Chapter 67 The Final Betrayal
Chapter 67 The Final Betrayal
Chapter 67.
The Final Betrayal
Ignoring Berta's pleas to stop and her excuses about "Mrs. Carolina," Alicia strides into the house, her footsteps echoing on the marble. She climbs the stairs, heading directly to Lucas's main bedroom, the one he used to share with her.
The hallway is dark. The door to Lucas's bedroom is ajar, allowing a sliver of dim light to escape.
Alicia walks toward the door, opening it softly.
The scene she finds is the most brutal confirmation of her exile and Lucas's choice.
The room is in shadow, lit only by the city lights filtering through the window. The scent of expensive perfume and Lucas's aftershave is unmistakable. Carolina is naked in the immense bed, curled up under the sheet. Beside her, Lucas sleeps deeply, his body relaxed by the peace he has bought at the price of the truth.
The pain, the fury, and the disbelief hit Alicia with a physical force. Her hands tremble. In the shock, the small porcelain vase on the side table, which Alicia failed to see upon entering, slips from her numb fingers.
It crashes to the floor with a deafening sound of broken glass, the noise resonating like a bomb in the silence of the night.
The sound wakes the couple. Carolina stirs, covering herself. Lucas leaps up, panic and sleep on his face, as his eyes meet the figure of Alicia, standing in the darkness of the doorway, her face disfigured by pain and betrayal.
“Alicia,” Lucas whispers, the terror of being discovered by her paralyzing him.
Alicia remains motionless in the bedroom threshold, the sound of the broken vase now just a sharp echo in the void. She looks at Lucas, who sits up in bed, and at Carolina, who covers herself with the sheet, and the pain pierces her, a cold knife in her gut. She trembles from head to toe, not from the cold, but from the betrayal that burns her blood.
“Now I see why you didn’t want me to come back,” Alicia says, her voice barely a whisper trembling with pain. The tone is not a question, but one of devastating certainty. “Why you made excuses when I told you to come see me, why your calls stopped. Now I understand everything. It’s not that you couldn’t fix all this, Lucas. It’s that you had no intention of doing it. You always wanted to be with her.”
Lucas throws himself out of bed, ignoring his nakedness and Carolina’s panic. “No, that’s not it, Alicia… No!”
But Alicia no longer listens. The need to escape is physical, visceral. She turns and runs, fleeing from him, from the bed, from the mansion, from the life he promised her. She rushes down the stairs, ignoring Berta who tries to stop her. Her only goal is the exit.
Fortunately, the taxi that brought her from the airport is still waiting outside. Alicia had left her suitcases in the passenger seat, not knowing what to expect, and now she is grateful for that inexplicable caution.
“Quick! Go! Get out of here!” Alicia demands, throwing herself into the back seat.
The driver, accustomed to the dramas of the Jank family, accelerates without question. Alicia leaves the city, leaving behind the chaos and the Jank name. She doesn't stop at any hotel, she doesn't look for a safe place. She only wants the maximum possible distance.
“Central Station,” she orders.
On the first train she finds heading far away, without looking at the destination, just fleeing, she sits in a dark compartment. The train is going toward Milan. It is an impulsive choice, an unconscious return to her past: the city where she was born and where her parents were buried.
As the train moves, Lucas loses his mind. Realizing that Alicia has fled, he shouts, breaking objects in the room. He despises Carolina, who dresses with a mixture of panic and triumph, trying to calm him.
“Lucas, I…” Lucas grabs her arms.
“This is your fault, what the hell did you do, Carolina, if I lose her, if something happens to her, it will be your fault.”
Lucas looks at her with icy contempt. He had been drunk, distraught from the pressure, and she had taken advantage of the situation. He was trying to protect Alicia, and now he is losing her definitively.
“Berta! Gael! Find her! Now!”
A few hours later, Gael calls Lucas, his voice cautious. “Sir, there are no flights in her name. But the agents at the Central Station confirmed. She boarded a train to Milan.”
Lucas collapses into his seat, the news a devastating blow.
The Refuge.
A week passes. Lucas has moved heaven and earth to find her. He tracks her through Italy, searching luxury hotels and business contacts. It never occurs to him to look in the last place Alicia would go: simplicity.
Alicia is hidden in the convent where she was adopted in Milan, a place of peace and anonymity. The nuns welcome her without asking questions, and she disguises herself in a simple habit and veil, helping out at the place. No one recognizes her.
Months pass, and Lucas loses his mind searching for her. His judgment lost in the search for Alicia, the surveillance videos captured the moment Carolina saw Alicia arrive and got naked, climbing into his bed, taking advantage of the fact that he was drunk, knowing that Alicia would return upon seeing the news of their wedding, a plan that worked perfectly for her, but not enough to keep Lucas.
“I want you out of my life, away from me, you, my uncle, everyone, can go to hell, if anything happens to Alicia, I will make you pay the consequences.” He grips her by the neck hard.
“I hope she never shows up, you won’t be happy, if you are not mine, you won't be anyone's.”
Lucas lets go of her in revulsion.
“Gael, get her out of here, forbid her entry, I don't want to see her again.”
“Yes, sir.”
Lucas, seeing himself defeated, clings to Alicia's photo and his memories, feeling that she needs him, he abandons everything and moves to Milan, ready to start over, to find her.
Meanwhile, in the silence of the convent, Alicia’s pregnancy advances discreetly.
The day of the birth arrives. Alicia gives birth to a strong, healthy baby boy, whom she names Julián. The baby is a perfect replica of Lucas: the same dark hair, the same intense eyes. The mother superior is the only one who knows the truth of the paternity.
Alicia’s life is now discreet, humble. She raises her little one, finding a peace and happiness that the Jank world never gave her.