“Maybe if your wife were gone, she wouldn’t keep you away from your real family.”

My mother said that right in front of a doctor, while my seven-day-old son burned with fever in my arms.

My name is Miguel Torres. I live in Mexico City and work as a warehouse manager. My wife, Valeria, has always been gentle—someone who apologizes even when she’s not wrong, someone who rarely raises her voice even when she’s hurt.

A week before, she gave birth to our son, Santiago.

I still remember her in the hospital—exhausted, pale, barely able to move, yet smiling as if she had been given the entire world.

“Promise me no one will hurt him,” she whispered.

I promised.

I had no idea how wrong I would be.

A few days later, I was sent out of town for work. I didn’t want to leave. Valeria was weak, in pain, and the baby needed constant care. But my mother and sister insisted they would help.