He sat in his leather chair, calculating. Minimum wage. Rent around 3,500 dollars. Transportation. Formula costing 450 dollars per can. One can a week? Maybe ten days. That meant nearly 1,800 dollars a month just for milk—almost a third of her income. The math didn’t work. Yet somehow, she had been surviving like this for months.
He opened his laptop and searched for the price. The numbers confirmed it: 420, 450, even 480 dollars depending on the brand. No exaggeration. Just reality.
He texted his assistant: “Send me Maria’s salary details immediately.”
The answer came minutes later: minimum wage.
Daniel leaned back, staring at the screen. After subtracting everything, there was almost nothing left. And yet she showed up every day, greeting him with a polite, “Good morning, Mr. Carter,” as if her life wasn’t hanging by a thread.
The following Thursday, everything changed.
When Maria arrived, she found a large box by the service entrance with her name on it. Inside were six cans of the exact formula her baby needed. A note rested on top:
“Maria, this is for Lucas. It should last a month. No need to pay me back or thank me. —Daniel.”