CHAPTER 5: WHEN I OPENED MY EYES

—What are you talking about, Mr. Hilton? You seem to be out of your mind, I just came downstairs to get something to eat and drink. You're the one who got into it with me, while I was at the table away from you and your guest. —You interrupted my moment of leisure. Do you want to have to pay for that moment? Surely, your underwear got wet when you witnessed that moment, tell me what is your price, will you stop pretending? Admit it, you want me too. Caspian says with a mocking smile towards the woman.

Surprised, Sara slaps him in the face. And she faces him saying.

— I remind you, Mr. Hilton, that you and I are divorced, we have a deal, to stay together for a month, but only that. At the end of the month, each one on his own, if my presence bothers you so much, I could go to my parents' house. But for sure, if your father comes. And he sees that I'm not here, he'll start to get suspicious, don't you think? Besides, both you and I are not interested in each other, but your father is very interested in keeping us married.

—That's true, in fact, that's one of my questions, why did you marry me? What did you give my father? Or what did he give you? It's very strange that we got married expressly, I have never seen you before in my life and suddenly you appear as my fiancée and ruin my current life.

—Your father forced me to marry you, why... At that moment, Sara kept quiet, she couldn't continue because it would be talking about her secret.

—Why are you silent, go on. Tell me what did you accept? —That doesn't matter, we are already divorced, just hold on for a month. As she said that, she pushed Caspian out of her room and closed the door immediately. The man surprised by her action started banging on the bedroom door.

Sara shouted at him from the other side. — Mr. Hilton, that's enough, I will not leave the room again, leave me alone.

—Sara, open the door or I'll break it down, I want answers. Why did you marry me? What did my father offer you? Caspian's tone of voice was angry. Apparently he wasn't going to stop. Sara didn't know what to say or what to do, she wasn't interested in him knowing about her secret either, but if she didn't open the door she feared he would break her down, she was tired and fed up she took a deep breath, got up from her bed and went to the door as she opened it, she felt a loud knock on her forehead, then she didn't know anything.

When she opened her eyes, she could hear from far away Caspian's Tone talking to the doctors in a worried and insistent way he was asking if she was well, a doctor asked him what was his relationship with the woman and he answered she is my wife. How funny she thought to herself. I am his ex—wife. Not his wife, but she had no strength to speak, the blow she had received had left her without strength, she just wanted to sleep.

When Sara opened her eyes again, she was in a white room. Her mother and father were there. They looked very worried. They hardly noticed that their daughter had woken up. They started to ask her questions.

—Sara, is it true that you hit the door, or did that bastard hit you?  Hearing that question from the father. Sara realized that Caspian didn't tell her the truth, if she talked, she would probably get in trouble with Caspian. So she preferred to play along.

 —Yes your daughter is a bit silly and distracted, I didn't notice that the door had closed. And I bumped into it, I hit it pretty hard. I felt dizzy and well now I wake up.

—Oh, my child, you've been in bed for two days. Are you hungry for sure?

For 2 days. I was shocked. Then I haven't eaten since breakfast. Before the marriage no wonder I felt so weak, I must feed myself. —Yes, Mom, I'm really hungry. —Where's Caspian, by the way? Even if I'm not really married to him, he has to be here to, pretend, if nothing else. —Young Hilton, who has been with you for the past two days, had to report for a business meeting today. That's why we stayed with him while he went to the meeting, he said he would be back this afternoon.

While Sara was eating. Her father, Mr. Ricardo, started to comment her about her current situation because of the incident.

—Your current situation now is somewhat complex. There are many detectives, looking for the clue about who made the investments at the last minute. Jeff is pulling all the strings of contacts he has within the stock exchange, Wall Street. According to the bigwigs what we can do to erase this fact and make it go away. It would be to renegotiate the financial situation, they want to hire you as an investor and collaborate in the recovery from the crisis.

—Just collaborate and help the financial system, I wouldn't mind. But if they want me as a slave generating for them, forget it. —That's what I told Jeff, he said. They don't want you as a slave, they just want to get back what they lost.

—If so, how much did you lose? In total, I return it to you and multiply it if necessary. What I want is that no one says my name and if in such a case someone accuses me later on. They ignore it and turn a blind eye as if it never happened.

—You know better than me, Sara, that this is not going to happen, these people are wolves, they will always look out for their own benefit. If they know you right away, they will take advantage of your abilities even at your expense.

