Chapter 45

The cold came in through the window in this December season and made the redhead's body shiver.

She opened her eyes suddenly at the sound of her children getting up.

She looked at her body, clammy from the cold. She didn't understand how she dreamed every night of those blue eyes that looked at her with intensity and those thick hands with yellow hair that touched her body every night.

Who is this man I dream about? I've never dreamed about Sam like this before. Is he a man I love very much? she thought.

She sighed as she got out of bed and put her feet on the rugs on the floor. She had her whole room full of carpets.

She walked wearily over to the cribs of the twins who had been crying and took them in her arms.

"My little angels," she kissed them tenderly, then looked into their beautiful eyes, which were blue one day and dark gray the next. She took the little girl first, she was a big eater and impatient, that's why she was the first one to breastfeed, and then the little boy, who was quieter and a light eater.

She watched them attentively. Many days she woke up desperately looking for a third baby, then she remembered that she had twins, not triplets, and calmed down. But the feeling of something missing in her life would never go away.

I wonder who gave them the color of their hair and eyes, she thought as she took them in. She had asked Sam, but he had told her that they were identical to her mother's. That's why Evangelina left the matter there, if she bothered him too much, Santino would get so irritated that he would yell at her.

He had just finished putting her to bed when his maid came into his room.

"Niña Elena, are you coming down for breakfast?" the middle-aged woman asked lovingly.

"Yes, Rosa, as soon as I get ready, I'll be down," she smiled as she combed her hair, she would have liked it a little longer, but Sam had said it looked better short and she insisted so much that Eva couldn't refuse.

"Good morning, Elena, how did you wake up? I'm going to work, remember not to go out without the bodyguard and not to talk to strangers." Sam entered the room and gave Eva a quick kiss, which she found annoying. 

Even though she had known for over a year that he was her husband, no matter how much she looked at him, she couldn't find love in him.

"Don't worry Sam, I won't go out without the bodyguards, today I'll be in the garden and at home as usual," she replied pitifully. She hated being cooped up, she felt the need to go to work at the company with him, but he wouldn't let her, making her feel like a prisoner. 

"Don't forget to give Elena the pills, Rosa, please," Santino requested before leaving the room.

"Whatever you say, sir," Rosa replied with a feigned smile. She had long since changed the contents of the pills to fattening vitamins without anyone noticing. 

"Girl, I went down for breakfast, you know you have to feed yourself," she said to Eva, who kept looking at her figure in the mirror.

She didn't feel strange, but she always looked different. Sam made her wear baggy clothes and a sweater, and for some reason she didn't allow makeup and even less low-cut clothes.

"I'm coming, Rosa," she called, touching her neck.

"Who are those blue eyes I dream about every day?" she wondered, confused.

She went downstairs to the garden, carrying the microphone to listen to her children. They slept most of the time, getting up only to eat and change, otherwise they were always in bed.

She sat down at the table with Rosa. She felt a gaze fixed on her, but no matter how hard she looked, she couldn't see who it belonged to.

"I don't know when I'll regain my memory, Rosa," she brought a slice of bread to his pale lips.

"You'll see how soon, my child," Rosa looked at her tenderly. She had managed to love Eva little by little, and now she only wished to free herself from Sam's yoke.

"It's just that I don't understand how much time has passed and I can't manage to feel that Sam is my husband," she said wistfully. "On the contrary, I dream of a man, I don't manage to see his face, but I see his eyes as blue as the sea."

Rosa looked at her worriedly. Many months before, she had realized that the pills she gave Eva every morning were not meant to restore her memory, and she had decided to change the pills so that she could.

"I wondered why, if Sam says I've always loved him and been happy by his side, why haven't I managed to feel that? You know we sleep in separate rooms and as much as he has begged me to be with him, my skin can't find it."

"Stop humiliating yourself, child, you'll see that everything will be resolved soon."

"What do you mean?" she asked doubtfully.

"Don't mind me, child, eat, come on, you see you got sick last time because you didn't eat properly."

She ate the entire contents of her plate, and then sat and looked sadly at the roses in the garden. She felt a deep sadness inside of her, so much so that she could not understand why.

...

Demetrio had arrived in Rome. Antonio had rented a house across the street from where Eva lived, eager to see her and find out if it was really her.

"It is her! It's her, Demetrio! Fuck! We found her!" Demetrio stood still, looking at the woman sitting in the garden through binoculars.

"But is she okay? Why didn't she try to contact us? What about the children? Why didn't she try to escape and go to her family?" he asked sadly.

His heart skipped a beat. He could see her from a distance. Just as he knew her, fully dressed, old-fashioned, only without glasses and her hair down to her shoulders, but for the Italian she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life.

"I'm going to get my daughter and I'm going to get her out of there, I don't know what Santino did to keep her, but I'm going to kill him with my own hands if I have to!" shouted Guillermo, the veins in his forehead showing, as he tried to direct his steps toward the house across the street.

"Wait, Guillermo! Santino is very dangerous, he murdered Alina and kidnapped Eva, all this time we have to think with a cool head, we can't go and take her away by force, we have to find out first what's going on and why she's still with him," Antonio explained.

"That idiot is holding her against her will!" shouted Demetrio, banging on the wall of the room.

"Maybe we need to find a way to get to her, try to talk to her."

Demetrio picked up the binoculars to look through. He felt his body shake as he saw a maid carrying the two children into the hands of Eva, who took them lovingly into her arms.

"It's my children, it's them!" she cried excitedly.

Massimo smiled and hugged Demetrio as they all did so in unison.

"Congratulations, ha, ha, ha, ha, that's five already."

"Something's going on, my daughter wouldn't be able to leave the triplets, she adores her children, something strange is going on."

...

"I'm going to take the children to the park, Rosa, would you like to come with me?" she turned to her housekeeper.

"Yes, of course, ma'am, but remember, the master gets very upset if you go out without a bodyguard." Eva sighed; she hated having a two-meter-tall bodyguard at her back.

She bundled the little ones into the car and drove off with the bodyguard behind her. She still had the feeling that someone was watching her, she felt it, she was being watched and she couldn't quite figure out who it was.

...

Demetrio had gone out to get a little closer to her as soon as he saw her leave the compound. He knew Santino was not home, he had seen him leave in a car.

He walked to hide behind a tree.

She looked beautiful as she talked to her little kids, he wanted so much to get close and hug her, but the guard next to her wouldn't let him.

That asshole has her well-guarded, Demetrio thought, clasping his hands in annoyance.

He stood watching her from a distance, his heart crumpling. 

When he saw the bodyguard, he was a little distracted, walking with the maid who seemed to want to distract him so Eva could get some fresh air.

He walked over to where she was sitting on a bench. The rich Christmas breeze ruffled her hair. Demetrio trembled the moment he sat down beside her. He didn't know what to say, his voice cracked and there was a lump in his throat. An inner battle was going on inside of him. He was angry because she was there while he and his children were suffering, and at the same time he felt his skin crawling, and the joy of being so close to his babies made him tremble.

Eva felt someone sit down beside her. An exquisite perfume entered her nostrils, suddenly her body trembled in a strange way and her heart froze when she heard the voice of the man she had dreamed of so much.

"Hello, this is Demetrio Laureti." Eva turned around and was speechless at the sight of those blue eyes she had dreamed of so much.