The Poor Widow, and the Cruel Tycoon

The Poor Widow, and the Cruel Tycoon

Episode 1

They knock on the door of the neglected mansion, which in its best days was an icon in majestic Versailles. Adelaida, with tired steps, heads to the door to find two police officers.

"Mrs. Adelaida DuPont?" one of them says in a low voice.

"Yes, what's wrong, officer?" Adelaida puts her hand to her chest fearing the worst.

"We need you to come with us to forensic medicine. We found a body in a car accident on the road between Paris and Versailles, and in their belongings we found these documents with your name and address." One of the officers hands her some papers.

Adelaida receives them with a trembling hand and the first thing she reads when opening the envelope is: "Divorce decree between citizens Francois Pinault and Adelaida DuPont." Her eyes fill with tears, incredulous.

"Yes, apparently it's my ex-husband," she replies ironically.

"In that case, it is necessary for you to go and identify the body at the forensic medicine headquarters." An agent hands her a document with the address to which she must go, "or if you prefer, we can take you in the patrol car."

"Don't bother, officer, I'll go on my own," she says, thinking of buying time to process the information and see how to notify her family.

She closes the door and immediately leans her back against it. She tries to remember when she signed the divorce petition, until she remembers that a week ago her now deceased ex-husband had come, after a month of absence from the mansion, and made her sign a document arguing that it was to authorize a new treatment for her son Francis, who doesn't even bear his last name.

Yes, that is the reality, a reality that Adelaida wanted to ignore, but now she must face it, forced by the sudden death of her son's father.

She enters the office and looks among Francois's few documents for a paper with his lawyer's phone number. After a while, she finds it and calls from the landline in the office. After two rings, the lawyer answers hurriedly.

"Did you deliver the annulment of the marriage to Mrs. DuPont? What did she say?"

"Yes, I have it in my hand, but your client didn't give it to me, the police did, because, apparently, Francois died in a car accident while coming to bring it to me."

"Oh, Mrs. Adelaida, I'm so sorry."

"But I'm not. Lawyer, I was calling you because we have to go and identify the body, since since I am divorced, I have nothing to do with him. And it is necessary to notify his family."

"Of course, madam, I will."

Upon ending the call, Adelaida goes to the mansion's housekeeper, Dona Josefina, and tells her that she has to go out to run an errand, entrusting her with the care of her son.

Upon arriving at the forensic medicine department, the lawyer is already waiting for her and together, in silence, without even greeting each other, they enter where the corpse of her, until a week ago, husband lies.

There, on a cold and somber metal slab, is the one who promised her heaven and after isolating her from the world and locking her in a golden cage, simply forgot that she existed. Cold as always, and with his face disfigured by the blow he suffered in the accident. They show her the birthmarks and a tattoo he has on his right hand, which he got when he graduated from the Sorbonne University, the most elitist in all of France.

"Yes, it's him," is all she answers, as she is not even able to show any feeling upon seeing the man for whom she once gave her life, ironically lifeless.

She fills out the legal documents as if she were the widow, without being the widow, and leaves that place with the certainty that for the first time in many years she knows where her husband is going to be.

The lawyer stays with the documents to initiate the funeral arrangements and the reading of the will a few days later.

She walks through the streets of a solitary Versailles, arriving in front of its famous palace and there, before its majesty, she feels lost. What will become of her life now that Francois has died? It was clear that the renowned Pinault family never accepted her, much less will they now that he is gone and even divorced without her knowing it.

Her son is the only thing she has in her life and it is for him that she endures the abandonment and oblivion to which her husband subjected her. For although it hurts her to admit it, her illness did not allow her to break away from her child and look for other ways to earn a living without waiting for the crumbs that her own husband and father of her son gave her.

Now all that remains is to wait for time to indicate what fate holds for her and her little Francis.

She has no idea in what position Francois left her, but what she does know is that she will never stop fighting for her son and finding a cure for his illness.

She continues her way to the mansion that is her prison and there she prepares to go to her ex-husband's funeral. She is not going to give that nefarious family the reason that she is nobody in Francois's life, because whether they like it or not, she was legally his wife and is the mother of his only son. A son he set aside for being born sick, and did not even authorize giving him his last name. Being hospitalized since he was born, he argued that if the press found out that he was his son, they would tear him apart for being famous and he did not want his wife and son to suffer harassment for his media shows and what it entailed.

How considerate of him! Adelaida understood a long time ago why he didn't give him his last name, but nothing can be done now.

Upon learning through her ex-husband's lawyer where the funeral will take place, she dresses in her best black suit. Elegantly and with her alabaster beauty, she walks with firm step towards the funeral home where he is being mourned. Until an irritating scream breaks the sepulchral silence in the room.

"What is this slut doing at my son's funeral?"

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