Her mother laughed softly.
“I tried.”
Elena wiped her cheeks.
“And Papá taught me to check the numbers.”
Celia laughed harder.
“Of course he did.”
Then she asked something that made Elena smile.
“So what are you going to do with the money?”
Elena considered the question.
For years, her financial life had been organized around immediate necessities.
Rent.
Groceries.
Tuition.
Transport.
The money she sent home.
A broken laptop could ruin her month.
A missed shift could endanger her ability to pay bills.
Now she had options she'd never possessed before.
“I want to finish my studies without working until midnight,” she answered.
Celia was quiet.
Elena continued.
“I want to help with your medical expenses. Pay off what I owe. And keep enough saved that one rude employer can't threaten my entire future.”
Her mother laughed softly.
“Very practical.”
Elena smiled.
“Papá would approve.”
“He would.”
Then Celia added, “And after you've done those things?”
Elena looked toward her desk.
The research papers.
The application information Inés had sent.
The outline of a proposal she'd wanted to write for years.
“I think I want to build something.”
Her mother sounded curious.
“What?”
“A research project that helps smaller producers understand the financial terms of international trade agreements before they sign them.”
Celia went silent.
Elena continued.
“Not legal representation. Not investment advice for individual deals. Educational tools. Clear explanations. Training materials in different languages.”
She looked toward the window.
“People shouldn't need an economics degree to understand the risks somebody is asking them to carry.”
For several seconds, Celia didn't answer.
Then she whispered, “Your father would have loved that.”
Elena smiled through tears.
“I know.”
The following month, the independent assessment of Corredor Azul was completed.
The final report did not recommend abandoning the entire initiative.
Instead, it described the conditions under which a revised, smaller project might be financially credible.
The original financing model had relied too heavily on projected capacity whose commercial status was insufficiently distinguished.
Several cost assumptions required additional evidence.
Certain permits, operational milestones, and contractual dependencies needed to be treated more cautiously.
And the review identified weaknesses in the procedures used to approve material revisions to investor presentations.
The report recommended clearer categorization of commercial commitments, updated downside scenarios, better disclosure of project dependencies, and independent verification of material assumptions before any financing decision.
Its conclusions were technical.