Chapter 10
And attorneys negotiating every detail.
Eventually, we reached a formal settlement regarding the marital property claims, including the repayment and compensation of the amounts established through the records.
The appropriate authorities handled the issues involving the bank documentation separately.
Daniel had to face the financial and legal consequences of his decisions.
But according to Sofía, the consequence that affected him most was something else entirely.
He had lost the ability to control the story.
For years, he had portrayed our arguments as proof that I was a difficult woman.
Now there were documents that didn't depend on his version of events.
He couldn't convince a bank statement that I was too sensitive.
And he couldn't explain to a wire transfer that everything had been a misunderstanding.
Vanessa eventually cut ties with him for good.
Not because she had suddenly become an admirable person.
But because she realized that Daniel had lied even when he claimed he was choosing her.
And Margaret, for the first time, refused to pay to solve her son's problems.
Daniel was forced to face something he had never prepared himself for.
Accountability.
## The Last Letter
Almost eight months after I arrived in Canada, I received an envelope.
It was from Daniel.
He didn't contact me by phone.
He didn't go through my mother.
He sent the letter through our attorneys, as we had agreed.
I considered returning it unopened.
But eventually, I made myself a cup of coffee and sat by the window.
The letter began:
"Elena,
I've written these words so many times and torn up every version because I always ended up trying to justify myself."
I kept reading.
Daniel admitted that he had used silence as a punishment.
That he had grown accustomed to watching me apologize just to end our arguments.
That he had mistaken my patience for a guarantee that I would never leave.
"When I went back to our home and someone else opened the door, my first reaction was to think you wanted to humiliate me."
There was a break in the letter.
"It took me a long time to understand that you didn't make that decision to hurt me. You made it so you could stop being hurt."
A lump formed in my throat.
Then I read the next paragraph.
"I'm not writing to ask for another chance. I know I no longer have the right to demand anything from you. I just want to say I'm sorry for the way I treated you and for the decisions I made behind your back."