Episode 1

...HELEN...

Prologue 🍀

Life forces us to make choices that shatter us inside. And that night, as I packed my things in silence, I knew I was about to make the worst mistake of my life.

The rain drummed on the windows of the small apartment I shared with Daniel. I was folding my clothes, quickly placing them inside my suitcase.

My phone vibrated on the dresser. I already knew what it was. The doctor. Another hospitalization, another impossible bill to pay. My mother needed me, and I couldn't do anything.

That's when she appeared. His mother. That always cold, ruthless woman who didn't like me one bit. She wanted someone better for her son, someone rich and classy.

She offered me the salvation I needed so much—a check. An absurd amount of money. Enough money to pay for the clinic, the treatments, to give my mother dignity.

But the price was too high: I had to leave Daniel. Disappear from his life without explanations, without goodbyes. Let him believe I never loved him.

I accepted.

I accepted because I loved my mother. I accepted because I loved Daniel enough not to drag him further into the hole with me. I accepted because I saw no other way out.

I closed the suitcase with trembling hands, my heart pounding inside my chest as if it would explode any second.

That's when I heard the door open. My whole body froze.

Daniel came in, bringing a bouquet of flowers in his hand and a shy smile on his face. The sweet scent of the flowers filled the room. I couldn't move. I just watched him, as if I were outside my own body.

In the other hand, a black velvet box.

"Hel, love..." he said, approaching.

His smile was so sincere, so full of hope that my chest tightened with pain.

"I know we don't have much. I know it's hard. But I want to spend the rest of my life trying to make you happy."

Before I could react, he knelt in front of me, and my world collapsed.

Daniel opened the little box, revealing a simple ring, but so full of love that I felt my legs weaken.

"Will you marry me?" he asked, his voice choked with emotion. "Well, I don't have a better place, I don't have enough money to give you what you deserve. Not at the moment, but I promise I'm taking care of it, I swear I'll give you everything."

I closed my eyes for a second, trying to contain the cry that threatened to betray me. It was now. I had to be cruel, I had to hurt him. It was the only way to set him free.

I took a deep breath. I faked a confidence I didn't feel.

"I would never marry a poor guy like you, Daniel." The words came out sharp, cold, tearing me apart inside. "Look at you. You have nothing, you'll never have anything. I'm not going to sink my life by tying myself to a poor wretch who can't give me anything."

His smile died right there, before my eyes. Hope disappeared, like a candle being extinguished by the wind.

"Helen... don't do this," he whispered, his eyes filled with tears. "I'll make it, I'm doing everything, my love, to give you a better life, I..."

I laughed. An empty, bitter laugh that sounded horrible even to me.

"You're pathetic, Daniel. I deserve more, I'll make it, but without you.

He remained kneeling, motionless, as if still hoping it was a bad joke. But I couldn't hesitate.

I grabbed my suitcase and passed him without looking back. If I looked... I would never be able to leave.

When the door closed behind me, I felt like my heart had stayed in there, trapped forever. The tears came forcefully as soon as I went down the stairs. But I kept walking.

I saw, out of the corner of my eye, when he opened the door, went down the stairs, and came after me.

"HELEN!" he shouted. "Helen, please!"

My steps quickened.

I couldn't stop. If I looked at him now, everything would be lost.

"Helen, tell me what I did wrong! Tell me... I love you!" he insisted, his voice breaking in the middle of the cry.

Each of his words was like a blade tearing my skin. But I kept walking, fighting against the desperate urge to go back, to hug him, to tell him the whole truth. But I couldn't.

I took my cell phone out of my pocket and dialed a number I knew by heart.

"Leon, can you come pick me up? I'm in front of cafe 42, remember?" my voice came out low, muffled.

Leon was the only friend I still kept from my college days. He had always been a loyal presence in my life, even when everything else was falling apart. Today, he had a very respected semi-jewelry company in the city. A successful, kind man, and more importantly: someone I could trust.

Minutes later, Leon's car pulled up on the sidewalk. He jumped out quickly, opened the passenger door, and extended his hand to me.

Without saying a word, I just nodded in thanks and got into the car.

Leon's look was understanding, but also full of unasked questions.

When the door closed, I looked in the rearview mirror and saw Daniel standing in the middle of the street, lost, crying like a child, while his hands were on his chest.

The car started.

And I saw, for the last time that night, the man I loved being left behind, watching me leave without understanding the reason. And that's how I broke Daniel's heart... and mine too.

CHARACTERS

...𝐷 𝐴 𝑁 𝐼 𝐸 𝐿...

...𝐻 𝐸 𝐿 𝐸 𝑁...

Five years had passed since that night that changed everything in my life.

Five years since I discovered what it was like to be left behind, abandoned on the ground, without understanding why.

Sometimes, time seemed to speed up and slow down inside my head. Some memories came clear as photographs, others seemed distant, blurred, as if they belonged to another life. But what Helen did, that never faded. It was etched in me, like a tattoo I didn't choose.

