Going back to Miami, albeit sooner than expected, meant that everything was about to change. At this point, Ximena wasn’t sure whether it was for better or for worse. For starters, there was the whole legal jargon about her taking over Dos Ramos Shipping Cooperation which needed to be done in the coming week. Secondly, now that their families’ companies were finally merged, how were things supposed to continue? As a joint venture or two separate entities under a single wing?

Since Adriano had dropped the bomb on her head about his mother being alive and not dead like he had told her some weeks ago, she was walking on egg shells around him. He seemed sadder, quieter and slightly irritable. As soon as they had landed back in their home city, he drove her to her parents’ house and dropped her there, saying he had some things he had wanted to take off…alone.

Opening the door to her parents’ house, she was greeted by nothing but silence. Well, it was barely six in the morning and she was very sure that nobody was awake…or so she had thought because the next second, she heard giggles coming from the west hall on the ground floor. Following the sounds on pure instinct and ended by the door to the games’ room which was mostly used by Salvador. But the person in there wasn’t him; it was her sister Andrea. The door was ajar, allowing her to listen in on the conversation.

“-enjoy spending time with you. I hope you enjoy my company as well,” she trailed off in a dreamy tone, whirling a lock of hair on her index finger. She was dressed in her night gown. Judging by the looks of it, she was definitely talking to someone she was romantically involved with. But the big question is, who was it? And why the hell did it seem like she didn’t want anyone to know about this?

She erupted into another fit of giggles. “You’re so dirty minded. Maybe we can do that, some day very soon,” she went on and that’s when Ximena decided to walk in and make her presence known. Andrea froze dead in her tracks. Her eyes widened in bewilderment and she immediately ended the call. “Mena? What are you doing here?” she shrieked, hiding her phone behind her back.

Entering further into the room, she shut the door and crossed her arms in a serious stance. “Who were you on the phone with?” she inquired, tone low and intimidating. Her big sister instincts were kicking in, the sudden urge to protect her baby sister having taken over.

Andrea gulped visibly. “Just a friend,” she lied lamely and Ximena snorted.

“That definitely was not a friend. Are you seeing someone, hell I know you are. Is it anyone we know, more specifically, someone that mama and papa know?” she added, and Andrea vehemently shook her head.

“I swear, it’s nothing serious. Don’t tell mum and dad, please? Okay, fine. It’s a boy I met a few weeks ago…at school,” she remarked but the last part sounded suspicious.

Ximena sighed audibly. “You know how dad is, he will not approve of this one bit. Why don’t you want them to know?”

“As you said, you know how dad is. I really like this guy and I want to see where this goes, whether it’s just a summer fling or not. So, can you keep this secret for me just this once?” Andrea pleaded desperately, flashing her a pout. She held out her pinky finger to Ximena, who huffed in annoyance. Taking out her pinky finger, they sealed the deal. Squealing in delight, Andrea engulfed her in a bone crushing hug. “Thank you, sis!” she beamed once she’d let go. “But on a serious note, why are you back? Did something happen?” she asked, worry taking over her facial features.

Ximena was about to tell her why her honeymoon had been cut short when the door opened and a sleepy-eyed Dolores shuffled in. As soon as her eyes landed on her eldest daughter, they opened up wider in both surprise and delight. “Mi amor, you’re back!” she spoke happily and moved in to giver her daughter a hug. “Why are you back? And why are you two in this room?” she brought her eyebrows in confusion. Ximena gave her sister the side eye and offered her mum a small smile.

“Adriano saw is mother when we were at the beach yesterday,” she muttered sadly and angrily, remembering how her presence at grieved him and cut their honeymoon short. Dolores and Andrea both gasped simultaneously and Ximena nodded. “I know, it’s a long story.” So, she then narrated how the first 3 days had gone, how blissful and wonderful they had been (omitting some other details) and then she delved into the incident and how crushed he had been after seeing her.

