I refused them, confused.

She smiled gently and told me the truth: she hadn’t married only out of loneliness. She needed someone she could trust.

There was already an heir.

Decades earlier, she had secretly given birth while trapped in a dangerous marriage. To protect her child, she gave him up. That son later died, leaving behind a daughter—Sofía.

Verónica needed a legal guardian. Someone young, discreet, and strong enough to protect her granddaughter and the legacy she had built.

That someone was me.

At first, I felt used. She admitted that, in the beginning, she had planned everything carefully. But she hadn’t planned on loving me.

Soon after, her health began to fail. A quiet tremor in her hand led to a devastating diagnosis: advanced cancer.

There was no future to plan for. Only time to protect what mattered.

She passed away six months later.