A week later...
Hugo Rodriguez and Paula Rodriguez were preparing to leave the mansion .
"Take care of yourself, Father-in-law," Lola advised.
Hugo smiled and replied, "I'll be fine. When will you address me as father, as every other daughter in law does?"
Lola gave him a brief look before averting her gaze and saying, "I'm not like every other daughter-in-law."
Hugo chuckled slightly and patted her head gently, saying, "Don't ever change, my dear. Take of yourself too."
Hugo looked at Santiago, who returned his gaze and said, "I'm going to miss you father," before hugging Hugo.
"Why are you suddenly acting as if I'm going to die soon?" Hugo inquired, patting Santiago on the back.
He then whispered into Santiago's ear, "Be careful, boy; I'm telling you this because I don't want you to have any regrets and lose something valuable in the future."
Santiago pulled away from the hug and looked at his father. His father turned, stepped away from him and went into the car.
"Where's your mother? If she delays any longer, we will miss the flight "Hugo inquired of Santiago from the car as soon as he settled in.
Paula was seen talking to Livia and giving her pregnancy advice as they both walked out of the mansion.
"Be careful okay, and please take good care of yourself," she said and caressed Livia's face.
"Yes, mother," Livia said with a smile and a nod.
Paula pressed her lips together and said, "You're extremely polite and obedient. I wish you were my daughter-in-law . "
Ensuring that it is audible enough for Lola to hear.
'Just ignore her, Lola, just ignore her.' Lola shook her head and exhaled tiredly.
She walked toward Santiago and planted a small kiss on his cheek, "Take care my son."
She glared at Lola, who looked back with a cold smile on her lips and said, "Have a safe journey, Mother."
'I just said it because I love seeing that pissed off look on her face,' Lola thought.
Paula rolled her eyes and didn't say anything. She walked past Lola and entered the car.
Lola folded her arms, thinking, 'Well, that's nothing new. '
The car drove away.
Santiago motioned for one of the maids to take Livia inside, leaving him and Lola alone outside.
"A friend of mine is coming over this evening, I want you to be with us you know as my wife..." Santiago said as Lola was about to leave.
Lola turned to face him, cutting him off, and said, "Just go to the point, You want me to help you, right?"
Before Santiago could respond, Lola stated, "I will take that as a yes, well I have work to do, we will discuss this later."
Santiago nodded and watched her walk away.
***
As Lola entered the office building, all eyes were on her, and her employees greeted her as she walked by without responding.
Marco moved to her side and said, "Good morning madam..."
Before he could finish his sentence, Lola interrupted with a warning, "Just tell me my schedule today and please do not compliment me," and Marco kept his mouth shut.
Marco entered her office after opening the door and waiting for her to walk in.
"Start talking," Lola ordered as she sat in her chair.
Marco pursed his lips, nodded, and went on, "From 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., you must evaluate the models sent by the Starsnest agency. 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m, you have a meeting with the new investors."
"Is that all?" Lola inquired.
"Oh, about the person you asked me to look up," Marco continued, pulling out a file and handing it to Lola, who grabbed it and looked at it.
"That's all I could find out about her," Marco said. 'I'm curious why madam is interested in that woman,' he pondered.
Lola motioned for him to leave with a wave of her hand.
Marco bowed and exited her office quickly.
She opened the file and carefully read everything, "A graduated from high school, barely finished college, and worked as a full-time bartender at a bar, nothing here important ."
As she was about to close the file, her gaze was drawn to her marriage status, which revealed that she is, in fact, married.
Lola's eyes narrowed.
"I knew she was lying about that ring," Lola mumbled.
It also revealed that she married on June 8, 2017.
"That's the same day my husband and I...married," Lola mumbled, averting her gaze from the file and gently massage her temple.
"But I don't understand. Santiago was present at the reception, and even on our wedding night..." Lola mumbled, and then a memory from that night flashed through her mind.
