Elena Morales never imagined that Christmas Eve would be the last day she would spend inside the Vega mansion.
That morning, the cold winter air of Madrid slipped quietly through the tall windows as Elena stood in the kitchen, carefully shaping gingerbread cookies. Her hands moved automatically, almost by memory. She had baked these same cookies every Christmas for the past four years—because they were the only ones Sofía would eat.
Outside, the city was glowing with holiday lights. Inside the mansion, staff members moved back and forth, preparing for an extravagant Christmas celebration.
But to Elena, the house felt hollow.
Empty.
Heavy.
Because she knew something no one else did.
At exactly 11:59 p.m., her time would end.
The Letter That Changed Everything
The letter had arrived three days earlier.
Printed on thick paper. Signed neatly at the bottom.
Rodrigo Vega.
Her employer.
Sofía’s father.
The letter informed her, in polite corporate language, that her services as Sofía’s nanny would no longer be required. Her contract would end on December 24, at 11:59 p.m.
No explanation.
No conversation.
Just an ending.
Elena had read it standing in the hallway, her back pressed against the wall as if the words themselves had knocked the air from her lungs.
Four years.
Four years of sleepless nights.
Four years of sitting on the floor beside a bed while a little girl shook from nightmares she could never explain.
Four years of learning how to love without ever hearing a single word in return.
And it was over with a signature.
Sofía had been mute since the night her mother died in a car accident. Doctors called it trauma-induced mutism. Therapists tried everything. Speech specialists came and went. Nothing worked.
Until Elena arrived.
Not with pressure.
Not with fear.
But with patience.
With warmth.
With love.
Slowly, Sofía began to change.
She smiled more.
She slept.
She stopped hiding.
But now Elena was being erased—quietly, cleanly—like she had never mattered.
The Woman Who Replaced Her
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