—That's clear to me, dad, and that's why I must clear my name and erase any trace of that process, I must do something strong enough to erase that incident and position me and my people in a place where they can't take us down easily.

And I have to do all that before the end of this month, before Caspian officially announces our divorce.

—So, why don't you try to romance this guy? That buys you a little more time, doesn't it?  A tall, thin, fair—skinned man. Quite charismatic asks this question. — I don't like the man, he's too narcissistic, arrogant, Michael, don't make that kind of joke.

—Sara, come on, you're a pretty smart girl. I'm sure you'll get him to fall for you, you just have to hold out for a month. Who knows, maybe he'll be the one who ends up chasing you after the divorce. —I doubt that will happen and we are already divorced.

 At that moment, Ricardo receives a call from work. He leaves the room as he says goodbye to his daughter in the distance. Followed by his wife.

—Michael, I leave Sara's care to you, anything you need, just let me know.

—I understand, don't worry, Mrs. Jimena, I will take care of Sara. Until her husband shows up. —What husband, I don't have a husband.

—Wait, you're already divorced. —Weren't you going to wait until the end of the month? Is there something I don't know? —Michael, 15 minutes after I got married, I got divorced. The man brought a lawyer and made me sign the divorce decree and waive my rights as a wife, I get nothing from the divorce.

—Too bad, I thought you were going to get divorced at the end of this month and I would get even a slice of those assets, As I am your best friend, He says all this in a funny and flirtatious way.  —Michael, you never change, do you? Well, since you're here you're going to have to help me.

—Of course I'll do anything the princess asks me to do. Except sleep with a man. —Michael, you're one of a kind —no, I don't want you to sleep with a man. I want you to fix the Wall Street problem, clean up my involvement in the investment process that caused the internal market recession.

—Sara, if I could fix this thing, rest assured, I would have done it a long time ago. You shouldn't have gotten married. —Now the situation is a little different, we have Jeff's help —Who is Jeff? —Jeff Peterson is one of my father's associates, he has contacts on Wall Street and according to what he informed us, they are willing to do business with us at a reasonable price. They are willing to do business with us in exchange for us paying him back the profit lost in the process with interest. —But that seems unfair to me. At the end of the day, you invested, they lost because they invested against you. Is that how the stock market works or am I wrong?

 —Yes. And in that you are right, but these people are old wolves with a lot of purchasing power and influence and if they find out that it was me who did the process, someone who has no backing, I assure you that they will be hunting me before you know it, so I only have 2 ways, one is to fall in love with Caspian to the bone, which I would really like to avoid, because in my point of view he is a womanizer, who has no qualms about doing whatever he wants and abandon women to their misfortune. Or the second option, clear my name before the end of the month, with some process that erases the previous one if you have an idea I accept suggestions.

—well. I still think that falling in love with Caspian is easier than escaping from the hands of these capitalists, but the only thing that comes to my mind would be. Invest in the countries that were destroyed after the investment process. And help them to recover using your own name as a backup and if you place the companies as a source of income, I assure you that people will not doubt that your investments are feasible, they will even want to invest with you, just for the good gesture of helping the countries that fell in the beginning of recession. That way, if there is a rumor or someone tries to accuse you in the future, they will question it, because you will be investing in those places.

—I think that's a great strategy, Michael, you're a genius, come here. At that moment he gives him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. And to his bad luck, at that very moment Caspian enters.

—You look better, you have the strength to hug and kiss a man. I should leave the hospital now, don't you think? Miss Cosette, with a forced smile, says the latter. Meanwhile, she throws a withering glance at Sara. As for Michael, she simply ignores him.

—Hey, Sara, what you have asked me to do, I will do it at once, I am leaving you. Good afternoon, Mr. Hilton. after saying this last thing. He leaves the hospital room. While the couple is left alone in the room.

—What did you ask the bony one? —Bony? Michael is thin, but they are not in the bones either was what Sara thought, with a smile she answered him. —By the way, I think you owe me something, don't you think? —With his eyes fixed on Sara, he questioned her. What do I owe you?

—An apology, you punched me in the forehead. —It's your fault for not warning me, you knew I was knocking on the door.

For a while. They both looked at each other aggressively. It was as if they wanted to kill each other with their eyes until Caspian broke the silence.

—You're an opportunistic tramp. And you're a womanizer, a narcissist and a wife—beater. —It's not my fault that you opened the door at the moment when I was beating her. —So I'm to blame for getting hit? When it was you who hit me? You told my parents that I hit myself with the door.