3. From pawn to queen

Amanda is terrified, she would have preferred a thousand times that Pablo was taking Reuben's place next to her instead of driving; Even though she doesn't know him, he inspires more confidence, or so she wants to believe.

She hasn't looked up at the baby, she feeds him very carefully, he's so small that he can't stop being touched, and at the same time worrying that something might happen to him, especially considering the speed at which Pablo is driving down the highway. She doesn't know where they're taking her, but she does know with whom and for what.

She's afraid of everything, of that disgusting man she's carrying by her side, making sure she doesn't jump out of the car in an attempt to escape; to become a mother to a baby that is not hers; to his mother's recovery and the fact that he may never see her again; but, above all, to this Alexius, the much-feared chief of these two men who escort her to hand her over on a silver platter to that criminal.

In her head, she tries to repeat Paul's words over and over again, verbatim, briefly explaining the instructions she had to follow if she wanted to stay alive.

"I'm so sorry you're involved in all this," he says, "but believe me, right now it's the best thing for you and us; Think about how you're finally saving your mother. I promise you he won't lack for anything.

"But what will become of me now?" Where are we going?

Having this one-on-one conversation with Pablo made her feel a little calmer, if that was possible considering her current situation. Ruben was tying up the last loose ends that had been left in the hospital. They had to give a good pay to the doctors involved in the organ transplant and a good threat to keep their mouths quiet for the rest of their lives.

"Now we'll take you to the mansion of Alexius, our boss." Your name from now on will be Elena, the boss's favorite wife. You're a pole dancer, you met in a nightclub, and the child you're carrying in your arms is his.

Amanda isn't sure why, but Pablo's voice cracked a little when he said the latter, as if it had taken him a lot of work to utter that phrase "his son:

"The best thing for you," he went on, "is that you don't contradict him about anything, don't answer him, don't confront him. Everything I say to you will be orders for you, and you must obey them without question." He grabbed her chin to force her to raise her head and look him straight in the eye, "whatever it is, do you understand me?" He's going to be very upset since Elena ran away from here to have the baby in secret, she never told Alejo that she was pregnant, she hid it, so it's going to be a difficult thing to handle, you'll have to be strong and keep quiet. You are his wife now and you must respect him, only then can you stay safe.

"But if she hid it from you and ran away from here, how did you find her?"

"Alejo is too dangerous a guy, so he has eyes everywhere, when I say everywhere, believe me, even in the underground he has informants. When Elena entered the hospital with labor pains, he already knew it.

Now those words echoed in his head. I was too nervous at the time to understand what he was referring to. The girl Ruben had killed was a prostitute and, apparently, exclusive to this Alexius.

Amanda's mind is too noble and sweet to understand what Paul is referring to when he says that Alexios' behavior upon his arrival will be a little unwieldy. She has no idea of the monster eagerly waiting for her.

Before she was worried, but now, terror took hold of her visible in its maximum expression, which was not foreign to Pablo, who does not stop looking at her in the rearview mirror.

"Poor girl, what have I gotten her into," he thinks, while she only has one thing on her mind: "How am I going to be with this mafioso, if I'm a virgin?!"

After what seemed like an eternity, they arrived at the mansion. Ruben disappears immediately, as if he had been wanting to get out of there and run. Pablo approaches her and gently takes her by the arm and leads her upstairs to a room.

When the doors opened, so did her eyes. No doubt she was at the entrance to what would be the baby's room. Everything was perfectly decorated in white and blue. Whoever saw it would not think that it could have come from the mind of someone as dangerous as the owner of that gigantic house.

Very carefully, she places the baby in her crib, taking advantage of the fact that she had fallen fast asleep on the way.

"What's my room?"

She asks Pablo innocently and he can't make him feel sorry for her and curse her a thousand times that she was in that hospital at the wrong time...