Andrea tsked in pity. “He must be feeling like shit right now,” she murmured and Dolores shot her a glare because of her foul language. “Lo siento (sorry),” she said sheepishly.

“And the worst part is, I don’t know what to do to cheer him up. I feel so freaking useless,” Ximena groaned in frustration, running her hands through her black locks. Dolores rubbed her back in a comforting manner.

“I think you should give him some time, darling. He needs to come to terms with this and deal with it the way he sees best. If you push him to open up to you more, you’ll only push him away,” she said softly and Ximena nodded her head.

“I almost told him I love him,” she whispered and Andrea did a double take.

“You what? You love him? How come I wasn’t aware of this?” she yelled dramatically and their mother shot her another glare, cussing at her insensitive behavior under her breath in Spanish. “Oh, so you can swear in Spanish and I can’t say shit? Talk about double standards!” she huffed indignantly. She then awed at her sister, making a complete 180 in mood. “My big sister is in love! Am I gonna be an aunt soon?” she teased, wiggly her eyebrows and Ximena couldn’t help but laugh, in spite of her inner turmoil.

She rolled her eyes. “I’m not even sure if he feels that way about me so for now, I’ll not tell him and no, you will not be an aunt soon. Things are complicated enough as it is, I won’t be throwing a literal child into the mix. Maybe someday though”

Dolores smirked at this. “So, you have thought about bearing his children, haven’t you?” Ximena blushed at this. “It’s okay to fantasize about that; your children will be gorgeous no doubt. That man is very handsome.”

Ximena looked at her, appalled. “Mum! How can you say that? What would dad say?”

Her mother simply shrugged. “I’m not blind. And besides, I only have eyes for Emilio Dos Ramos, despite all of his short comings. You know chicas, your father was very handsome, drop dead gorgeous even when we were younger. Now that I think of it, he hasn’t change much. Still my darling Emilio…” she breathed with a lovestruck look on her face. Andrea and Ximena both gagged at this.

“Okay mum, thank you for that. I think I need to bleach my brain after this,” Andrea sighed and rubbed her temple.

“We should head to our rooms and get ready for the day. We’ve already been talking for over and hour and sure your father and brother are up by now,” Dolores said and made her way towards the door. “Ximena, will you be staying over or you’re going back to your house?”

It then dawned on Ximena that this was no longer her home, but she had a home with her husband. A strange feeling pulsated in her body. Everything was changing so suddenly and it was going to take some getting used to. “My house, I guess. Is it ready though mum? Last I heard is you had taken charge of furnishing it and what not.”

“Yes sweetheart. Everything is in order. The only thing left here is your car.”

Ximena merely nodded and followed her mother and sister out of the room.

***

For the second time ever in his life, Adriano felt numb. The first time he had felt like that was when his mother had left. As a child, he hadn’t quite understood what had been going on but he distinctly remembered her final words before she stepped out of his life for good.

“This is the life you chose, darling. Luxury always comes at price,” Humberto said dryly and Estefania groaned at this. Little Adriano had heard the yelling all the way from his own room which was pretty close to his own. He leaned on the door, pressing his ear against the cold wood and stilled his breathing so he wouldn’t be heard.

“You are a bastard, Humberto Dos Ramos. You wooed me with your good looks, money and flashy lifestyle. You lured me into your bed and impregnated me. You never loved me but I loved you so desperately. Now all I feel for you is hate. But today is the last day I tolerate your cheating, your condensation and your humiliation. I am leaving, and I’m taking our son with me!” his mother roared furiously and he heard some shuffling in the room.

Humberto began to chuckle humorlessly. “I’ll allow you to leave. And you’re right. I never loved you and sleeping with you was a mistake on my part. I only married you because I didn’t want you to ruin my reputation. I worked hard for all of this and I will not let anyone ruin it. But understand this, if you go you are not going with my son. Your walked into my life with high hopes and foolish aspirations. Men like me don’t fall in love. So, are you staying or you’re leaving?”

