CHAPTER 1

HACIENDA VALLADOLID

FIVE YEARS AGO

Steady steps forward, tireless steps, steps that needed no extra effort. With her hands on her hips, and for every second, a step, the black boots that made a perfect combination with that white skirt while the long sleeve blouse and the neck and wrists adorned with precious jewels.

The smile on her face and the teasing look covered behind those sunglasses while with fearful steps, Elena walked backwards. The fear she had of Valeria imprinted on her face.

No matter how much she pretended to scream, they were in the stables, exactly where almost nobody went to visit at that hour. Valeria had chosen the perfect place for her next move.

“I told you, I told you again and again, you wouldn't listen to me,” continued Valeria with the same smile on her face.

It was precisely at that moment that Elena felt how she stopped breathing. The air was no longer enough when in front of her she could have death itself.

“Let me go, let me go, don't even dare to lay a finger on me!” She shouted as she crashed her back against a column.

“And you could lay a finger on my son? I told you a thousand times, I told you to stay away because I wasn't going to tolerate it!”

Elena began to beg for the air she was missing. Valeria had found her weakness. This woman was asthmatic. The air that was coming in was never going to be enough because what she was really needed was her inhaler.

Searching desperately through her bag, Valeria looked at her feeling more powerful than she already was.

And just when Elena was able to find the inhaler in her things, Valeria didn't hesitate a second longer and snatched it out of her hands while the teasing smile was still on her.

“Please... please, I beg you, ma'am... please,” she said feeling that this minute would be her last.

Throwing the inhaler with all her might into the stables, Valeria grabbed Elena by the neck about to choke her.

“Please, madam, do it for your grandson in my belly....”

“My grandson will not be a b*st*rd*. My grandchild will have the blood of important families. Not yours.”

And without further ado, Valeria let her go, turning around. It was only a matter of minutes before she died. It was only a matter of seconds for that woman who came to work in that house and that child in her womb to die once and for all.

He told her countless times. A maid and a Valladolid could never, ever be together. That woman had had the guts to entangle herself with one of her children until she became pregnant. It was a shame that neither her son nor she was going to see one morning.

And just as she had said, it was only a matter of minutes before Elena's lifeless body fell to the ground behind her. Elena and Valeria's grandson were dead.

YEAR 2023

Laughter invaded the room where the most beautiful bride was being arranged. The veil had already been arranged on the hairdo, the smile on her face couldn't have been more beautiful. She was about to marry the man of her life. This was undoubtedly the best day of her life.

Three years had passed before it was finally Zein who let her know that he wanted to spend the rest of his life by her side. One of the most important women in that country and in that town, the great Miss Erika Beltran.

“Everything ready?” One of the maids arrived and asked.

“Juanita! “Erika called out. “Juanita, is everything ready?”

“Everything is ready, Miss. The groom is already downstairs, the ceremony is about to begin.”

One last time Erika looked at herself in the mirror. Without a doubt she was the most beautiful bride. The same bride who was about to marry one of the most important men in the country, Zein Valladolid.

Finally, Erika got up from her place. Everything was ready.

“How do I look, Juanita?” Erika asked her trusted worker.

“You look perfect, Miss! Finally, today you’re getting married, finally today you become Zein Valladolid's wife. The next boss.”

Erika could not help laughing. “Shall we go?”

“Of course, Miss! I'm going to talk to her father so he can give her to the groom. I'm so excited! “Juana shouted as she ran down the stairs, leaving Erika with a huge smile on her face.

That white dress, that veil that covered her face, that smile that was not always seen on her face. She was getting married in love as just few people in the world seem to do. She had only one wish. Someday, she hoped that someday she would be able to find her twin sister, the one they hadn't heard from for more than fifteen years.

“I wish, I wish I could find you, Elena. That's what I wish for the most.”

With a glass of wine, walking back and forth without being able to take his eyes off the wedding that was about to take place, Antonio couldn't seem to calm down. The real groom seemed to be the brother’s groom. The man was more nervous than the one marrying.

“Hey, hey, what's wrong with you, Antonio!” Valeria asked when she saw how restless her son was.

“I can't believe that you're letting Zein marry Erika! Don't you realize that she's...”

“She's what? You still think she might be Elena, the woman they found dead in the stables five years ago?”

Antonio could only look at his mother. “I loved her, mom.”

“You didn't love anyone.”

“She was pregnant with my child.”

“And who's to say that the child was yours? If she died was because she was careless, if she knew she was sick, why didn't she take care of her medicine? The medicine was found far away from where she was.”

“Something says to me that someone wanted to hurt her.”

“Please don't be an idiot.”

“Someone intended to...”

“Abuse her? Maybe, maybe the chauffeur. The chauffeur liked that woman.”

“You really don't notice Elena's resemblance to Erika? They could be twins.”

“Yes, yes, at the time I was impressed by how much they looked alike but then I realized they are not the same person! Erika is classy, she comes from a wealthy family, of course she has nothing to do with Elena. She was nothing more than a servant. So shut up, your brother is getting married,” Valeria said and walked forward.

People were already beginning to take their places to sit down and witness the wedding. And in front of the altar, Zein was already waiting for his wife.

Valeria could not be happier. Finally, the most intelligent of her sons was going to marry one of the most important people in the country. And it was not that she loved one of her sons more than the other, but it was Valeria herself who knew perfectly well that between Antonio and Zein, it was Zein to whom she could entrust the company and not the womanizer and weakling Antonio.

“Come on, Antonio, your brother's wedding is about to begin,” said Valeria.

“Don't forget, mother. For me that woman is Elena and she will be mine, mine!”

And so, each one taking their places, the ceremony was about to begin.

And just on the road leading to the altar, a woman stood there with an older man. Her father.

Erika could not be happier, the man of her dreams was waiting for her at the altar.

VILLAGE OF THE VALLADOLID

VALLADOLID PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL

When there is no hope, when those who believe they have the power of everything have hit the hardest. The time that as river water goes, the storms pass, the endless gray sky ceases to be, sooner or later ceases to be.

Lies, secrets to be known, more lies that sunk him in that place. Everyone was going to pay for the mistake and he was not going to rest until he had all those people on their knees.

Lying in the same bed he had tasted for more than two years, surrounded by those four walls. A door that would only open when the key in the lock was used. How much longer until he could get out of that place? Because before death came for him, he was sure he was going to get out. Hell was waiting for him outside and he wasn't going to give up.

There was nothing left of the great Marcos Montiel he had always been. There was nothing left of the well-dressed man who walked the halls of one of the largest companies in the United States. The sole heir to the Montiel family had fallen. There was nothing left but a man who had lost his mind, or so the world was led to believe.

Suddenly the door opening was heard. The squeaking of the lock made him open his eyes. Another day that would be the same.

“Ready for your medicine?” They asked.

Marcos, clinging to the sheets, closed his eyes. He already knew what awaited him at that hour.

“I'm talking to you, crazy!” The nurse moved his body abruptly.

Annoyed, fed up with all those humiliations for six years, he pushed the nurse who had just bothered him, at the same time that he got out of bed.

“Imbecile, who do you think you are? What do you expect? Get him!” shouted the woman to the two men nurses standing next to her.

And with a single movement, the two men grabbed Marcos, each one of them by one arm.

“Give him what he deserves and take him to his treatment!”

Having him, one of the nurses hit Marcos in the stomach, knocking him out of breath and then, leaving that room to take him to the place where electric shocks were the treatment he had received in those six years.

It was a place with no way out. No matter when, he would still cling to his revenge.