Damian, you earn €2,500 a month as an administrator. I’ve been unemployed since I quit my consulting job to focus on our relationship. How many years would it take to repay €80,000?
They did the math mentally, excluding basic living expenses, allocating every euro to debt repayments, for more than two years; considering actual living expenses, probably five or six years. Maybe we could sell something.
My furniture. The car… your car is twelve years old, and you bought the furniture at IKEA ten years ago. Ruth sank into a chair. Damian, we’re broke. And the worst part is, I thought I was stealing Cristina’s perfect life, but apparently it was hers all along.
The ensuing silence was broken by Damian’s cell phone. A text from Elena Ruiz. Damian, Cristina wants to see you tomorrow at 9:00 in my office. Come prepared to discuss reimbursements or criminal defense lawyers.
Your choice. Ru read the message over her shoulder and completely collapsed. Our honeymoon will be in a cell, right? Damian didn’t respond, just watched the candles slowly burn down, taking with them the last remnants of his old life somewhere in Barcelona.
Cristina Montalvo was sleeping peacefully for the first time in months, and the baby in her womb was kicking gently as if knowing the future had finally begun to unfold. Elena Ruiz’s office, 8:55 a.m.
Damian arrived five minutes early for his appointment, but the purple circles under his eyes betrayed a sleepless night. He was wearing the same clothes as the day before, slightly wrinkled, and the aroma of cold coffee mingled with the odor of anxiety that seemed to emanate from his pores.
Ruth had decided to stay in the apartment, claiming she couldn’t bear to see Cristina pretending to be the victim. Elena greeted him with a serious expression and led him into the conference room, where Cristina was already waiting.
But the woman he saw sitting at the table wasn’t the same one he’d met seven years earlier. This Cristina was wearing an emerald green dress that showed off her eight-month pregnancy, her hair was pulled back in an elegant bun, and her face had a serenity that contrasted sharply with her distraught expression.
“Good morning, Damian,” she said without rising, indicating the chair in front of her. “Thank you for coming, Cristina.” “I…” he began, but she raised a hand, signaling silence. “Before you say anything, I want you to know that I’ve spent the whole night thinking about this, about what it means, what it means for our child.”
She tenderly stroked her belly. And I’ve made a decision. Damian shifted nervously in his chair, his hands shaking slightly as Elena arranged some documents on the cherry-colored table.
But first, I need you to explain something to me. I need to understand why not the money. I already understand that. I need to understand why you lied to me for so many months while I worked double shifts to save for the baby.
The question hung in the air like a dagger. Damian ran his hands over his face, searching for words that couldn’t come. At first, it was just a one-off. Ru had lost her job at the consulting firm and needed temporary help.
It would only be a couple of months before she found something new, and the jewelry and the apartment. That, too, was timeless. Damian lowered his gaze, unable to meet the olive-green eyes that stared back at him unblinkingly.
Ruth said that if we wanted to be together, we had to live as a real couple, that if I truly loved her, I had to show her I could take care of her as she deserved.
As she deserved. Cristina repeated the words slowly. And what did I deserve, Damian? And what does our son deserve? Cristina, you have to understand. I thought the company was ours.
I thought he was using money that was also mine, but even if it were our money, Cristina’s voice hardened for the first time. Do you think you have the right to spend it on another woman without telling me?
