Chapter 35

A few weeks later…

The tension between Gloria and Samson had only worsened. The already delicate situation had reached a point of no return. Samson was no longer the charming man who showered her with attention and tender gestures. He had started coming home late, sometimes not coming back at all. Gloria found herself alone in a house that was too big and too silent, brooding over her thoughts and her confusion in the face of this downward spiral.

Every day, she tried to reach Aunt Marie, the only person she truly trusted to reason with her husband. Aunt Marie, although warned, was abroad. She could do nothing but talk to her nephew on the phone, trying as best as she could to convince him to come to his senses. But the words seemed to slide off Samson like water on stone. Stubborn, he listened to no one and persisted in his ways.