Chapter 2 – The Woman in the KitchenThe screech of tires was the only sound left behind as goodbye echoed into the night. Sofía kept her hands firmly on the steering wheel, her gaze fixed on the darkness still draped over the city, as if hesitation no longer existed. The wind rushed through the half-open window, slicing through the silence inside the car like an icy blade.And then—there, suspended between courage and pain—she did it.She lifted a hand to her neck and, in a sudden, almost fierce motion, tore off the pearl necklace Isabel Castell had given her the day the engagement was announced. A symbol of belonging. Of respect. Of family. A memory that had felt like a chain for years.The thread snapped between her fingers as if it had always been ready to break.She rolled the window all the way down and, without thinking, threw it out.The pearls scattered across the asphalt, struck the curb, bounced like disoriented tears, and rolled in every direction… except the one she was d

Chapter 4 – The Empty HouseThe dressing room door closed with a sharp click.Sofía Rojas didn’t look back.She crossed the hallway as if she no longer needed permission, her steps firm, deliberate. The ball gown still clung to her body, but it no longer held her. It was an empty shell—just like her marriage.When she reached the bedroom, she slipped off her shoes and placed them neatly at the foot of the bed. Not out of nostalgia. Out of respect for herself.The cold floor bit into her feet. She didn’t flinch. Cold for cold—this house had never offered her warmth.She didn’t cry. She simply breathed. And with that breath came a certainty she could no longer deny: she was leaving, and this time, she wasn’t coming back.She turned on the desk lamp. Her shadow stretched along the walls, as if she were abandoning not just a home, but a version of herself she no longer wished to carry.She opened the drawer and pulled out a black folder.Untouched.The marriage contract.Two copies. Two s

Chapter 6 – The Name in the MarginThe boardroom on the twenty-first floor, usually sober, neat, and rigorous like a corporate operating theater, was plunged into a perfectly contained but dense chaos.It felt as if something vital were on the verge of collapse—without anyone daring to name it.The automatic blinds, barely ajar, allowed narrow blades of light to cut across the central table. The screens flickered with truncated graphs and lines of code flashing persistent errors.Biomedical engineers, geneticists, and executives surrounded the table like exhausted soldiers. They all knew they were failing. They just didn’t know how to say it.Then it exploded.“Model B collapsed in forty-two percent of the implants!” one of the engineers shouted.His voice, fractured by frustration, ricocheted off the walls. In a gesture of helpless rage, he slammed his tablet onto the floor. The sharp crack sounded like a verdict.“Five years and millions wasted on this!” another snapped.Adrián Cast

Chapter 8: The Cost of Emptiness Adrián Castell’s inbox pulsed with a new notification just as the system clock hit 6:26 p.m. He had been buried in his glass-walled office on the twenty-third floor for hours. He hadn’t spoken to a soul all day. The overhead lights were off; the only light came from the dull glow of his monitor and the weak flicker of a desk lamp on the verge of burning out. Before him lay a battlefield: open folders, financial reports, and graphs plunging like blades—simulations predicting, with surgical coldness, the slow death of his most ambitious project. His fingers, numb from cold and tension, barely gripped the pencil he’d been using to scribble notes. His light blue shirt was rolled up at the sleeves, his elbows worn from the strain. His suit jacket hung over the back of a chair—a chair that no longer felt like it belonged to him. Slowly, as if the movement itself were a burden, Adrián pressed his palms to his temples. It wasn't a standard headache. It wa