That thought brings with it a strange, hard clarity.
If he gave you this secretly, it means he understood exactly what would happen if doña Carmen or Lucía found out before you crossed the gate. They would have snatched the bag back, called him confused, humiliated him, denied everything, claimed the property was never his to give, accused you of manipulation, theft, ingratitude. Alejandro might even have appeared then, at last, not from love but from panic, trying to wrap legal language around a woman he had just discarded.
No.
Don Ernesto did not send you away with a gift.
He sent you away with a head start.
That difference matters.
You rewrap everything quickly, more carefully than before, and stand.
