Mercedes straightened her shawl, straightened her back as she hadn't done in years, and walked toward the church. She was no longer the old nuisance. She was the daughter of a king, and her story was just beginning.
Meanwhile, at the Lomas mansion, Rodrigo Salazar poured himself a whiskey, celebrating being rid of the “problem.” His phone rang. It was his main business partner. “Hello?” Rodrigo answered arrogantly. “Rodrigo… we have a serious problem. The Tax Administration Service and the Financial Intelligence Unit have just frozen all of the company’s accounts. There’s an arrest warrant out for fraud. You have to get out of there now.”
The glass of whiskey slipped from Rodrigo's hand and shattered on the marble floor. The sound was identical to that of an empire collapsing.
PART 2: THE HARVEST OF TEARS
CHAPTER 3: THE PROMISE OF DAWN
Mercedes walked those three blocks under the sun that had just emerged after the storm, feeling a strength in her legs she hadn't felt since she was forty. When she reached the carved wooden gate of the Carmen Parish, her heart was pounding. Was it real? Or had the cold and hunger caused her to hallucinate in the park?
Before she could ring the bell, the door opened. There stood Father Tomás, a robust man of about sixty, wearing a black cassock and holding a broom. He froze when he saw her. “Hail Mary, full of grace…” murmured the priest, lowering the broom. “Conceived without sin, Father,” replied Mercedes, bowing her head out of habit.