There was a brief pause before the sound of something breaking echoed in there. “Go to hell! I will not stay with you, not after what you just said. You can keep your goddamn son!” she shrieked. That’s when Adriano had decided he had heard enough and wobbled back to his room, his heart pounding furiously against his ribcage. An had passed before he heard slamming of doors. A few minutes passed and his door opened to reveal his father, with a worn out look on his face.

“Hey son,” he said tiredly and took a seat beside him on the bed. Instinctively, Adriano scooted away a bit from him. He had never been too fond of his father and after hearing what he said only an hour ago, he was growing to resent him slowly.

Adriano hugged his knees, not looking at his father. “Is mom coming back?” he asked lowly and Humberto rolled his eyes at this.

“To be honest with you, Adri…I’m not sure. She might, she might not.” With that, he stood up and left the room. Little Adriano stuck his tongue out at his retreating figure and collapsed back on the bed. She had to be coming back, right? She wouldn’t just leave him like that, would she?

How foolish he had been back then to have hoped that his mother would return for him. Days of waiting turned into weeks, into months and eventually his father had made them move to Miami from Spain, drowning any hope she would come back.

Adriano couldn’t help but wonder why his life was so messed up? What had he done to deserve such horrible individuals for parents? He hated them both so much, but for completely different reasons. He hated his father for being such a cruel and callous man and never ever showing him fatherly love. He hated how Humberto Dos Santos was manipulative, insensitive and overall, a bastard. But most of all, he hated how sometimes he felt he was nothing but a mere reflection of the one person he hated most in this world.

His mother was a different issue all together. Was she justified in leaving his father? Probably. But did she have to leave her son behind, not having bothered to put up a fight for him? Absolutely not! It was unforgiveable what she’d done. She was the only person who made him doubt his self-worth, made him feel like he wasn’t worth it.

Don’t doubt yourself ever again, okay? Ximena’s words echoed in his ears and it brought some sort of comfort to him. He’d been driving around aimlessly for the past couple of hours. He felt bad for being to cavalier and curt with Ximena when he dropped her off at her parents’ house but he really was feeling all kinds of awful. But that didn’t mean you had to take it out on her, his inner voice chastised.

He decided he would make it up to her because she had been so thoughtful and understandable back in Ibiza. He had never let himself be so vulnerable in front of any woman, or anyone for that matter. He would just tuck it in the deepest and darkest corner of his mind and go on with his days.

Now he was a few miles away from his dad’s house. He wasn’t sure what he was going there for but he needed some answers. He needed to know the full story behind them and why his mother left. He at least owed him that much; he was after all the real reason why he’s grown up without a mother.

Once he pulled up to the familiar iron gates of his father’s estate, the guards immediately opened the gate for him. He drove down the winding driveway and stationed his car beside the pompous fountain and stepped out. Jogging up the stairs, he entered the door without knocking. Seeing as the morning had already advanced, he walked towards Emilio’s office on the ground floor. He was always in there whenever he was at home. As he approached the door, he heard weird noises coming from the. The door was slightly open and when he peaked through it, what he saw gave him the shock of a life time.

Carlton had his hands on Samara’s waist as he was basically jamming his tongue down her throat. And by the looks of it, she was enjoying every second of it, her hands entangled in his weirdly styled hair. Deciding he had seen just about enough, Adriano flew out of the house like a bat out of hell, straight into his car and sped off. His head was swirling with astonishment and confusion. He tried to reason with himself that what he had seen was just a hallucination but it wasn’t; it couldn’t have be given that the memory was now engraved deep in his train of thought.

He cursed lowly at the predicament he was now in. What was he going to do with this information?

__________________

Hello lovely people. OMG...this chapter was emotional and weird and dramatical all together. And Carlton and Samara...what the hell is that?

Hope you enjoyed the insight into Adriano's tumultuous past.

Who do you thinlk Andrea's mystery man is?

Until next time,

~Deetronite 🤗