Laura let out a short, humorless laugh.

“I hung up on him and blocked him.” She lifted her chin, as though repeating a decision she needed to stand by. “He has a woman, Ísis. I’m sure of it. And I’m not going to become someone’s mistress like my mother.”

The words came out carrying more than anger; they carried an old fear. A fear Laura bore like an inheritance she had never asked for.

Ísis took her hand.

“I just think you two need to talk,” she said carefully. “I don’t know what happened betwe