As soon as Umberto entered the bedroom, he discovered that the room was empty. Everything on the dresser was gone and in the half-empty closet there was only his clothes.
He didn’t notice it before, but now he went back to the living room to look again, he saw that not only in the bedroom, but everywhere in the house, all Albina’s things were missing.
The day before yesterday they were still there and during this time, only her mother and Yolanda had entered, so they were responsible for the disappearance of the things.
Mrs. Santangel was frightened by the anger in Umberto’s eyes, she was stunned for a while before she recovered and shouted at him:
-Umberto, what are you doing? I am your mother, I am the one who raised you, but you are yelling at me for so many useless things.
Umberto clenched his fists and teeth tightly and tried to control his anger:
-I am going to ask the question again, where are Albina’s things?
Mrs. Santangel looked at him angrily and said impatiently:
-I burned the clothes, sold the jewelry and threw away all the rest that was hard to sort out! I’m your mother, can’t I handle these useless things?
Seeing the atmosphere so tense, Yolanda mediated in the dispute at once:
-Umberto, don’t blame your mother. She just thinks we are already engaged and since Miss Espina has divorced you, her things just take up space.
-Yolanda! -Umberto interrupted her, looking at her with dark eyes, “What are you saying? This home is originally hers and her name is written on the title deed. Even if we are engaged, what right do you have to throw her things out of her house?
Mrs. Santangel and Yolanda were shocked by these words.
-What? The name written on the property certificate is Albina? -Mrs. Santangel shouted- -Umberto, are you stupid? This house is in the center of the city where the land is very expensive, it is a non attached villa with garden and swimming pool, its value is at least seven million. But you gave it to a blind woman.
Umberto interrupted her with indifference:
-I just told her that I don’t want to hear the word blind again.
Mrs. Santangel’s hands were shaking with anger. No matter how much Yolanda controlled herself, her eyes were full of hatred and malice.
She hadn’t expected Umberto to not only say it, but actually give away the villa to Albina. She was a blind woman and couldn’t deserve the seven million villa!
-Umberto, you’re already engaged to me, stop defending Albina like that!
Yolanda roared with red eyes whose face was full of aggravation:
-I am your fiance. If you are not satisfied with me, I can talk to my parents about breaking the marriage.
Umberto looked at her coldly:
-If I break off the marriage, are you willing to accept it?
Yolanda did not get the expected result and was stunned for a while, tears streaming down her face.
Umberto’s eyes were full of indifference. If it had been in the past, due to the grace of rescue, he would have obeyed Yolanda when he saw her crying.
In his impression, Yolanda had a carefree life and although she was a bit moody, she was generally a kind and simple girl. But after going through the two incidents, one of Albina’s mother and the other of the kidnapping, he felt as if he had never met Yolanda.
This woman could have committed atrocities behind his back but in front of him pitifully pretend that she had been mistreated.
If it were the truth, Yolanda would be a terrible woman.
Upon hearing Umberto’s words, Mrs. Santangel patted his arm several times:
-Umberto, are you crazy? You are already engaged and you cannot break the marriage at random.
-It is she who says this first,” Umberto’s voice was low.
His mother was exasperated by Umberto’s fact. She didn’t understand why he paid so much attention to a blind woman. Yolanda had a rich and powerful family and was a beautiful girl. Being the only daughter in the Carballal Family, all the property of the Carballal Family would be hers in the future. How much benefit she would bring to the Santangel Family.
All in all, Umberto was so smart, but why didn’t she make him come into her heart, he was so stubborn and what was the use of protecting a blind woman?
Yolanda reacted then, wiped her tears and told Mrs. Santangel:
-It seems that Umberto doesn’t like me. I don’t want this marriage anymore, I’m going home right now.
-Yolanda! -Mrs. Santangel stopped her at once, then she turned her head and scolded Umberto: “Stupid, those things are garbage and don’t deserve your attention. You also said that Albina jumped into the river. Possibly she’s dead now. Don’t you feel unlucky with a dead woman’s things? We handled them for you and I don’t see anything wrong in this matter.
