“You didn’t have to do this for me,” Nadia had told her the day Jimena offered her the job.

“You were deceived too,” Jimena replied. “And besides, you’re good at what you do. I believe in second chances. It’s just that some people have already used up theirs.”

Nadia had accepted with tears in her eyes.

Now, while the photographers searched for the best angle, Jimena thought about the woman she had been: the one who waited awake watching the clock, the one who believed without proof, the one who put her life on hold for someone else’s plans.

That woman was gone.

But she hadn’t been replaced by someone bitter. Jimena Whitmore felt strong, content, at peace. She had transformed betrayal into motivation, pain into driving force. She had stopped being “Tomás’s wife” and become something much more important: herself.

She cut the ribbon to applause.

The new lobby was bustling with people. Waiters with trays, smiling receptionists, curious guests. Jimena watched them for a moment, then took a breath.