The light was still red. The drivers behind me started honking. Emily finally opened the door and sat down, clutching Isabella against her body. Once inside, she bowed her head. Her hands still held the coins, and I could hear the soft clinking of the metal. I rolled up the window to block out the noise from outside. My breathing was heavy.
“Emily, what are you doing?” I asked. My voice was low, but I felt a mixture of rage and panic at the same time. She didn’t answer immediately; she just stroked Isabella’s face. The baby whimpered softly as if she were uncomfortable. I swallowed hard, trying to keep myself from exploding, but there was a question pounding in my head—a question that made the whole world seem absurd.
I looked at Emily out of the corner of my eye and asked her, “Where are the car and the house we bought for you?”
Emily closed her eyes for a moment.
When she opened them again, they were full of tears that didn’t dare to fall.
“They kept it all, Dad…” she whispered. “The car, the money, everything. My husband said it was ‘for security,’ that he would manage it better. His mother said I was useless, that I wouldn’t survive without them. And I… I believed them.”
I gripped the steering wheel so tightly that my fingers hurt.
—And why are you here? Why didn’t you go back home?
Emily took a deep breath, like someone preparing to tell a burning truth.
“Because they threatened me. They said that if I went back to you, if I reported them, they would take Isabella away from me. They said I had no proof, that no one would believe me. And I… I was scared, Dad. Very scared.”
Isabella began to cry louder, with that high-pitched cry that only babies have when the heat and tiredness can no longer be endured.
Emily rocked her desperately, but her arms were also trembling with exhaustion.
Without saying a word, I turned on the air conditioning. The car’s interior filled with cool air that seemed like an immediate relief for both of us.
I took a bottle of water from the glove compartment and gave it to Emily.
—Drink. And give a little to the girl.
Emily obeyed silently. Her hands no longer held coins, but life.
I started the car when the traffic light turned green.
I didn’t ask where we were going, because I already knew.
We were going home.
During the journey, Emily told me everything.