PROLOGUE
I am Alejandro Javier, and this is the story of my life.
It is brutal to be poor, painfully, relentlessly brutal… but I endure it all. Not for myself, but for the one person who has always mattered to me: my mother.
Our suffering began the day my father died. I was only a child in elementary school, and my mother… She knew nothing about survival. All her life, she had lived wrapped in my father’s love. In our mansion, she was treated like royalty. Even the glass of water she drank was handed to her by the household staff.
Whatever she asked for, my father provided without question. He used to say he married her so that he could make her the queen of his life.
But when he suddenly passed away, our world collapsed overnight. After his lavish funeral, strangers stormed into the mansion, each one claiming my father owed them money.
A month later, we were living in a cramped, dilapidated apartment. I had to stop going to school, but I forced myself to learn how to read and write.
While other kids obsessed over computer games, I found comfort in the quiet world of online reading. I always carried a pen and a small notebook, hungry to learn anything I could.
When I turned eighteen, I found work as a gym cleaner. Whenever the place emptied out, I used the equipment myself. The manager was kind enough to give me two hours a day to train.
Then one night, I woke to a strange, choking sound. I rushed to our tiny living room and found my mother gasping for air, tears streaming down her cheeks. Terror gripped me. I carried her to the hospital without a second thought.
The test results shattered me… my mother had leukemia.
I was lost. I couldn’t imagine a life without her, yet my meager salary as a gym cleaner could never pay for her treatment.
And so, in my desperation, I stepped into a world that made me despise myself.
I sold my body to older men and wealthy women… anyone willing to pay. I hated every moment of it. But in the mornings, I trained harder, determined to keep my body in its best condition. It was the only currency I had.
In a year, I saved enough to start her treatments. I abandoned that disgusting life and studied massage therapy. Three months later, I became a freelance masseur and a weekend gym instructor.
Every day, I attended three to five clients. By nightfall, exhaustion crushed me. But before I lay down to rest, I always cooked for my mother so she would have something to eat when she woke up.
My life revolved solely around her… my mother, my work as a masseur, and my hours at the gym.
That was my world.
When I turned thirty, I truly believed she had recovered. But one morning, she collapsed again. I rushed her to the hospital, only to hear another devastating diagnosis… stage 2 breast cancer.
It felt like an earthquake had torn the ground from beneath me. My strength drained away. I couldn’t hold back my tears.
Why wouldn’t our suffering end?
Had I committed some sin so great that life felt the need to punish us endlessly?
I begged the doctor to delay the operation. I needed time. Money. For now, she has been placed on maintenance medication.
Two years passed.
That was when I met Ms. Jazzy. She became one of my clients. Later, I learned she owned the gym I worked at… and she was the same woman I had secretly admired when I was eighteen. My ultimate crush.
She began booking me regularly… until one day, she made me an offer that would change my life.
A three-year contract marriage.
If I agreed, she would pay for my mother’s treatment. And according to the contract, if we fell in love within those three years, we would remain husband and wife for real.
I signed it, even though every part of me resisted. My mother’s life was more important than my pride. Whatever would happen between Jazzy and me could be dealt with later.
But the truth hit me gradually: she had bought me.
Bought me to be her husband.
Her behavior proved it… she treated me like one of her employees, nothing more.
And yet… somewhere along the way, my heart betrayed me.
I fell for her.
Deeply. Quietly. Painfully.
I hid my feelings, pretending not to care whenever men tried to court her. But the more I acted indifferent, the more I loved her.
Until that day, everything changed.
I overheard one of her staff talking… about my father’s properties… and the truth behind his death.
It was her parents.
Her family.
They were the reason my father died.
The reason my mother and I lived in misery.
Now, I stand at a crossroads.
Do I leave Jazzy and reclaim everything her family stole from us?
Or do I stay by her side, win her heart completely… and begin my plan for revenge?
Can I really hurt the woman I love… just to seek justice for my father?
