“Isabel,” he said evenly.
She turned, her stomach sinking. “Yes, sir?”
“Go help Marisol in the kitchen,” he said. “I’ll handle this area.”
She nodded and left, unaware of what would follow.
That afternoon, Alejandro walked straight into the village. By sunset, the message had spread faster than fire.
Anyone who humiliated a worker on Navarro land would never work there again. Anyone who spoke cruelty in his name would answer to him personally.
People didn’t understand the sudden shift. They only knew Alejandro Navarro never acted without purpose. Isabel noticed the change gradually.
The whispers faded. The stares grew uncertain. Food appeared beside her without commentary.
One evening, Marisol slipped a piece of warm sweet bread into her hand and smiled. “You work hard,” she said, as if it were the most ordinary truth.
Isabel didn’t know how to respond. Kind words still felt like a trap. But something inside her began to loosen.
At night, she sat by the window and read the old books Alejandro kept on the kitchen shelf—account ledgers, farming notes, even a thin poetry book she read only when she was sure no one was watching.
Alejandro noticed.
“You can read,” he said one evening, surprised.