I wake up and open my eyes without knowing where I am. A young man who seems familiar approaches me, and that's when I realize I have an IV drip in my arm. What the heck? My head hurts terribly, and I feel confused and drowsy. Images of the last thing I remember come to my mind. Was I kissing Adele? That can't be true! Dad set me up!"Christian, Christian," the doctor calls to me. "Let's sit you up so you can fully wake up, you've been asleep for a while. Your wife is very worried, not to mention your sister."As he speaks, he helps me sit up, causing a wave of dizziness. He holds onto me until it passes. He helps me walk to the living room and sits me in a chair. I look around without recognizing anything, then I see my lovely wife coming in and hugging me happily. For some reason, I can't react. What happened to me that I feel so awful?"Chris, you're finally awake!" she says, showering me with kisses. She pulls away when she feels that I don't hug or kiss her back. It's not that I
On the other hand, Luis went to see Adele after finishing work, and as she had told him, he found the door open. He enters, still unsure if what he is about to do is right. Adele is dressed very provocatively."I thought you weren't coming," she says, stepping forward to kiss him on the cheek very close to the corner of his lips. Luis swiftly grabs her waist and kisses her passionately. When they part, she smiles."Well, you sure know how to kiss. But I didn't invite you over for that," she says."No? Then why did you invite me?" Luis asks."We need to come up with another plan to make money, you were right. What I did was stupid and it cost me the support of my in-laws," Adele explains."I told you, you don't know how to do things properly," Luis replies as he sits down on a chair. Adele pours him a glass of wine."I think you and I could do great business together," she suggests."It's possible," Luis responds, sipping the wine gently as he watches her. He can't shake the image of h
The worst thing that can happen to a mother is to know that her children are in danger. From that moment on, your heart always beats rapidly. You have to convince yourself that your children are fine. You lose trust in everyone around them. You become obsessive. You believe that the only person who takes care of them well is you.If up until that moment, they occupied ninety nine percent of your daily thoughts. From then on, they take up all your time. Your thoughts. Your breath. You stop being yourself, to become their shadow. That's what I'm going through right now. And even though I see everyone taking care of them. Only when I have them under my gaze, do I truly feel calm.Flashback.The children are very happy because they are going to start school. We have enrolled them in a very good private school. Christian has hired bodyguards for them. Because he says that his children will always be in danger because of who he is. At first, I thought it was exaggerated. But with Luis's thr
"I don't know, Abu, I'm terrified. I have nightmares that my children's hands are being cut off every night.""Bella, I'll say it again. That will never happen! They would have to kill all of us to get to them!""What if I go abroad, to a place where no one knows me?""You're not going to do that! They would be in more danger! I couldn't protect them like I do here!""But Abu, what if we do it right?""Bella, are you going to be running and fleeing for your whole life? Is that the life you want for your children? For them to grow up fearful and scared? Because they will feel and realise what's happening! And that fear you feel will embed itself in their hearts!""No, I don't want them to feel what I'm feeling, Abu!""But it's already happening. Look at them, they don't want to play outside the house! They only look at you, worried and scared. They know something is happening. Children can sense it!"I look at my children, lying on the floor not far from me playing, but calm. Neither o
After spending the entire morning at the court with the lawyer and going through many procedures, they finally manage to complete the registration of the children under Christian's name. He couldn't calm down until he had all the paperwork done and changed in the national system to reflect his surname. Not content with that, he went with the lawyer and in front of a notary, made them his universal heirs. Isabella protested, saying they didn't need to do everything in one day, but he didn't want to miss the opportunity. He made his wife promise that they would wait until the children were adults to tell them that he wasn't their biological father."At last, Bella, I can't believe it, my children are truly mine now! Thank you, Bella, thank you so much!" Christian exclaimed, holding his children's identities and other papers in his hands, continuously calling all the places that, according to him, needed to know he had two children. Isabella had given up on him, but now, witnessing his h
"Are you sure, Chris? Was I that girl?" Isabella asks excitedly, her father-in-law had already said so, although honestly she didn't believe it. But as far as she remembers, Christian is different. "Are you not mistaken, my love? Do you really remember?""Yes, Bella, I dreamt about you! About seeing you every Sunday, in your treehouse! I remember it very clearly, Bella! Always in those dresses with lots of frills and your hair with the pink bow on the right side that I used to switch to the left! Do you remember how mad you used to get about it?""It's true, Chris, you remember me!" It's now Isabella who excitedly shouts, also recalling that moment he describes. "I always wore that bow, I loved it! Oh God, Chris, you really remember me, it's not a lie anymore, you really remember me! Congratulations, my love! Do you remember anything else?"And she jumps up without caring that they are in the middle of the parking lot, surrounded by guards and curious onlookers, showering him with kis