But I learned. I learned that love doesn't fill the belly, doesn't pay bills, doesn't buy respect.

I learned that the world has no pity on those who kneel. And I learned that pain, however suffocating, can be used as fuel.

Today, sitting behind my polished mahogany desk, on the top floor of the Moreau's Jewels building, looking at the city through the glass wall, I knew: I won. I won with dignity and gave a better life to myself and my mother, Elizabeth.

My name was pronounced with respect in the business corridors, feared in business meetings, envied in magazine headlines.

From Daniel Azevedo, a man without a future, I became Daniel Moreau, the CEO who built an empire from humiliation.

I adopted the surname of my French grandfather, rescuing the noble blood that ran in my veins and that, for a long time, I denied out of shame.

Not anymore. Today, that name was stamped on million-dollar contracts, exclusive jewelry shows, and magazine covers.

From a poor and broken man, I became one of the most respected entrepreneurs in the luxury market, known in every corner where wealth dictates the rules. But deep down, the truth was harsh: everything I built, I built to prove she was wrong. That I wasn't a poor guy, that I was capable.

I leaned forward, resting my forearms on the mahogany desk that I had custom-made. Every corner of that room was a reminder of the path I had traveled. The glass walls offered a privileged view of New York, the city that never sleeps, but that kneels before those who know how to win.

On the table, a pile of resumes awaited my decision. Ten candidates for the position of jewelry designer. The project was special. The new collection that would mark the ten years of Moreau's Jewels needed pieces that carried not only beauty, but history and soul.

I picked up the first resume and started to flip through it.

Average experience. Correct works, but without brilliance. I set it aside indifferently.

The second, the third... More of the same.

I passed the fourth resume, without enthusiasm. Just another professional who did the basics to survive. The fifth, technical, cold, without soul.

I was starting to get annoyed. The time I had was too precious to be wasted on mediocrity. Then, the sixth resume fell into my hands. I was going to flip through it like the others, without any expectation, when I saw the name.

Helen Dupont.

For a moment, my hands froze in the air.

My chest leaped, an unexpected punch that took my breath away. I raised my eyes, facing the golden horizon of the city, trying to understand if it was just a cruel coincidence or another dirty trick of fate.

I looked back at the paper. And there it was. The photo attached in the corner of the sheet, discreet, almost timid.

But I would recognize that face anywhere in the world. Helen.

The same brown hair, now shorter, perhaps to look stronger. The same big eyes, which were once beacons in my dark days. The same mouth, which once promised eternal love, and then spat venom.

The resume trembled slightly in my hands, but I didn't allow emotion to take over.

Not anymore.

She was there. Applying to work at my company, with no idea who was on the other side.

My hands closed the resume firmly, as if I could crush the past with the strength of my fingers.

A bitter, cold smile curved my lips.

"Very well," I murmured to myself, feeling the blood pulsate strongly in my temples. "It seems that fate still knows how to play with me."

I picked up the phone, pressing the button that connected directly to my personal assistant, Clara.

"Mr. Moreau?" she answered immediately, always efficient.

"The candidate Helen Dupont. Hired," I ordered, with no room for questions. My voice came out firm, controlled, as if it didn't carry the weight of the years. "I want you to inform her that she was chosen by the board of directors for a special project. No interviews. I want her here tomorrow, at nine in the morning."

"Perfectly, sir."

I closed my eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath. The taste of revenge was hot and bitter in my mouth.

But I wasn't finished yet.

"Also tell her that she must create three exclusive models of wedding rings. Unique, creative pieces. The most beautiful she can conceive. It's for my wedding, so I need it to be as beautiful as possible. Make sure you tell her that." I paused. "And the pieces must be presented personally at the general meeting with the board of directors," I added. "I want to see her presenting herself. Explaining every curve, every detail. Directly to me."

"Yes, sir," Clara replied, professional as always.

I hung up without waiting any longer.

I stood there, in silence, looking at the city, through the large glass window.

She thought she was over with me. That she could throw me away like a used piece of paper and move on. But now she would come back to me. Without even knowing it.

And when she was in front of me, presenting the rings that would represent the union of two souls—mine and another woman's—perhaps she would understand. Perhaps, finally, she would feel on her skin the bitter taste of loss.

The cell phone vibrated on the table, interrupting my thoughts.

A message.

Isadora: "I'm looking forward to dinner tonight, my love. I can't wait to see you. I went to your mother's house today, and I took a little tea, since she wasn't well."

I smiled at the device, but the smile didn't reach my eyes.

Isadora was beautiful, elegant, everything any man could want. And yet, a part of me remained stuck in a past that I swore I had left behind.

I put the cell phone in my suit pocket and got up, adjusting the dark suit on my body.

Tomorrow, Helen would take the first step into my world. A world that I built without her. And this time, it would be she who would feel the bitter taste of being left behind.

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