Chapter 2: The Man Waiting Outside
Don Rogelio.
Ruben watched from the classroom door as the man stood in the lobby, his polished smile masking something far darker beneath the surface. Despite the school’s strict pickup authorization rules, Ruben felt a cold certainty settle in his chest.
When he refused to release the child, the director initially pushed back, pointing to the mother’s signed forms and the school’s procedures.
But when Valentina flinched at the mere mention of her grandfather’s name, the air in the room changed.
That single, involuntary movement became the beginning of a confrontation that would dismantle a carefully built facade of family respectability.