Chapter 20 Fearless.
Chapter 20.
Fearless.
Alicia trembles with rage, her hand hurting.
"Lies? Everybody knows it! You were with me, and you didn't resist at all!"
"You're lying! You're a wretch! We were not together! And if you don't shut your mouth right now, I swear you'll regret the day you were born!"
The fight quickly escalates. Rogelio tries to grab her arm, but she shrugs him off and pushes him with all her might. His friends try to intervene, and the shouting attracts the university authorities. It's a full-blown scandal in the hallway.
The result is immediate: both are taken to the dean's office. The dean, fed up with Rogelio's misconduct and faced with the seriousness of the defamation accusation and the public scandal, imposes a drastic sanction: immediate suspension for one week for both.
Alicia returns to the mansion at noon, her body shaking. Lucas is in his office. She enters without knocking.
"Lucas... I've been suspended," she announces, and collapses into an armchair, covering her face.
Lucas jumps up, alarmed. "What happened? Why?"
Between broken sobs and renewed rage, Alicia tells him everything: the whispers, the gossip, the source (Rogelio), the confrontation, and the suspension.
Lucas's anger is instant and terrifying. His face contorts, the vein in his neck swells.
"He dared...? That miserable wretch dared to invent and spread that garbage?" Lucas's voice is a barely contained roar. "I swear I will destroy him! How dare he tarnish your name?"
"Lucas, don't do anything... I was suspended too. You can't cause a scandal because of me," Alicia pleads.
He ignores her. He pulls out his phone and calls his main lawyer. "Listen to me. I want this boy, Rogelio, to be expelled from the university. Now. Not just suspended. I want him off campus, and I want this to cost him a defamation lawsuit that will ruin him. Move my influence, call whoever you have to call. Make him disappear from the educational map. You have one hour."
He hangs up the phone, breathing heavily. He approaches Alicia, lifts her, and holds her tight against his chest. "No one, absolutely no one, dares to tarnish you. No one will dare to invent something so filthy about you. You don't have to go to university for a week now. We're going to use that time for something much more productive."
And so begins a week of productive confinement. Lucas, furious at the offense, redoubles his commitment to preparing her for the vice presidency, filling the free time with intensive classes in finance and business strategy. The mansion becomes their power and pleasure bunker.
The news arrives in less than 24 hours: Rogelio is expelled from the university with a record of misconduct and defamation. The gossip dies as quickly as it was born.
With the threat eliminated, Lucas's tension transforms into a constant need to reaffirm his possession of Alicia. The suspension becomes a clandestine, adrenaline-fueled honeymoon.
There is no longer a place in the mansion where Lucas does not desire to possess her.
The preparation for the vice presidency is interspersed with forbidden pleasure. Financial maps and business plans are spread out on the desk, and in the middle of a debate about assets, Lucas lifts her and places her on the polished wooden surface, quickly making her his own, in an impulsive act that leaves them gasping over the documents. The adrenaline of being discovered is an aphrodisiac.
The afternoons pass in the music room. Alicia practices piano for a future reception, and Lucas sits behind her. He slides his hand under her silk dress, touching the keys of her skin while her fingers are still touching the ivory ones. The pleasure is silent, a sweet torture, until she can't take it anymore and the piano abruptly stops as she surrenders to him on the Persian rug.
The master bedroom, of course, is the setting for long nights. The mirrors reflect their clandestine love, every kiss, every caress is a promise that she is the only one.
They feel like they are on cloud nine, a constant adrenaline that makes them forget the outside world, until the reminder of the farce arrives.
One afternoon, while reviewing documents in the office, Lucas's phone vibrates. It's a reminder from his secretary.
Lucas sighs, his face hardening. "I have to go in a moment. I have to... fulfill an engagement."
Alicia sits up, the knot in her throat is instantaneous. "I can't believe this, really. Are you going to take her out to dinner?"
Lucas approaches, taking her hands. "We've talked about this, Alicia. Carolina has been sending messages to the press about our supposed 'distance.' I need to show some unity so no one suspects. Trust me, please. It's just dinner, another alibi. It means nothing. I'll be back before dawn."
She feels the tension of the situation, the pain of being the shadow. She hugs him, feeling the knot in her throat, but nodding. It's the plan.
She pulls away, her eyes fixed on his, the disappointment evident.
"Enjoy the dinner," she says, and the word sounds like a curse.
Alicia is in the mansion's living room. The lights are dim, and the only source of brightness comes from the lit fireplace, which casts warm and melancholic shadows. It's almost ten o'clock at night, and Lucas has been at his "engagement" with Carolina for hours.
Alicia tries to distract herself. She turns on her phone, seeking to evade the knot in her throat, but fate, or the algorithm, works against her. She opens her favorite social network, and the first post that appears is from Carolina.
It's a photo. Romantic candlelight dinner. The table is exquisite, with a lavish floral centerpiece and sparkling crystal glasses. Carolina smiles radiantly, a glass of champagne in her hand, her head slightly tilted toward Lucas. Although Lucas has a more reserved expression, he looks elegant and attentive. The caption finishes stabbing Alicia's calm: "Perfect night with my love. Celebrating us. The best escape from reality! @Lucas_Jank."
Alicia feels an icy chill. "Celebrating us." It's not just a business dinner; Carolina is selling it as a moment of reaffirming their relationship. Melancholy floods her. She feels silly, naive, waiting like the mistress in the shadow for the man of her life to return from his date with his fiancée.
She turns off her phone and throws it onto the sofa. She curls up, hugging a cushion, letting resignation overcome her. She knows she has to be strong for the plan, for the vice presidency, for her future with him. But in these moments, the reality is painful. The fear of losing him, of the farce becoming true, is tangible. "Trust me, Alicia. It's just an alibi," she repeats to herself, trying to believe Lucas's words over the fire consuming the wood.