-This marriage has already been decided. If I find out that you are going to break it, I will die in front of you.
After hearing Mrs. Santangel’s words, Yolanda lowered her head smiling. She knew that because of Mrs. Santangel’s character, she would definitely not allow the marriage to be abolished like that.
The anger in Umberto’s eyes reached the peak, however, the person in front of him was his biological mother, with red eyes and trembling voice:
-Why is she always so hard on others?
When she saw her son’s appearance, Mrs. Santangel was also surprised and pursed her lips, saying nothing.
Umberto had been smart and powerful since he was a child. Grandfather bypassed his mediocre father and handed the whole family directly to Umberto. From Mrs. Santangel’s impression, she had never seen Umberto’s fragile appearance.
But now his eyes were full of strong and deep depression. When he saw her with red eyes, Mrs. Santangel’s heart trembled.
-You should be thankful that you are my mother, otherwise, the end of this affair would not be like this.
Umberto pointed in the direction of the door:
-Go away, I don’t want to see you.
Mrs. Santangel still wanted to speak but was stopped by Yolanda because she knew if she pushed Umberto too hard, the opposite effect would easily come out.
Umberto could temporarily compromise for his mother, but according to his way of being, he was not going to give in forever. If it really came to that point, he wouldn’t hold out any longer even if the two of them made an effort together.
Yolanda left with Mrs. Santangel, who was scolding.
The huge house was silent. Umberto sat on the sofa and looked at the empty hearth, feeling that his heart was empty too.
At five or six in the morning, Albina was generally awake by this time, she got up quietly and then prepared breakfast, which she did for three years.
He had said that he wanted to employ a nanny to take care of his life but Albina always refused.
Previously he didn’t understand, that she obviously couldn’t see and it was inconvenient to do anything but why was she so persistent in this regard?
Now he vaguely understood that it was because he himself did not give her enough sense of security.
She was worried that her eyes would not improve and cause problems for him, that he would abandon her for trouble, that she would be too dependent on others and unable to live alone.
Umberto took a deep breath and felt his heart ache.
He stood up and frantically rummaged through the things in the bedroom, in every corner, but found no trace of Albina’s existence.
It was as if she had never existed.
The sun rose slowly. Umberto sat down on the floor and covered his face, his eyes red. A long while later, a suppressed moan sounded in the silent house.
It seemed that he really lost his wife, Albina was lost for himself.
For several days, Umberto and his men kept running down the river to look for her, but except for some garbage, they found nothing.
No news was heard either. Albina seemed to have disappeared into the world.
Umberto remained awake during those days. Originally suffering from insomnia, he was now skinny and pale, his beard unshaven, and his eyes were full of blood. Now he was no different from a vagabond.
Reuben couldn’t take it anymore. If this continued, Umberto’s body would be ruined sooner or later. He called the psychiatrist Santiago to forcibly hypnotize him, so they forced Umberto to fall asleep.
Ruben watched Umberto, who frowned even when he was asleep, and asked Santiago:
-Dr. Barrios, is there any way sir could forget anything?
At present Albina could not be found nor did he know if she was alive or dead. If Mr. kept looking for her like that, it would not be a good solution.
Santiago pushed his glasses and said with an indifferent voice:
-There is a way, but I can’t use it. I can only hypnotize him if he agrees. If you make the decisions without his permission, Mr. Santangel will not let us go. Besides, if the memory is deep and he doesn’t want to forget it himself, even if he forgets it for a while, he will remember it. Are we going to keep hypnotizing him?
Ruben gave a sigh because he didn’t know what to do.
What he didn’t expect was that after Mr. Santangel woke up, the first thing he was going to do was to ask Ruben to stop looking for her, without mentioning Albina’s name, as if he had forgotten her.