Chapter 5
Margaret took a deep breath as the car moved through the streets of Paris. The city lights gleamed through the windows, and the buzz of the evening traffic barely calmed the nerves she felt. In a few minutes, she would arrive at one of the most important meetings of her career as a jewelry designer. The luxury company "Beaumont & Co." wanted to sign a contract to sell her exclusive designs worldwide. It was what she had always dreamed of since adopting the identity of Margaret, the mysterious and enigmatic designer. But although she had everything to be happy, something still weighed on her heart.
She entered the elegant building with a firm step, impeccably dressed in one of her outfits designed by Adrien. Margaret's style had conquered Europe, and this meeting would consolidate it all. She greeted the company's executives, and the meeting began with champagne toasts and compliments toward her collections.
-Your designs are extraordinary, Margaret -said one of the representatives with enthusiasm-. We are eager to work with you. It will be a unique collaboration.
Margaret smiled, thanking every word, but behind that façade of confidence, something wasn't right. For weeks, she had been feeling a strange fatigue, dizziness she couldn't explain. She had tried to ignore them, thinking that the stress of her success and the life she led away from Lorenzo was affecting her more than she wanted to admit. But that afternoon, her body could take no more.
Just when they were about to sign the contract, she felt the world around her start to spin. The room became blurry, and the sound of voices faded. She tried to hold onto the table, but her legs didn't respond.
-Margaret, are you all right? -one of the executives asked with concern, seeing her pale face.
Before she could respond, everything went black.
She woke up in a hospital room, the sound of monitors around her. The smell of disinfectant and fluorescent lights overwhelmed her. When she tried to move, she felt a slight pain in her abdomen. She placed her hand on her stomach, confused. At that moment, Adrien entered the room, his face full of worry.
-Margaret! -he exclaimed upon seeing her awake-. They told me you fainted during the meeting. You have no idea how scared I was.
She tried to smile, but the worry in her eyes was evident. Before she could say anything, a doctor entered the room with her file.
-Mrs. Margaret, we've run some tests. I need to inform you of something important -said the doctor seriously.
Margaret nodded, expecting the worst. She couldn't bear more complications in her life. But what she heard next left her breathless.
-You are pregnant, ma'am. Approximately two months along.
Amelia stared at the white ceiling of the hospital, her hand still resting on her abdomen. The world stopped in that moment. Her mind immediately traveled to Lorenzo, to their last nights together before she decided to leave everything behind and run away. It was Lorenzo's child, no doubt about it. The man she had loved so much, who had caused her so much pain after not believing in her, was still tied to her life, even when she had tried to escape. Tears began to roll down her cheeks, unable to contain the storm of emotions that consumed her.
How could this be happening now? Everything she had built as Margaret, her independence, her success, seemed to collapse all at once. A life was growing inside her, a life that tied her forever to Lorenzo.
Adrien, who had remained silent upon hearing the news, slowly approached, a mix of surprise and pain on his face.
-Amelia -he whispered, using her real name for the first time in a long time-. Is it Lorenzo's?
She nodded, unable to speak. Adrien closed his eyes, as if trying to process what he had just heard, but he knew he couldn't compete with the weight of that bond that would never break.
-Adrien -she said through tears, trying to breathe-. I don't know what to do. Lorenzo can't find out Not now.
Meanwhile, back in the mansion in Madrid, Lorenzo was living his own hell. His company, which had been his pride for years, was beginning to fall apart. The wrong decisions, lost contracts, everything seemed tied to his inability to focus. Ever since Amelia left, everything in his life had started to crumble. He couldn't think of anything other than her disappearance, the guilt, the uncertainty of not knowing if she would ever return.
That morning, his assistant, worried about the state of the company, entered his office with a report.
-Mr. Lorenzo, the shareholders are concerned -he said, placing the report on the desk-. We've lost several important clients, and the company can't sustain itself like this for much longer.
Lorenzo looked at him without really listening. His mind was elsewhere. On Amelia. On her last words before she left. "I can't stay here, not while you remain blind to what's happening." He had failed to see her, to understand her pain, and now he was paying the price.
-I don't care about the company -he finally replied, in a cold and distant tone.
-What are you saying? -the assistant asked, incredulous-. The company is everything you've built.
Lorenzo stood up abruptly from his chair, feeling an uncontrollable anger. What was the point of everything he had built if he couldn't have Amelia back? He couldn't think clearly, couldn't make decisions. His life, his company, everything was shattered.
-Without Amelia, none of this matters -he said quietly, as he walked to the window, looking at the gray sky that mirrored his mood.
At that moment, his mother entered the room. Mrs. Isabel, though she still pretended to be fragile, couldn't hide the satisfaction of seeing Lorenzo so dependent on her.
Her son was destroyed, and although she pretended to comfort him, she actually enjoyed having him by her side, relying on her attention.
-Don't worry, my son -she said softly, though her smile was colder than Lorenzo could see-. I'll always be here for you. Amelia didn't deserve you, I told you from the start. She wasn't strong enough for you.
Lorenzo clenched his fists, feeling how his mother wrapped him in her web. But this time, something inside him resisted. Something about her words felt hollow, as if behind that sweetness there was a dark intention.
That night, Lorenzo wandered through the mansion, watching his mother from the door of the living room. Mrs. Isabel was lying on the couch, pretending weakness, but something didn't add up. Ever since Amelia left, his mother seemed strangely revitalized. There was something in her tone of voice, in the way she moved, that didn't match the image of a sick woman. "Amelia said she was faking it," Lorenzo thought, feeling a knot form in his stomach. "What if she was right?" He recalled the arguments, Amelia's pleas for him to believe her. He had been blind, he realized. Blind in his devotion to his mother, unable to see how she manipulated everything around her. What if Amelia hadn't run away because she didn't love him, but because she couldn't endure the lies anymore?
As Lorenzo battled his internal storm, Amelia, or Margaret, wrestled between her new life and the unexpected discovery that she carried a part of Lorenzo within her. A life that irrevocably tied her to her past, despite her efforts to escape.