Mexico Metropolis, town of vibrant lights and goals of adjusting lives.
I, Alejandro, 23 years outdated, a younger man from the provinces, lately graduated as an engineer, however and not using a secure job. My household within the village was poor, my dad and mom have been outdated and sick, and the debt to mortgage sharks to pay for my research had change into a series that dragged us all down. I dreamed of a vibrant future, however the merciless actuality had cornered me. Then Doña Carmen appeared, as a means out as tempting because it was harmful.
Doña Carmen was 47 years outdated, a widow, and the proprietor of a series of luxurious eating places. She wasn’t stunning: her face was marked by wrinkles, her dyed black hair couldn’t disguise the passage of time. Her gaze was penetrating, her smile assured, like that of somebody in management.
“Alejandro, I’ll be sure to have a cushty life. I’ll repay your loved ones’s money owed. I simply want you to be my husband,” she advised me one afternoon in her non-public workplace, the place costly fragrance mingled with the chilly air from the air conditioner.
I shuddered, pondering of Isabel, my ex-girlfriend from again within the village, however the pleading seems from my dad and mom made me nod. “It’s only a contract,” I repeated to myself, swallowing my disgust.
The marriage was fast, and not using a lavish get together, only a few relations current, and the toxic murmurs of the neighbors. Doña Carmen wore a crimson silk costume, her fingers studded with gold rings tightly gripping my hand.
“Any longer, you’re my husband, Alejandro,” she whispered in a candy however authoritative voice.
I compelled a smile, pondering, “She’s my mom’s age… how did I find yourself right here?”
The primary few days after the marriage have been suffocating. Doña Carmen managed me like a puppet. She compelled me to stop a small job I’d gotten and took me to dwell in her luxurious, but chilly and lonely mansion in Polanco. She checked my telephone and minimize off my communication with buddies.
“You’re my husband, it’s essential to obey,” she mentioned with a pointy look.
I protested: “You may’t deal with me like a prisoner!”
She simply laughed: “Have you ever forgotten the contract? I paid your loved ones’s money owed. In case you betray me, they lose all the things.”
My father, Don Manuel, who had begged me to marry her, solely sighed: “Grasp in there, son, it’s for the household.”
My mom, Doña Teresa, checked out her with envy, as if Doña Carmen had stolen one thing helpful from her.
The stress grew. She demanded that I behave like a “actual” husband, from the garments I needed to put on to the caresses I refused.
“You may be my mom! How do you count on me to like you?” I yelled as soon as.
She responded furiously: “Love? Do you suppose I would like love? I simply want you to play your function as a husband.”
The marriage evening arrived, the one I’d dreaded essentially the most. The room was adorned with roses and candles, however to me it was a jail cell. I attempted to linger within the bathe, however after I obtained out, she was already in mattress, sporting a light-weight nightgown and a disturbing look.
“Come right here, pricey husband,” she known as to me in a honeyed voice.
I sat on the sting of the mattress, trembling.
“No… I don’t really feel properly,” I stammered.
She laughed, caressing my shoulder along with her wrinkled hand.
“Don’t be afraid, I’ll be light.”
I pushed her away.
“Don’t contact me! I can’t!”
Her face hardened. Instantly, she pulled again the sheets. And what appeared beneath stopped me in my tracks: it wasn’t her physique, however a pile of paperwork, images, and contracts. On the very high, a photograph of me with Isabel, my ex-girlfriend, taken within the village months earlier than, with a handwritten notice: “Do you suppose I didn’t know?”
I fell to my knees, panicking.
“What… what does this imply? What have you learnt?”
“Did you actually suppose I married you simply to have a younger husband? I do know you have been nonetheless in touch with Isabel, though you swore to interrupt up along with her. These papers show that you simply diverted the cash I gave your loved ones into Isabel’s account, planning to run away along with her after I paid your money owed.”
I used to be speechless. It was true: I had secretly despatched cash to Isabel, dreaming of escaping and beginning a brand new life along with her.
However Carmen wasn’t only a wealthy, lonely widow: she was a calculating strategist. She had employed a detective to observe me earlier than the marriage. He didn’t need me; he needed revenge. Isabel, the girl he liked, had labored in one among his eating places… and had stolen cash from his accounts. When Carmen found I used to be with Isabel, she plotted her good revenge.
“Do you suppose I’m naive?” she laughed scornfully. “I’ve already despatched all this to the police. Isabel can be arrested for fraud. And also you… you’ll keep right here, like my husband. In case you attempt to escape, your loved ones will lose all the things.”
I broke down, pleading:
“Please don’t harm Isabel! I’ll do no matter you need!”
She left the room with a merciless smile, leaving me with the paperwork that regarded like a dying warrant.
Days later, Isabel was arrested. Despite the fact that I hated it, I needed to keep by Carmen’s aspect, fulfilling my function as “husband” on this bitter contract. My household was free of debt… however the value was my freedom and my love.
Life went on, however for me each day was a jail. I labored in Carmen’s eating places, beneath her fixed management. At evening, I dreamed of Isabel, of my misplaced freedom.
That marriage ceremony evening wasn’t the start of a love story… however the starting of a sentence I hadn’t chosen.
