A humble cleaning woman, having no one to entrust her daughter to, decided to take her with her to work — little suspecting that the reaction of her millionaire boss would change everything.

A humble cleaning woman, having no one to entrust her little girl to, decided to take her with her to work; she never imagined that the reaction of her millionaire boss would change everything.

Claudia woke up at 5:30, as usual, her body tired and her eyes puffy from a bad night’s sleep, but without time to complain.

The old alarm clock on the bedside table no longer rang, but since her husband’s death four years earlier, she carried the clock in her head. Her daughter, Renata, barely four years old, slept soundly, curled up against a stuffed animal whose ear now drooped.

Claudia looked at her for a few seconds before getting up. It pained her to wake her, but she couldn’t leave her alone. She would have to take her to work again.

She moved quickly around the small house they shared, in the San Pedro district. A modest dwelling, with worn walls, a single light bulb in the ceiling and an old stove that took forever to light.

She served Renata some oatmeal with hot milk and herself a black coffee, all in silence so that the little girl could sleep a few more minutes.

During breakfast, she was thinking about how to explain to Señor Leonardo again that his daughter would be with her. She had already told him she had no one else to leave her with, but she still felt like at any moment he would tell her that things couldn’t go on like this, that she had to find another solution. As if it were easy.

Claudia had looked for a daycare center, but she couldn’t afford it, even the cheapest one, and she had no family to help her. That was just how things were, period.

At 6:15, she woke Renata with a kiss on the forehead. The little girl opened her eyes, still sleepy, stretched, and asked the usual question every morning: « Are you going to work today, Mom? » Claudia smiled and answered yes, but that she would come with her, as other times.

Renata nodded, delighted, because she loved the big house. She said it looked like a castle. Even though she was hardly allowed to touch anything, she was happy to be there.

While dressing her, Claudia repeated over and over again not to make any noise, not to touch anything without permission, not to run in the corridors, and not to enter Señor Leonardo’s office. « It’s very important that you behave yourself, my girl. I need this job. »

She spoke to him in a firm but gentle tone. They left the house at 7 o’clock, as always. They walked four blocks to the bus stop. Claudia carried her backpack and a shopping bag with some food.

And Renata, with a small pink backpack full of toys and a notebook for drawing, boarded the bus as she did every morning amidst the jostling, and Claudia made sure that the little girl was sitting comfortably by the window.

The journey lasted about forty minutes, and Renata spent it watching the cars, the people, the stray dogs, while asking endless questions. Claudia answered what she could, even if sometimes she was at a loss for words.

They arrived in the Lomas del Encino district, where everything was different: wide streets, trimmed trees, houses with electric gates and uniformed gardeners already at work early in the morning.

The villa where she worked was located on the corner of a quiet street, behind a huge black gate. Claudia had to use the intercom to get it opened for her.

The caretaker, Don José, already knew her. He smiled when he saw Renata and opened the door without a word. Claudia thanked him with a quick glance, and they went in. The villa was enormous, two stories high, with windows on all sides and a garden bigger than their entire street combined. Claudia still felt nervous every time she entered, even though she had been working there for two years.

Everything was clean, orderly, and smelled of precious wood. Señor Leonardo rarely left his office in the morning. Claudia knew his routine well. He would come upstairs at 8:00, come down for breakfast at 9:00, then return to his office to work or leave for meetings. Sometimes she didn’t see him all day; she would only leave him messages through the butler. That morning, she thought it would be the same.

They entered through the back door as usual. Claudia asked Renata to sit in a corner of the kitchen where she could see her. She gave her colored pencils and a sheet of paper. The little girl began to draw, and she started cleaning, beginning with the dining room. Everything was going as usual.

After washing the dishes left by the cook, she swept, mopped, rearranged the chair cushions, and dusted the china cabinet with its collection of valuable bottles. At 8:15, she heard footsteps on the stairs. Her heart skipped a beat. She hadn’t expected him to come down so soon.