For a full minute, silence.
The guards watched from the corners. The caseworker scrolled her phone, distracted.
Then Elena leaned close to her father’s ear and whispered.
No one else caught the words.
But everyone witnessed the aftermath.
Mateo’s face drained of color.
His body began to shake violently.
The quiet tears turned into deep, wrenching sobs.
He stared at his daughter with a mixture of terror and fragile hope the guards would remember for the rest of their lives.
“Is that true?” he managed, voice splintering.
