I FELL IN LOVE WITH THE FAKE CEO

1.

"I promise I'll come back to visit you." That boy with beautiful, clear eyes made my cheeks tinge with red.

"Why? Why do you promise me that? You just pull my hair and upset me."

"Because if I don't do it, who else will?" His smile was all I could see.

And that was enough for me.

"Talula! Talula! Wake up!" I felt my arms being tugged tightly.

I opened my eyes and saw the dirty, moldy ceiling of my small room.

"What... What's wrong?" I asked, still sleepy.

"You... it's Lorenza. She's coming here. She's been calling you for half an hour and..."

The door burst open, and Lorenza, with her deep, cold eyes, filled with anger, pulled at my arm and dug her nails in.

"Wake up, lazy girl!"

I wanted to scream, cry, break free, or say something, but I was already so used to the pain that it was impossible for another attack from my stepmother to affect me.

I went down to the kitchen and put on the same old apron I'd had since I was 10. 17 years had passed, and today was my 18th, the day I would finally be free. Strangely, Jonella was more upset than ever.

—Talula, we made it for you…

The kitchen girls and I, along with the gardener, add up to no more than four people, very few to maintain a house as large as the one we were in charge of. But since my parents died and Lorenza, my stepmother, took charge of me and all the money my parents had left me, money that little by little I saw slipping through her hands.

A cake. Like every year, they, who were like family to me, made a cake for me. This year I had wished for something different, and then the gardener was surprised.

The gardener turned on the lights outside the house so he could get a better look at what it was. Suddenly, a car made everything inside me feel strangely right. If memory served me correctly, that was my grandmother's car. I felt my heart race, but I wasn't sure of anything because the memories felt like distant nightmares that weren't real.

"It's... It's Mrs..."

"It's my grandmother. My grandmother came back for me!" I shouted excitedly, and for the first time, I didn't care if everyone woke up or not; I just wanted to feel her arms around me.

I didn't take off the horrible, grayish apron I was wearing, nor did I let go of my hair to make it look less ugly than the horrible bun they forced me to wear, nor did I clean my hands. I just ran into my grandmother's arms.

When the two cars stopped in front of me and I saw her get out, the pressure on my chest made my tears succumb to the pain. I reached for her and hugged her without waiting for her to say anything. I just stood there, like in other years when I was a little girl who could take refuge in her grandmother's body. And for the first time, I realized that my whole body hurt, perhaps because I no longer felt so vulnerable or fragile. I knew that with her, nothing could hurt me anymore.

"My girl, what have they done to you?"

"Please, get me out of here. I don't care about anything, not the house, not the money. Just get me out of here, Grandma." She tried to wipe my tears, but it was an impossible task, as the liquid spilled out without filtering.

My grandmother dragged me into the house, turned on all the lights, and began screaming for my stepmother. Lorenza, seeing my grandmother, tried to retrace her steps; it was already too late. Her shock was such that she was speechless, and her skin turned a horrible pale color.

"Mother-in-law, what are you doing here? You were supposed to arrive in a week."

"What's going on? Didn't you have time to sweep the mess under the rug, dear?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Then my grandmother roughly grabbed me by the arm and pulled me forward.

"Look!" she yelled at her. "Look at her hands, which are no longer those of a girl from a good family, look at her hair that no longer shines, look at her face as dirty as a servant's. What did you do to her, Lorenza? She's not your blood, but my son trusted you, and you damaged her until she was gray and empty."

Lorenza said nothing; her face was tense and upset. There was no excuse for her behavior; my grandmother was too agitated, and little by little, she faded away beside me. Until her eyes closed.

I couldn't lose my grandmother the very day she returned.

The screams of several people in the house were immediate. Suddenly, my grandmother's employees put her in the car, and I joined them. There was a boy older than me with a kind face who calmed me down. The whole way to the hospital, I was crying and begging God not to take her away from me, because otherwise, I would go with her.

"Your grandmother is sick. She can't be having any strong emotions, or it could be fatal."

"How long has she been?" I asked the doctor.

"Based on her medical history and the test results, she must have been sick for at least a year."

I laid my head on the bed and stroked her hand as gently as I could. It was a rather elegant private clinic, and I was there in my old, hopeless clothes.

"Miss Talula, you can get a coffee, I'll take the guard," the young man told me.

"Thank you, but I don't have any money." I smiled and laid my head back next to my grandmother's hand.

"I'll take it." She handed me a bill and smiled.

"No, I can't accept this!"

"It's not my money, if that's what you're worried about, it's your grandmother's, and I'm sure she'd like you to eat something. She can't do anything else right now, so please come on."

The man moved a little closer to me and wiped the stains off my face. They were the ashes from that damn fireplace. I took the bill without saying anything and went up to the first floor, where there was a vending machine. I wanted something hot and with a different flavor than the bitter taste of every meal at my aunt's house.

Then the screams of two men scared me. One was tall and muscular, his arms covered in tattoos. He was fighting two nurses to get them to let him go. The guy's shirt was covered in blood, his lip busted, and his beautifully shaped nose was also bleeding. He looked like he'd been attacked. Suddenly, a man just as tall, but with darker hair and dressed in an impeccable suit, approached him. He whispered a few words, and the boy finally let himself be treated.

His piercing green eyes fixed on me for a moment, and it seemed like my body had completely stopped responding. I couldn't move. He gave me a perfect smile, and I swallowed hard. He got up from the stretcher and approached me.

"It's you," he said, stroking a lock of hair that had escaped from my bun. I opened my mouth and tried to say so many things. I felt like I already knew those eyes, but I couldn't say anything. Who was that man?

"No... I don't know what he's talking about," I said, very nervous, my stomach in knots.

"It's you. You're real. After all this time, you're real." He continued smiling and stroking my hair.

"Dani..." the man, who looked like the bloodied boy but was wearing an elegant suit, approached. "Brother, leave her alone. You're hallucinating again."

"No, look at her. It's her, the girl of my dreams." He tried to take my hand, but I pulled away immediately. Although there was sadness in his eyes, I managed to take two steps back.

"I'm... I'm sorry."

"Don't be afraid of me, I'm..."

But a nurse cautiously and hurriedly injected something into his arm, and in seconds he collapsed. They put him on a stretcher and moved away. The elegant man was about to say something to me, but I had already headed for my grandmother's room. And a strange feeling stayed in my mind.

I felt butterflies swirling in my stomach. I returned to my still-sleeping grandmother and lay down next to her.

"My daughter, forgive me," my grandmother's words forced me to open my eyes.

"Grandma, everything's fine. How are you feeling?"

"Horrible."

"I'm going to call the doctor," I said, running to the door.

"No! Talula. I feel horrible because I let that woman do this to you..."

"It's not your fault she's a bad person."

"We'll leave here."

"The money my parents left me..."

"You can claim it when you're 18, if there's any left."

"What are you talking about?" It's impossible that she...

"I had to come back because the accountants in charge of my money showed me the accounts and something didn't add up. They investigated, and for some reason, Lorenza's investments are directly connected to mine, according to them because of a bad move your father made. She's been diverting my money to her accounts for years; what I have left is very little, and I just pray she hasn't spent yours. I came back to confront her, but... look at me, I'm already a sick old woman."

"And I'm going to take care of you. It doesn't matter if we don't have money. As long as we're away from here, everything will be okay, I promise."

That same day, my grandmother and I left the hospital for Madrid, to try to undo all the damage that witch Lorenza had caused, not only to me, but also to my grandmother's finances and most likely to the money my parents had left me.