I tensed up immediately — in two years, I had been invited to his parents’ home only a couple of times, and every time I felt out of place. They were wealthy, and I was a girl from a simple family. And for them, that had always been a problem.

At seven in the evening, I was already walking up the marble staircase of their old house in the city center. My fiancé greeted me at the door with a strained smile, kissed me on the cheek, and whispered, “Sorry for the sudden invitation. It’s important.”