Laura's Point of View

This was another one of those days when the hope of being a mother slipped through my fingers, again and again, like sand. The sky seemed to conspire, weaving a web of disappointments around me. The pregnancy test in the palm of my hand was the umpteenth slap in the face, a piece of white plastic that reminded me of the stark reality: the dream was denied to me over and over again.

My mother's soft voice broke the silence, an echo of warmth in the cold kitchen. "Are you okay, honey?"

I couldn't lie. I didn't even try. My gaze met hers, and in that exchange of glances, the silence said it all. I knew she needed no more words. She came over and wrapped me in a hug, the only safe haven. No one but her knew the agony of that pain that pierced my soul month after month.

"Don't despair, honey. Remember that you always have me to support you. If it's your destiny, a child will come. But if it's not, that wouldn't be the end of the world."

She only wanted to comfort me, but the echo of her words resonated against a wall of fear. I couldn't conceive of life without a child of the man I loved. And as if my own pain wasn't enough, Felipe's family was suffocating me with their pressure, waiting for the "future heir of the Nunez." The stress was breaking me down, eating away at me from the inside. My hair was falling out in clumps, the dark circles under my eyes were a dark map of my sleepless nights, and sleep, a ghost that eluded me. I knew I was destroying myself, but I couldn't stop.

Felipe arrived at lunchtime, punctual, as always. His eyes fell on the test in my hand and his face lit up with such a pure light that I felt even more miserable.

"Are you pregnant?" His voice trembled with emotion, and each syllable broke my heart into splinters.

I lowered my gaze, breathless, terrified by the reaction that was coming. "I'm sorry... It's still negative."

I watched the light in his eyes go out, little by little, until his face became a mask of disappointment. "Another day will be... I'm going to wash my hands."

This time, there was no hug, no words of comfort. Just an icy indifference. Panic seized me and the tears, which I had held back for so long, flowed uncontrollably.

My mother's words floated in the air, like a prayer to the wind: "Don't cry, my love, everything happens for a reason... you still have the option of adopting a little homeless child." Then Felipe turned around, and what I saw in his eyes was something I never imagined.

"That's not going to happen. I'm not going to adopt a child from who knows what kind of people. And you, Laura, stop crying, that doesn't solve anything."

His words were a harder blow than any negative test. Felipe left the kitchen without even looking at me, leaving a deafening silence that my mother hastened to break.

"Don't listen to him, honey. He's nervous, the pressure affects him too."

But my heart knew that wasn't true. The fear I felt was not about the pregnancy, it was about Felipe's indifference. That cold look, that way of turning around and turning his back on me, as if my pain was a nuisance. He was no longer the man who dried my tears, the one who hugged me until the sorrow dissolved. He was a stranger who silently blamed me for a situation I couldn't control.

My mother served me lunch and sat me at the table. The food looked appetizing, but I felt like a knot was preventing me from swallowing. My mother was talking to me, but her words were like distant murmurs. My mind only repeated Felipe's reaction over and over again.

"What if I really can't have children?" The question, which had terrified me before, was now accompanied by a new fear: "If I can't give him a child, will he stop loving me?"

Felipe's grandmother called me that afternoon. Her voice, generally sweet, sounded like a whip.

"Daughter, what's going on? I heard what Felipe said, why is he so upset?"

"Grandma, excuse me, but it's nothing..."

"Don't lie, Laura. The Nunez family needs an heir. If you can't give him a child, have you thought about a surrogate?, it's an option."

My mother, who was listening from the hallway, snatched the phone from my hand.

"With all due respect, ma'am, that's not your business, nor anyone else's but theirs. If you're going to pressure my daughter, I'd rather hang up the phone on you."

She hung up without waiting for an answer. My mother looked at me, her eyes full of tears, and hugged me.

"I'm not going to let anyone disrespect you. You are a strong and valuable woman, with or without a child. Don't let yourself be trampled, neither by Felipe's family, nor by him."

Her words were a balm, but I knew that the truth was there, in the air, like a shadow that followed us everywhere. I wanted to be a mother, but at a cost that was destroying me. And if the price was the indifference of my husband and the humiliation of his family, I wasn't sure I could pay it.

Laura's point of view

Night had fallen, and with it, a silence that knotted in my throat. There was no news from Felipe. Since his explosion at lunch, he hadn't called back, not a single message, nothing. The minutes stretched into hours of anguish, every sound a false alarm. I tried to call him, again and again, but only found the empty echo of his voicemail, a recorded voice that sounded cruelly alien to my desperation. The house, once a home full of promises, had become an icy prison, a mausoleum waiting for a dead man.

The first rays of the sun crept through the window, and with them, Felipe appeared. He entered in silence, but his eyes spoke for him: anger, disappointment, and a cold, unknown contempt. There was something else, something my heart refused to acknowledge.