***FLASH BACK***
"Today was a long day, I'm going to bed, my head hurts," Santiago spluttered as he walked into his room with wobbly legs, clearly drunk.
"Do you need help?" Lola asked as she leaned against the door.
"No, ugh! Just leave, my head hurts,"Santiago replied as he slumped onto his bed.
Lola closed the door and went to her own room .
At 00:30am..
Lola awoke to the sound of a ceramic vase falling to the ground and breaking. She got out of bed and walked towards the door. She slowly opened it, saw the flower vase pieces on the ground, and noticed Santiago laying on the ground, looking even more wasted than before.
" I thought he was drunk " she mumbled to herself , she exited her room and moved closer to him, her gaze falling on his fingers. He was wearing a different wedding ring than the one she had placed on his finger, and his clothes were different.
'Why did he change his cloth ? And He's not wearing his ring,' she thought as two maids also came out due to a noise.
They both said, "Ah madam, why are you here?."
"Take him to his room," Lola ordered. They nodded and did as she walked back into her room.
***FLASHBACK ENDS***
"You've got to be kidding me,"
Lola mumbled as she ran her fingers through her hair.
'Now I remember where I saw that ring, Santiago had it on his finger when he returned that night, it's the exact design as the one Livia was wearing.' she recalled.
'I didn't think about it at the time, but did Santiago really marry Livia on the same day he and I married?' she began to wonder.
"I shouldn't just conclude because they didn't mention her husband's name. But when I asked if she was married, she denied it, " She said to herself .
***
At the mansion...
"My plan failed, I can't believe I hurt myself for nothing, why is Lola so hard and stubborn, it's as if she doesn't care about anything but herself," Livia mumbled as Amber gently massaged her legs.
"I told you it wouldn't work, but at least you got a better room than the old one," Amber said, as Livia glared at her and kicked her leg in the air, yanking Amber's hand away.
"Be careful, you're pregnant with their child," Amber warned. Livia paused for a moment and rose to her feet.
"I'm sick of being treated this way," Livia said. Amber raised her eyebrows and asked, "How did you expect to be treated before?"
"As if you were a queen? You aren't his wife... remember?" She continued and Livia smiled evilly .
Amber rolled her eyes at her and asked, "You have that crazy look again, what crazy idea do you have this time?"
"Your sentence just now, gave me a brilliant idea," Livia said to Amber.
"My sentence gave you an idea, how?" Amber asked, raising an eyebrow and tilting her head.
"Lola would be very suspicious of my and Santi's relationship," Livia spoke .
'Especially after what happened weeks ago, she definitely recognised the ring on my finger, I'm sure she's seen Santiago's ring too,' Livia thought, adding, "An she must have done a background check on me."
"So how is that a good thing?" Amber asked, slowly shaking her head.
Livia brushed aside her question and dashed to her closet. She opened it to reveal a small plain wooden box.
'Thank goodness I didn't throw this away when Santiago told me to,' She sniggered as she closed the wardrobe and approached Amber.
"You're going to help me with something," Livia said, whispering her plan into Amber's ear.
"What the hell ?! No way, I'm not going to do that "Amber yelled half-heartedly.
Livia threatened, "Do it or you'll lose your job and end up in jail again."
***
Later in the day...
Lola came home and went straight to her room, freshened up, and went to the living room, where she met Santiago pacing around. As she walked past him, he caught a glimpse of her and rushed to her, "When did you come back, I was waiting for you? Anyways, it's good you're back early, He said he will be arriving a minute from now," as he checked his wristwatch.
"This person is an investor, right?" Lola asked.
"Yes , a very big international investor" Santiago replied, nodding .
'which international investor in their right mind would want to invest in a company that can barely stand on its own?' Lola pondered.
So after, Lola was drawn to the sound of the sole of the person's shoe making contact with the tiles as he strutted into their mansion. Her eyes widened as she turned to face the entrance.
Santiago turned following her gaze and smiled when he set his eyes on the person, saying, "Finally, you're here, Sir."