Seeing that his purpose had been achieved, Ramon was not willing to stay any longer, because he had to tell his family the good news and then celebrate it.
In order to talk to Albina, without having lunch, Ramon had been waiting standing at the door for most of the afternoon, he was already quite tired, so he said goodbye to his niece:
-So, Albina rest early and I’ll leave first.
Albina nodded her head, caressing the photo album in her hand and asked:
-Can I keep this photo album? I don’t have any pictures of my father anymore.
Since Ramon had achieved his purpose, the album was no longer of any use to him, therefore, he willingly agreed to Albina’s request and left with satisfaction.
Albina looked down through the window and saw her uncle leaving the building, walking very merrily, and let out a mocking laugh.
“The fish has taken the bait. Tomorrow night I will go and talk to that man and formally begin the plan of revenge.”
Albina entered the house with the photo album in her arms and was somewhat relieved. The situation had changed and those cheeky Espina family wouldn’t bother her for the time being, so she wouldn’t have to rush to move.
Albina thought that once the reprisals against the Espina family were over, she would have her father’s house redecorated and she would move in.
Sitting on the couch, Albina flipped through the photos one by one, looking at her father’s face, and a tremendous sadness was creeping into her eyes:
-Dad, don’t blame me for doing this to your relatives. Everyone in the Espina family are beastly and don’t deserve to be forgiven.
***
When Ramon returned home and saw that everyone else was in the living room, he announced with extreme joy that Albina had agreed to reconcile with them and that a comfortable life for his family was coming soon.
After hearing this, Alex stopped the hand holding the drink in mid-air, his face full of disbelief.
And the old woman sat up violently from the sofa, not looking faint at all.
-Have you gone mad or what?! What nonsense are you talking about? How is it possible that that bitch accepts to help us? -Mrs. Estela shouted as she rushed towards her son with the cane.
She really didn’t believe what her son said, because she still remembered how stubborn Albina had been in front of him last night, showing no intention of giving in. She had even offered to give him back the house, but Albina had not softened her attitude one bit.
“How could she possibly have changed her mind overnight, it’s impossible!”
Alex also frowned like his grandmother and asked his father somewhat hesitantly:
-Dad, are you serious?
Seeing that both his mother and son to the old man and young man did not believe it, Ramon explained with some impatience.
-I am neither blind nor deaf! I saw and heard it with my own eyes and ears. She has even promised me that tomorrow Umberto will find me a position in the Santangel Group. If you don’t believe me, let’s wait and see!
Then he sat comfortably on the sofa and turned to his son:
-I asked you to go talk to her, but you ignored me, so I decided to take care of it myself. I made up a story about the deep brotherly love between Juan and me and Albina believed me.
Ramon didn’t tell his mother that he had blamed all this on her. But even if the old woman knew, it wouldn’t matter. As long as they could fool Albina, the rest was nothing.
Alex looked at him with some disbelief and said:
-Dad, I don’t think it’s that simple. There must be some conspiracy.
Ramon slapped him on the back of the head and scolded:
-You mean I’m dumb and have been fooled by Albina? Like your father, am I not smarter than you? If you were really smart, you wouldn’t have lost so much money on the game.
Alex took a step back to dodge his father’s slap and mumbled:
-Why did you bring up gambling again? I just think Albina’s change of attitude was too abrupt and suspicious. We should be a little more cautious, shouldn’t we?
Ramon rolled his eyes at her and said impatiently:
-Use your prudence where it belongs and don’t think about this nonsense.
But he still took his son’s words to heart and added after a moment’s thought:
-Let’s see if I can get into the Santangel Group in the next few days, won’t we know Albina’s real attitude?
Both the old woman and Alex remained silent without complaining anymore after hearing the latter’s words.
Ramon laughed a little and asked his wife to prepare an exquisite meal to celebrate today’s good news.
-Finally the hard life will be over and happy days will come soon. As long as we please Albina well and Umberto does not abandon her, we will be able to lead a comfortable life. Umberto has such a powerful and wealthy family. As long as he gives us some of his money, it will be enough for us to live in great luxury for a long time.