"What are you doing awake so early?" he asked, his voice flat, without the slightest hint of concern. He didn't even bother to look at me.

"You didn't come home to sleep... It's the first time," I whispered, and my voice came out broken, stripped of all strength.

He didn't answer. He simply walked to the closet, took out a suit, and locked himself in the bathroom. There was no need for words. The silence said it all. This was the end. My heart, a runaway drum in my chest, screamed it to me with every beat.

Tears welled up uncontrollably, a salty torrent that burned my cheeks. "Don't let anyone humiliate you," my mother's words echoed in my mind, a beacon of dignity in the midst of my shipwreck. I got up from the sofa, trembling, and dragged myself to the mirror.

What I saw was not the woman I was. The one who dressed carefully, the one who dressed for him, fresh and radiant. In front of me was a ghost: a withered woman, with eyes swollen from crying so much, with dull skin and an empty soul. It was a reflection of my defeat.

Felipe came out of the bathroom, impeccable, as if the night hadn't existed. His eyes scanned me with a coldness that broke me in two. He took his clothes from the closet and, without saying a word to me, dressed to face the world. The contempt was so palpable that I felt like I was drowning.

"Do you want to get a divorce?" My voice broke in the middle of the sentence, but the courage of the question kept me standing.

"Yes. I want to get a divorce. This no longer makes sense," he replied, and each of his words was a knife that sank deep into my soul.

Every sound that came out of my mouth was a piercing pain. Five years of my life, my body, my soul given to him. And it ended like this? Without an explanation, without looking me in the eye. He was leaving, leaving me turned into nothing.

"Ok. Then start the paperwork," I said, struggling to keep my voice firm, so he wouldn't notice the tremor inside me.

As soon as the bedroom door closed, I collapsed. The weight of the pain I had held back crushed me. I wanted to scream at him, demand answers, break something. But I couldn't. I was raised to be strong in weakness, to not show my wounds, to not be seen as a weak woman.

I looked for a suitcase, packed the essentials. I didn't want to take anything he had given me, not a single memory of the happy days that now seemed like a lie. I left that immense house, a place I had imagined as the home of our children, my love nest. Now it was just an empty shell. And I, a worthless container, with nothing to offer.

I couldn't go to my parents' house. The failure weighed too heavily. It would be an embarrassment to my father, a stain he would never forgive me for. Wandering through the city, dragging my suitcase, only silence kept me company. With the little money I had, I took refuge in a seedy hotel, an anonymous place where no one would look for me. For now, that's what I needed.

Once alone in that sordid room, I allowed myself to collapse. The tears welled up again, hot and bitter. I wanted the pain to dissolve, for my whole life to disappear. But just when the darkness began to envelop me, a message on my cell phone brought me back to reality. It was from Felipe. For a second, a ray of absurd hope ignited in my chest, only to be crushed by the message: "The divorce papers are ready, go to the lawyer's office tomorrow to sign them."

Was he so eager to separate from me? The question pierced my mind. A bitter smile drew on my face. Without thinking twice, I replied with a simple "ok." I turned off the phone and collapsed on the uncomfortable bed. I wouldn't shed another tear for someone who had only seen me as an incubator, a container that had now turned out to be "defective." Exhaustion overcame me, an emptiness that dragged me to sleep.

The first rays of the sun hit my face. When I opened my eyes and saw that miserable place, I knew it was all real. It hadn't been a nightmare. The pain was tangible, but something in me had hardened. I got up determined to face the day.

With steady hands, I dressed impeccably. The makeup covered my dark circles, my face acquired the mask of the perfect woman. I took my suitcase, went out into the street, and rented a car. I drove to Felipe's lawyer's office.

He was already there, his face colder than ever. "Where have you been?" he asked as soon as he saw me, and an invisible mockery drew on his lips.

I snorted. "From today, that's none of your business," I said with a coldness that surprised even myself.

"Your mother is worried and keeps calling, that's why I'm asking."

My mom. I had spent two days without talking to her. Guilt pierced me, but I didn't allow myself to give in. "When I sign the divorce, I'll talk to her."

Felipe looked at me, incredulous. He surely expected a drama, a scene of pleading. But that wouldn't happen. I wasn't going to lose my dignity. Not in front of him or anyone else.

We entered the lawyer's office. The professionalism of his greeting was a welcome to legal indifference. He asked us to sit down and spread the papers in front of me. Just as I had imagined, the agreement didn't offer me a penny of his fortune. I signed without hesitation, without a single emotion betraying my face.

"Are you planning to sign just like that?" The intrigue in his eyes was almost palpable.

"I want to get this over with once and for all. Besides, you're the one who's most interested in this ending."

