The woman hugged him before he left, unable to speak. Raul waved her off coldly, but she met his gaze calmly, already resolved.
That night, Mateo came home exhausted, hiding his pain from his mother. Rain battered the windows as she squeezed his hand.
“Don’t lose hope,” she said softly. “Good people are always rewarded.”
What Mateo didn’t know was that the woman he helped was Sofia Moreno, a retired businesswoman with a fortune she kept hidden behind simple clothes. She spent that night thinking about the young man who had sacrificed his pay for her.
Days later, Mateo received a call inviting him to a job interview. With nothing to lose, he went. When he arrived, he froze. Before him stood a brand-new workshop, his name displayed proudly across the front: Mateo Cruz Auto Service.
“There must be a mistake,” he said in disbelief.
“There isn’t,” Sofia said, stepping forward with a smile. “This place is yours.”
She explained that his kindness reminded her of her son, who had died years earlier.
“I wanted to see if your goodness was real,” she said. “It was. So I decided to give you an opportunity.”
Mateo broke down, hugging her.
“I don’t know how to thank you.”