeding.

'Exactly.'

She went down the stairs with Renata in her arms, hailed a taxi, and received a message from her husband, Andrés.

'Don't overreact. My mom says the kid stole. Go back and apologize so this doesn't get any bigger.'

Sofía blocked the number.