CHAPTER 18

They spend a week away, and not once do they call to check up on me. On a random Thursday, I receive a call from my P.A. She hadn’t contacted me while I was away because she knew I was traveling, and when I didn’t show up, she wasn’t sure what to do.

“Mr Castellanos is back and wants to know if you’ll be joining him for a meeting today,” she says. That’s how I find out he’s returned.

“I won’t be at work this week,” I reply, feeling a mix of relief and frustration. “And tell him I won’t be joining him. Also, you should take some time off, too.”

When she started working with me, I didn’t like her much, mainly because she reported every move to my father. But once I made it clear that she worked for me, not him, she began to behave differently.

Later, packages start arriving at my door—bags and bags of clothes and jewellery from my mother. It’s her way of showing love after abandoning me, though it only feels like another form of neglect. I don’t call to thank her.

My dad also calls, but