Episode 1

The strong blows of the police baton against the bars of my cell wake me up abruptly...

—MONTECARLO, it’s time to get up, or should I remind the "princess" that this is not her luxurious mansion? This is your cell, and it’s where you will spend most of your life; you should get used to it, "princess," hahahaha... Oh, and I remind you that there are rules here.— I hear the coarse words of the most despicable guard working in the high-security women's prison in the vast city of Buenos Aires.

This guard hates me, simply because I refuse to be bribed by her, which is why she behaves so grotesquely and violently towards me.

I sit for a moment on the concrete floor, with a thin mattress that slightly protects my back from the cold, looking around, and once again I realize that I will never get used to this cell of barely 2.5 square meters, with its gray, stained, and above all, cold walls.

I know I must get up because the guard that everyone here calls "the bully Perez" will come back to bang on the bars of my cell, and it’s better not to give her reasons to punish me.

The first thing that crosses my mind is that today is a gloomy day, although in this place, almost every day is the same: long and unbearable.

But this day feels worse, cold and colorless, like the walls of this cell, where I have been deprived of my freedom for nine eternal years, and today, precisely today, it marks that milestone.

The saddest part of all is that today is also my 27th birthday, but turning a year older is not a reason for joy; this day fills me with rage, bitterness, and anger—so much anger.

What good is life to me? What good is it to be young, healthy, to have so much money? What good is it to be beautiful, having inherited my Mother's precious golden eyes, like those of my Father and my grandfather? What good does it do to be the sole descendant of the Montecarlo lineage?

Here, none of that matters, and none of that has helped me.

Some people say that having money helps, and it may be true.

!!When you let yourself be bribed!!.

But my parents taught me that giving in to bribery is contributing to corruption, and if there’s one thing I want in life, it’s to honor my parents and their teachings, which has caused many people here to hate me.

I will never get accustomed to this reality—how could I?—and especially knowing that those responsible for this misfortune are free, happy, and enjoying my fortune.

But I swear that the day I get out of this prison, I will make the Montiel family pay, including the bastard who made me believe he was in love with me, that damned man who, with just the touch of his fingers on my skin, made me delirious with pleasure, who made me dream awake so many times, and that now just thinking of his name fills me with horror.

He told me so many times that he loved me, and I believed him.

Now I know he did it just to gain my trust and trap me in the cruelest way.

Yes, "Valente Montiel" is the man I detest with all my being.

He will someday know that he shouldn’t have gotten involved with me. One day I will be standing in front of him; I will see those blue eyes again, which pretended to look at me with love and admiration, those eyes that I still have etched in my mind, those that on the day of my sentencing were fixed on me, but that time with accusation and disappointment for having taken his father’s life. Those eyes will look at me and plead for my forgiveness, but I will have no compassion; I owe it to my Daniela, I owe it to my Nana, and I owe it to myself.

I am... Mia Montecarlo, and I won't rest until I see Valente Montiel and his disgusting family begging for my forgiveness.

I am filled with hatred, bitterness, and thirst for vengeance; that is what resides in my heart, and there is no room for anything else.

The sweet girl who needed affection for being alone, "died." The Mia who was trusting, kind, and naive no longer exists.

Now I am this—a woman who only thinks of revenge.

Because while it's true that I killed a man, I did it to defend my best friend; no one can imagine the horror I felt as I watched that damned Oscar Montiel abusing Dani. I was only 18 years old, and that day, which should have been filled with joy and hope, turned into my worst nightmare.

Seeing my friend, unable to defend herself, immobilized by the grotesque hands of that disgusting and repulsive man, made me kill him without hesitation.

Every time I think of that moment, I tell myself the same thing: I regret nothing.

"I would kill him again."

That damned man was supposedly a partner of my father, and in order to stay in my company and take part of my inheritance, he devised a plan to harm me. But I didn't kill him for that; I couldn't care less about the money. I did it for abusing my best friend. That's why I killed Oscar Montiel, and if I could turn back time, I would always do it, but this time, I would do it before that scoundrel could hurt her.

Daniela, whom I considered my sister, died; before dying, she knew that it had all been a trap and that both she and I fell into it.

The plan of those evil people was for Dani to die and for me to be framed as the culprit.

Their main idea was for me to be in jail while he remained free, taking everything my parents left me. But things turned out differently, as the filthy bastard decided to violate my friend; I caught him in the act, and that gave me the strength from within to shoot at him.

Yet even with his death, he did not pay for the damage he inflicted on Daniela.

My best friend suffered from depression, anxiety, and panic attacks and battled with that for three long years. Nothing could pull her out of the darkness that came from enduring abuse; in the end, she died of sadness, disappointed by the injustice of the laws and of life itself.

The depression was so strong that she couldn't eat, and the lack of nourishment, combined with the difficult emotional illness, weakened her immune system until her body fell ill and did not respond to medical treatments.

But I, I will not only avenge her death, I will avenge every tear my dear Nana Sofia has shed, I will take revenge for every day I have spent locked up, for every mistreatment endured, for every beating, and for this bitterness they instilled in me...

Again, the banging on the bars of my cell pulls me from my thoughts.

The bully Perez is opening the gates, and I see my cellmate, Rebeca Lizalde, walking in...

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