Valeria

“Let me in! You think you can lie to me? Valeria!”

At first, I thought I had imagined it, but then I heard the guards yelling back. Boots moved fast across the gravel outside, and the heavy gate rattled.

I stood up from my chair in the study and walked toward the window. I didn’t need to look twice. The voice was my mother’s.

More shouting followed. “You gave us fake money!” she screamed. “You think you can buy your family with paper? I want my daughter, and I ...