-How could she be able to destroy the Espina family?
Jaime was clearly not convinced. His expression showed his impatience. He rubbed his temples with his fingers and looked very tired.
These days he had tried to give Umberto a hard time, but it hadn’t hurt him. On the contrary, Umberto began to confront him by attacking the companies of the Seco Group.
Every time he was defenseless, Umberto attacked him. The Seco Group was deprived of a great deal of business within a few days. And his grandfather asked him about this yesterday. It took him great effort to hide it from him. He thought that he would not be able to confront the Santangel Group in the near future.
Seeing that he was so unconcerned about the matter, Yolanda became so angry that her expression was ugly:
-Jaime, if you don’t believe me, you can confirm the matter yourself. Lila told me. She holds a grudge against Albina, just like me, so she can’t have lied to me. We delayed her before by leaning on the Espina family, but now they are no longer a threat to Albina. Next, Umberto will definitely help Albina against me. If something happens to the Carballal Group, do you think you’ll be able to get away with it?
Jaime was surprised.
Although Grupo Seco and Grupo Carballal weren’t close, since the last time the two family publicly fought together against Grupo Santangel, they had become inseparable in the eyes of others.
If the Carballal Group was taken down by Umberto, then maybe some of the less determined ones would feel that the Dry Group was inferior to the Santangel Group because they couldn’t defend the Carballal Group, and then they would turn against them. That would be bad.
What do you want to do? -Jaime finally took this seriously.
Yolanda sighed in relief. But she said with a very serious face:
-The things we prepared before can be applied. Find out where Umberto is now. If the time is right, we’ll do it.
It also sounded very good to Jaime. So he ordered his inferiors to check Umberto’s whereabouts.
Umberto was in a hurry to get out of the Santangel Group and did not hide his whereabouts, so he was quickly discovered.
He was with Albina, heading for the nursing home on the outskirts of the city.
Jaime told Yolanda passionately:
-I have found him. Umberto is with Albina now. They weren’t with anyone else with the two of them. Now is the time to kill them together.
If anything had happened to Umberto, the Santangel Group would have been absolutely devastated, and by then….
The more Jaime thought about it, the happier he became. His face was turning a little red with joy.
Yolanda gritted her teeth. The relationship before with Umberto made her feel a little doubtful. But thinking about what had happened to Ramon and Alex, she finally made up her mind.
***
Umberto and Albina, who at that moment didn’t know that someone was trying to set them up, arrived at the nursing home.
Albina was a little nervous, so much so that she stood at the door, afraid to enter.
Umberto stroked her hair and reassured her.
-You expected the worst. We came here only to ask for confirmation.
Albina nodded and went upstairs to knock on the door.
It was the headmistress who opened the door. When she saw Albina, she froze and looked a little nervous.
-Why did you come back all of a sudden? Did you leave something behind?
“The asylum is very isolated and no one usually comes here. The last few days have been the most frequent in the last few months.”
“I’ve already contacted someone to buy clothes and supplies for the elderly. Is this girl getting cold feet and wants her money back? I’ve already spent some of that money. And there stood the cold man behind Albina, who looked like he couldn’t be messed with.”
Albina saw his nervousness and hurried to explain:
-I’m looking for my grandmother and I want to ask her something.
The headmistress was relieved. She opened the door and let them in.
-Mrs. Espina, your granddaughter is here.
Many elderly people turned their heads to look after hearing this. They were all sent here because they had no children. They were surprised to see that Mrs. Espina had a granddaughter coming to see her.
At the same time, Mrs. Espina was stunned. She did not expect Albina to come to visit her. She thought she would be disgusted and not even look at her.
She shakily got up from her stool and turned to look at them. Seeing Albina followed by Umberto, she frowned and looked a little nervous:
-Albina, what did you want to see me about?
She rubbed her palms together, not daring to look at them.
Her appearance was uncomfortable for Albina. She looked thinner than a few days before, less sarcastic and more cautious. It was heartbreaking to see the change in her at first.
Umberto looked at Albina and turned to the headmistress and said:
-Can you prepare a quiet room for us? We have important things to talk about.
-Of course. Come with me.
The three of them followed the headmistress into a small room. She came out immediately and closed the door for them.
Mrs. Espina saw the seriousness on their faces and became even more nervous. She began to guess what they wanted to ask her. She thought maybe Alex and Ramon had gotten into some serious trouble again.
Thinking about the two of them made her feel bad. As much of a jerk as they were, they were the ones she had raised. She couldn’t bear to see them end up in such a miserable state.
-Albina…
Before she could ask, Albina looked at her anxiously and asked:
-Am I my parents’ real daughter?
At these words, Mrs. Espina froze. Only after a long moment did she look at Albina in a complicated way.
-Who told you that?
Albina’s face became sad. There was no need to ask any more questions. Her grandmother’s words had already told her: she really wasn’t her parents’ real daughter.
-Did Alex and Ramon tell you that? -Mrs. Espina sighed and said, “I didn’t think they would tell you this at this time.
-What happened? -asked Albina.
Mrs. Espina looked her in the face and said:
-You don’t look like a member of the Espina family.
The Espina family had never had a girl as beautiful as her.
-At that time, Juan and Marisa had to work hard to start their own business. For this, they got sick from lack of rest and couldn’t have children, so they brought you from the orphanage. You were a little over two years old. I heard that something had happened and that you had broken your head and didn’t remember anything. The police found you and took you to the orphanage.
Mrs. Espina recalled, saying:
-Juan came to see me with you in his arms and told me he wanted to adopt you. At first I did not agree. It was Marisa who could not have children and I wanted them to divorce and for Juan to marry someone else. But he didn’t agree and lied to me saying that he was the one who had reproductive problems. When I saw how persistent he was, I no longer objected.
He said it with a certain evasiveness. At that time, he had thought in a much more complex way.
He thought that since Albina was not Juan’s biological daughter, maybe if something happened to Juan, Albina would not inherit and all of Juan’s money would go to his beloved grandson, Alex, so he agreed to let him adopt Albina.
Anyway, she was just a little girl who came out of nowhere.
But it was this granddaughter, who had put them in this tragic situation.
Surely there is karma. Those who have done bad things also get bad results.
-If you don’t believe me, go and look in the room in the attic where miscellaneous objects are piled up. There are things your parents left behind, maybe you’ll find adoption papers.
Albina already believed her grandmother. She nodded with a sad look:
-Okay.
With that, she turned around, ready to leave.
Mrs. Espina called out to her. She looked at Albina with a complicated expression and said:
-Albina, even though Juan is not your real father, he was very good to you…..
Albina turned her head and looked at her indifferently:
-Of course I know.
Juan and Marisa are the best parents in the world, and even if they weren’t your real parents I wouldn’t change that fact.
When she was little, Marisa braided her hair every day, Juan let her ride on his neck and took her shopping for toys. Marisa would try to cook her a good meal because she feared malnutrition, and Juan would work hard to give her a better life.
What did it matter if they were her real parents or not?
Indeed, Albina Espina was surprised at first, but after thinking about it, she thought it was no big deal. In her mind, Juan Espina and Marisa Cicero were her parents and there was no substitute for them.