The son cared for his mother for just a week, then insisted on placing her in a nursing home. Five days later, she died… and upon receiving the inheritance, he nearly fainted after discovering a secret the woman had kept quiet for 35 years.

Doña Guadalupe, 78, a widow from a young age, had raised her only son alone.

She saved peso by peso all her life, and with great effort, she managed to buy a 120-square-meter plot of land on a federal highway, which is now worth more than 6 million pesos.

Her son, Rodrigo, a construction company director with a mansion and luxury SUVs, only brought his mother to live with him when she fell and was hospitalized.

After living at home for just seven days, he began to complain:

“Mom is already very fragile, and I have a thousand commitments. I can’t be there all the time. The best thing is to take you to a nursing home with nurses and professional care.”

Doña Guadalupe remained silent, simply nodding her head.

The day she was left at the nursing home, no one imagined it would be the last time.

Five days later, they called to say she had d.ied suddenly of a stroke.

The funeral was quick and without much ceremony.

Three days later, Rodrigo went to the Notary to process the transfer of the assets held in his mother’s name.

When he opened the file, he froze, almost losing consciousness: the secret she had hidden for 35 years was finally coming to light.

In the file, above the will, were some words written by Doña Guadalupe by hand, dated three years prior:

“All my assets, including the 120 m² plot of land on the federal highway, I leave to my blood grandson, Diego Ramírez.”

Rodrigo was stunned, his hand trembling.

Diego was his own son, barely 16 years old, who had lived with his mother and maternal grandmother—that is, with his ex-wife—since childhood.

Since the divorce, Rodrigo barely took care of him, didn’t even pay him alimony, leaving him adrift. But his mother, Doña Guadalupe, had seen it all, known everything.

Under the will was also a handwritten letter:

“Son Rodrigo: All my life I lived with austerity and sacrifice, just so you could get ahead. But every day you grew colder, seeing me as a burden. This land is not for you to sell and squander, but to ensure the future of Diego, your only son and my only blood. Remember: true gratitude toward a mother is not shown after she’s d.ea.d.”

Rodrigo was devastated, as if a hammer had struck his head.

For the first time in his life, he felt an unbearable emptiness; he collapsed right there in the notary’s office.

He had had success, money, luxuries… but he had lost the most valuable thing: his mother’s love and trust.

Faced with the will, he bitterly understood that his own indifference had led his mother to place all her faith in the son he himself had abandoned.