“I’ll do it,” I added, and saying it out loud made the choice feel real in a way it hadn’t before.
There was a long exhale on the other end, not relief exactly, but something close to it.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
We didn’t say goodbye properly, not in the way we used to, just a quiet pause before the line went dead, leaving me staring at the phone in my hand.
The room felt different now, not safer, not lighter, but clearer, like the fog had lifted just enough to see what needed to be done.
Mateo stood slowly, giving me space, but also making it clear that the next steps were already in motion.
“It won’t be easy,” he said, not as a warning, but as a simple fact.
“I know,” I replied, though I wasn’t sure I fully understood what that meant yet, only that there was no way around it anymore.
We gathered the bag together, the weight of the money no longer just physical, but tied to everything it represented.
Outside, the air was colder than before, sharper, like the world itself had shifted slightly since I arrived.
We didn’t speak much on the way, just walked side by side, each step carrying its own quiet consequence.
The building we entered wasn’t impressive, the kind of place you wouldn’t notice unless you had a reason to look.
Inside, everything was calm, almost ordinary, which made what we were about to do feel even more surreal.