With each stroke of my pen, I felt like I was burning inside. While my exterior remained unmoved, the flames of pain consumed every cell of my skin. The divorce was signed, but the wound was just beginning to bleed.

Laura's point of view

With the engine roaring, I took to the road. I wanted to flee that place, Felipe, the life I had built and that had crumbled in an instant. I was so lost in my pain that I didn't notice the black cars following me, stealthy like shadows. When they finally intercepted me, it was too late. The tires screeched and the car came to a halt. Two men got out of one of the cars, with weapons in their hands. A shiver of terror paralyzed me.

One of them approached the car and, with his gun raised, ordered me to open the door. Fear was a wall that wouldn't let me move a single muscle. The man's patience ran out. With a brutal blow, he shattered the window. The sound made me scream. He dragged me out of the car while I kicked and begged for help. But the place was deserted. If someone had seen the scene, they wouldn't have dared to intervene.

"Let me go! I have no money!" I shouted with a broken voice.

"Relax, little doll, we don't want money," the man replied, and the tone of his voice chilled my blood. The fear intensified as I thought about the worst. They gagged me, tied my hands, and covered my head with a cloth bag. They forced me into one of the cars. The sound of the city faded away, and I knew they were taking me to a place far away.

In the darkness of the bag, I could only hear the roar of the engine. I begged for my life in silence. The car stopped, and my heart stopped with it. I thought it was the end. I thought of my mother, the only person who loved me unconditionally. I hadn't lived, I hadn't been truly happy, and at that moment I understood. My life with Felipe had been a farce, a bubble of happiness that only existed in my head.

I regretted not having raised my voice, not having asserted my place. Now it was too late. These men had kidnapped me, and I felt that my pathetic life was about to end.

The car door opened. One of the men ordered me to get out, but terror had left me without strength. He forced me out with such a violent shove that I felt like my bones were going to break.

"Treat the gentleman's guest well. We can't hurt her," said one of the men, scolding the one who had taken me out of the car.

"I wish the boss would let us play with his guest for a while. She's not bad at all," the man replied in a tone of voice that made me tremble with terror.

"You know we don't work like that here. The boss doesn't allow it."

"It would be a shame if he only brought her to pass her on to the other world."

The words floated in the air, and my heart shrank. There was no way out. This was my end.

They led me along a path of stones, steps, but everything looked luxurious. I realized it was daytime because of the heat of the sun hitting my skin. We entered a house. The peculiar smell of freshly polished wood and the immensity of the place surprised me.

"So this is the bunny," said a deep voice that wasn't any of my captors. There was something in his voice that made my skin crawl. "There's no doubt that Felipe is an imbecile, but he has good taste."

Hearing his name made me recoil. "What the hell is going on here?" I thought.

"She's a very beautiful woman, boss... and dangerous," said the man who had taken me out of the car. He must have been referring to the punch I gave him.

"She did that to you?" the boss asked with amusement in his voice. "Take off the bag and let me see this beauty."

The bag was removed, and the light blinded me. I looked down until my eyes got used to the brightness. I directed my gaze towards the floor-to-ceiling windows, a luxury I had never seen. Felipe's house was big, but this place was something else.

Then, my gaze stopped on the man in front of me. His dark eyes pierced me like daggers. His gaze was so penetrating that I got lost in it. He was tall, muscular, with a face chiseled by the gods and perfectly styled black hair. A barely visible tattoo peeked out from his neck and ran down his arm.

"Do you like what you see?" His sarcastic voice brought me back to reality.

I couldn't answer. The man approached, and an exquisite perfume invaded my senses. His hands brushed my neck as he removed the gag. "If you can't defend yourself, you're no use to me," he whispered in my ear, and an electric current ran through my body.

"What do you want from me?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.

"Nothing from you, but I do from your husband. You will be the bait I need to lure him into my territory."

An ironic laugh escaped me, "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not that jerk's wife," I replied, still keeping the mockery on my face.

"Don't lie, bunny, you've been married for five years, it's impossible that you got divorced overnight."

"Look in my wallet, if your useless lackeys brought it, and verify what I'm saying."

The man looked at one of the men in the room. "The lady's wallet," he ordered, his deep voice made me shudder.

"Here it is, boss."

The guy searched through my belongings, finding the paper I had just signed.

"As I told you, this morning before your useless guys kidnapped me, I signed the divorce. So I'm no longer useful to you."

The man's eyes turned bloodshot, his gaze became even more dangerous.

"You're useless, that woman is no use to me anymore." he shouted furiously. "Erase that smile from your face, because since you're no use to me, I'll have to get rid of you."

An icy chill ran down my spine, I had dug my own grave because of my stupidity, now I had no escape.