Enrique felt something crack inside him, like a belief splintering.
Julia took a small scrap of paper from her pocket and wrote, “€18,000 found in the dresser.” She placed it neatly atop the stack, right where anyone would see it.
—Thank you, Lord, for honest work. Help me always do what is right.
Enrique didn’t move. It wasn’t just that she hadn’t taken the money.
It was the way she hadn’t even been tempted.
She went back to cleaning as if nothing extraordinary had happened.
Two hours later, she knocked on his office door.
—Mr. Enrique, I’ve finished. Do you need anything else?
He studied her face, searching for a crack, a performance, a hidden angle. There was none—only calm professionalism.
—No, Julia. That will be all.
Something in his chest tightened—shame, perhaps. Or recognition.
Over the next few days, Enrique watched quietly. Not with cameras or traps, but with attention. Julia treated the house with respect. She conserved supplies, turned off lights, organized without being asked, left small notes explaining what she’d done.
Still, he tested her one last time.
He left a wallet with five hundred euros on the living room table and pretended to scroll on his phone nearby. Julia noticed it, picked it up, placed it carefully in a drawer, and left a note:
Wallet found in living room. Stored safely.
Something inside him finally gave way.
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