Chapter 45

• “How can a self-righteous man as yourself seduce my daughter to sleep with you? Doesn’t our friendship matter to you? My daughter is young and naïve. You could have guided her instead to the right path, not corrupt and ravage her! You’re my friend for heaven’s sake! And it’s like you’re snatching my young daughter from the cradle. It is immoral, if not only disrespectful, inconsiderate, and selfish! Don’t you think it’s stabbing me in the back?” Patricio bellowed at Asher when he came that night to visit him.
• Maurice could only stand between them, trying to not escalate her son’s fury. He was already shaking his cane, and he might hit Asher with it.
• “Patricio, calm down. We can talk like civilized people. If you keep shouting at him like that, our neighbors will hear it. How did you think the rumors go around here, huh? It’s because of your damn big mouth!” Maurice scolded her son.