Millionaire arrives early to luxury country home… and almost faints at what he sees
Millionaire arrives early at luxury country home and almost faints
What you see. The Italian leather briefcase crashed against the immaculate marble.
with a dry, violent roar that echoed like a gunshot in the vastness
from the lobby. But Damián Arreola didn’t make the slightest attempt to
pick it up. He stood frozen in the doorway, with the
hand still suspended in the air where a second ago it held the handle, and the
His eyes widened, fixed on the scene unfolding before him as if it were a
hallucination caused by overwork or lack of sleep. His heart,
that body which had shielded itself with layers of ice and cynicism after the tragedy,
It began to throb with such brutal force that he felt the blows against his
ribs, threatening to break his chest. What he was seeing was impossible.
What I was hearing was, according to the best neurologists in Mexico City and Houston, clinically improbable. There,
In the center of the high-ceilinged hallway, adorned with works of art worth fortunes, chaos reigned.
in the most beautiful and terrifying way possible. Paloma Bustamante, the new nanny who
She had only been in the residence for three weeks, she was on all fours on the floor, crawling with agility
Surprising for someone in uniform. Her brown hair, usually tied back.
His hair, styled in a strict bun according to protocol, had partially come loose, falling into
waterfall cascaded over his face while he made sounds like a playful monster.
And fleeing from her, crawling at full speed in opposite directions in their identical red jumpsuits, were
The quadruplets, but they weren’t running away silently, they were laughing. It was loud laughter.
guttural, explosive laughter that was born from the belly and came out
They shot out like fireworks. Damian felt like he was suffocating.
of the lungs. For 730 days, from the accident that took
His wife, that house had been a mausoleum. His children, the heirs of the
Arreola’s empire, they hadn’t uttered a single sound, not a cry, not a babble, nor
complaints. The trauma had plunged them into such a profound selective mutism that
Damian had come to accept with bitter resignation that he would never again
Listen to their voices. He had spent millions on therapies, he had brought in specialists from Europe.
She had filled her rooms with the most stimulating toys on the market, and the result had always been the same.
The same. Four pairs of empty eyes staring at him silently. And now a young woman
23 years old wearing a navy blue dress and yellow rubber gloves that
They clashed ridiculously with the elegance of the surroundings; she had achieved what medical science could not. Paloma
He gently caught the foot of one of the children, Leo, and he let out a squeal of
The delight was so sharp that Damian had to lean against the doorframe to keep from falling. I caught you, you little rascal.
Paloma exclaimed in a warm voice, turning the child around on the Persian rug, not caring.
wrinkle it. “Now the tickle monster is going to eat your feet.” The
The boy kicked his feet laughing uproariously, while his three brothers,
Mateo, Santi, and Nico, instead of hiding, crawled back towards
She was looking to be caught. It was also a symphony of overflowing joy.
Damian watched, mesmerized, as the golden afternoon light streaming through the windows bathed the
The scene illuminated the dust floating in the air stirred by the game.