The dark circles under her eyes were so deep it looked like she hadn’t slept in days. And she was crying silently, the way women cry when they no longer have the strength even to make a sound.

Behind her, in the living room, there were at least eight people. Robert’s mother, a woman who from day one looked at me as if I were an obstacle in her way. His two sisters, with their shrill voices and mocking laughs. The younger brother with his wife and their two kids, who were running wild all over the house.