Seeing that her son was happy, Mrs. Estela said aside:
-Umberto will not abandon that little slut. I can see that he likes Albina very much and I even heard that Umberto is going to give her 10 million euros.
Hearing his mother’s words, Ramon frowned and reminded her:
-Mom, you have to stop using the word “slutty”. If by any chance Albina hears you call her by “slutty”, I’m afraid everything we did before will be in vain.
The old woman unconsciously covered her mouth and hurried to say:
-Yes, yes, yes, son, you are absolutely right. I won’t speak ill of her from now on….
The three of them chatted casually in the living room, while Ramon’s wife, Esperanza, listened to their conversation in the kitchen, with an increasingly serious expression.
Without knowing why, she always sensed that something was wrong. During this time, the three of them had gone to Albina’s house to plead with her, but she had been very indifferent to them without showing any mercy.
“That girl is intelligent and not the kindly, soft-natured type. There’s no way she could have been so easily fooled by some made-up words of Ramon’s. There must be a trick behind it all!”
Esperanza, however, had always been almost invisible in this house. The old woman didn’t like her, her husband had very little affection for her, and her own son Alex didn’t respect her either. It could be said that the three of them never considered her as a member of the family and hid everything they did from her.
Therefore, Esperanza did not have a strong sense of belonging to the family, so she did not plan to remind her husband of that.
Besides, she had already decided that she would ask for a divorce from Ramon a few days later and pack her things to leave this family forever. Whatever happened to them in the future would have nothing more to do with her.
***
Said and done, Albina went to pick Umberto up the next day.
As soon as the receptionist of the Santangel Group saw Albina, she smiled warmly and greeted him politely.
The receptionist’s overly attentive attitude made Albina feel quite uncomfortable. Not only that, the other employees praised her in the best of terms, which left Albina feeling embarrassed.
Not until she reached Umberto’s office did Albina breathe a sigh of relief.
After taking a sip of the water the man handed her, Albina asked him:
-What happened to the employees? Why are they treating me so kindly?
Of course, Umberto knew what was going on. The news that the receptionist had won a bonus had spread throughout the company, and everyone wanted to please the future Mrs. Santangel Group.
-You’re their boss’s wife, so of course they have to be nice and polite to you.
Hearing this, Albina gave the man a shy glance.
And he sat down next to her and asked her:
-Why did you come today all of a sudden?
Only then Albina remembered why she came to the Group, hesitated for a moment and asked, somewhat embarrassed:
-Is it that there is some idle position in the company? It’s… that I…
Albina stammered for quite a while, unable to utter any complete sentence.
Not only because she felt embarrassed, but also because she feared that Umberto knew of her plan for revenge and would stop her. After all, her plan was a bit risky.
Umberto knew Albina too well. Hearing her stammer, and thinking of the fuss her grandmother had made in the office, wanting to do a job for her own son, Umberto understood everything instantly.
-Are you here because of that uncle of yours?
Albina pursed her lips, nodded and explained:
-Don’t worry, I haven’t softened my heart, nor have I reconciled with them, much less coerced for them. It’s just that I have a plan and I need you to cooperate with me.
Umberto waited for a while, and when he saw that she was not telling him that plan, but was looking at him with some expectation, he understood that she had no intention of revealing her plan to him.
He approached her, smoothed her long hair with his hand and said softly:
-You rarely ask me for help, of course I will help you, but I have one condition…..
-Well tell me what the condition is! -Albina’s eyes lit up when she heard him. According to the previous conditions the man had set, she supposed that the man would ask for a kiss or a hug, or at most, that he would ask her to live with him.
But to her surprise, Umberto lifted her chin slightly, looked her in the eyes earnestly and said:
-I don’t care what plan you want to apply, I can cooperate with you, but I ask only one thing: you can’t put yourself in danger. It’s not worth it for you to be hurt by an insignificant Thorn family.