When she was eighteen, her parents went bankrupt. They were not millionaires, but they had a good life. She had everything she wanted, and she was not ugly, but she was not the most beautiful girl in school either. That title belonged to a charming girl who treated everyone equally and believed that everyone around her were good people and treated her honestly for who she was, not for her money or beauty.Her beauty was such that all the boys in the school were after her, but in her life there was only love for the most handsome and bad boy in the institution, Santiago Sardino, and to top it off, he was the one with the most money and spent it recklessly. No one understood how she, the beauty queen at every year-end event, the most educated and refined girl. She was the girlfriend of the bad boy, who didn't think twice about getting into fights with anyone, who had a reputation for being involved with the mafia, and to everyone's surprise, was faithful to her.Since she could remember
Her friend Susan was terrified of her parents, but trusted Santiago madly. She had arranged to meet him to ask to move up the wedding before her parents found out what she had done. Eva bought two tickets and told her she would be going abroad with her mother. She asked her to accompany to the airport, and with the help of a friend, they planned to drug her.But the night before she was supposed to leave, on which her friend was to meet her boyfriend, she sent a message to Santiago breaking up with him. He got drunk at the same bar where she was waiting for him. He kept calling Susan, who was asleep due to a sleeping pill she had put in her tea. She answered the call and went to meet him at the bar in a hotel. They went up to a room together. She lay naked next to him after undressing him.The next day, she put on a whole show crying, saying he had taken advantage of her and that she had lost her virginity to him, something that the bloodstain she had taken from a cu
Christian sat in the doctor's office, waiting for news on Isabella's condition. His brother-in-law, Dr. David, sat beside him, having already prepared their home for Isabella's return. David would be personally taking care of her.Finally, the doctor emerged, accompanied by the hospital director. They greeted Christian and David, settling down with serious expressions."Well, doctor, can I take my wife home or not?" Christian asked impatiently."Before I answer that, Christian, I need to ask you some questions. There's something about your wife that we can't understand," the doctor said, looking at the hospital director who was shifting nervously."What do you mean, doctor? Is something wrong with Bella?" Christian asked, visibly frightened."Her vital signs are all normal," the doctor began, nervously shuffling some papers in his hands. "However, in the latest test results we ran to clear her for discharge, we found something we don't know how to analyse."
They instinctively approach Susan and surround her as if protecting her from the world, while Susan looks at Santiago very scared. Mrs. Tania looks at her son and hurries to say."And your parents too, Susi, would come with you, that mansion is huge. Maybe if Bella hears us all around her, she'll be encouraged to wake up.""It's a good idea, Susi!" her father chimes in. "That way we can see our great-grandchildren all the time and you'll form a relationship with them. We'll go with you and Santiago will be by your side all the time, nothing will happen to you, darling, and you'll take care of your daughter, she needs you by her side.""Yes, Susi, Bella will surely be happy when she finds out you're her mum." Santiago says, excited to be able to live with her."Do you really think so, Santi? Do you think my daughter won't blame me for not knowing how to look after her and letting Eva steal her from me?" Susan asks anxiously.On the other hand, Rodrigo
Marta observes Susan who looks at her excitedly as if she were really her biological daughter as Bella is, from whom she feels she is stealing all those moments. So she feels disconcerted."Oh, God!" exclaims Susan, excited, and steps forward to hug and kiss her. "This is miraculous, I have another daughter. When Santi told me he had adopted you, I was filled with joy and I'd love it if you called me Mum if you don't mind. If not, that's fine, I'll treat you like a daughter, and look, these would be your grandparents. Mum, Dad, don't you think she looks like Santi and me too?""That's right, daughter, that's right. Nice to meet you, Martita, this one here is your maternal grandmother from today onwards," Susan's mother steps forward. "Here, I brought you a gift, I'm a bit confused, are you Isabel or Marta?""Isabel was the name my parents gave me, but then I changed it to Marta. Dad, he's the only one, well, and now my boyfriend Rodrigo, who calls me Isa," explains Ma
Yes, you saved me, Bella. You insisted that I go to work at your apartment, and that's when I realised how well you were looked after, that you had visible and hidden bodyguards, that if I stayed by your side, nothing would happen to me. Forgive me for taking advantage of you in that way and putting you in danger.That's why I stayed to live with you, and you can't imagine how happy I was when your grandparents accepted me and did everything for me. I don't know how Grandpa realised they were following me, but do you know what he did? He put security guards on me too! Can you believe it? Me, an orphan he'd just met, just because you wanted me by your side, he started looking after me!You wouldn't believe how much I hated those rich girls who thought they were better than everyone else, but you weren't like that. You're so different, Bella, that I started to love you from that moment on because it wasn't just a whim of yours. You truly loved me. I was hea
Adele looks at her mother really surprised by what she has just told her, she never imagined that Christie Thompson would help her in this way."She won't want you near her brother because of what you did, but she also doesn't want you to suffer the fate your father had imposed on you by selling you to that guy who was surely going to put you in his harem or auction you off in a brothel in his country. I'm truly grateful that she called me to save you," her mother said very seriously. Then, with a smile, she asked, "How are you feeling? Does it hurt much?""A bit when I move. How long has it been?" she asked, looking at her healed wounds.Her mother looked at her with pity and told her that she had been in that situation for almost two months. They had kept her asleep the whole time because they were travelling from one place to another, hiding her. Besides, there was something she had to tell her, and now that she knew she had a son, she thought it was the right time
On the other hand, in an imposing house, Adele finally opened her eyes and looked around, not recognising anything about the place where she was. A nurse, seeing her, came to check on her, then ran out and returned with a lady. She stood at the door, looking at Adele with adoration and a little fear."Mum? You're my mum, aren't you?" she asked, still unable to believe it, then agitatedly asked, "Luis! Where is Luis, Vivian and the child?""I don't know anything about that, darling. Who are they? Who did this to you?" her mum asked in turn."Can you give me a phone, mum, please?" Adele asked anxiously."Yes, yes, take mine. Who are you going to call?" she asked, interested."My husband, to find out about my son," Adele said confidently as she dialled Luis's number."Son? Do you have a son, Adele?" her mother asked, astonished, knowing nothing about it."Yes, I have a son with Luis Ibañez, who is my husband!" she affirmed vehemently."Whe
After Adele disappeared from the hospital, and after trying to find her in all the possible places her father and Eva knew, without success, they decided to leave for a while to take the heat off him and because he had to return to his country to meet his father's demands. He took Eva and Oswaldo with him, who believed the story that those who had shot Luis, Vivian, the child, Adele and the others, had been Santiago's men in their attempt to save them.They dedicated all their time to creating a plan to get revenge and take over everything from the Thompsons and, if possible, the Sardinos. In other words, Eva and Oswaldo's plan hadn't changed, although they were now sharing it with the arrogant prince, who was furious because for the first time in his life, he had encountered someone who didn't bow to his power.After Eva presented all the evidence suggesting that Mr. Thompson had kidnapped Susan and kept her hidden in a psychiatric clinic for years after rapin
Santiago, while talking to Christian, busied himself checking on and comforting his daughter, feeling a great pain in his chest and a profound helplessness for not having prevented this accident by not catching Eva sooner. He kissed Isabella on the forehead and turned to answer his son-in-law's question."No sign of her, I think she went to Malaysia with the little prince." Seeing Christian's expression of despair, he quickly added, "But don't worry too much, we have a plan to dismantle all of this.""What plan?" Christian asked, letting out a sigh. Like his own father-in-law, he felt utterly gutted by what had happened."With your real mother-in-law, the one they call Susan, my Susi, the one your father tried to steal from me," Santiago explained with a happy expression."I understand now, she's very beautiful, like my Bella. And she seems as lovely as her, I understand why my father wanted to take her away, my father-in-law," Christian said, not taking hi
Christian gently kissed the sleeping Isabella, sighed when he saw that she made no move. So he continued talking to himself. "My first mistake was not searching for you after my father separated us when we were children. I could have written to you, informed you, told you that I loved you more than anyone in the world. That the hundreds of times I said we'd marry when we were adults and I wouldn't let anyone hurt you, I meant it truly. And I came back, Bella, I did," Christian continued his monologue. "I returned for you; it was the first thing I did when we came back to this country. I came like a madman to find you, but I arrived too late. You were marrying Luis Ibáñez." A sob escaped Christian as he remembered that day, one of the most painful he had ever experienced, watching as he lost his beloved Isabella. "That was my second great mistake," he confessed, his voice breaking. "Not seeing in your eyes that it was a farce. Even when I followed you to Paris li