11/09/2026
Chapter2 The Divorce Papers and Her Final Goodbye
Chapter2 The Divorce Papers and Her Final Goodbye
My eyes were calmer than they had ever been. A complicated emotion flickered through Alejandro's expression, but he quickly buried it beneath his usual coldness. He went upstairs without touching the dinner. The bedroom door slammed, and the sound echoed through the house. I remained downstairs for a long time. When the pain eased, a strange numbness spread through my limbs. I bent down, picked up the pen, and signed my name beside Alejandro's on the draft settlement. Two names on the same page for the last time. I cleared away the untouched dishes, washed my hands, and walked to his bedroom. The door was slightly ajar. He lay on the bed with one arm across his forehead, his breathing even but his brows still drawn tight. I stood in the dim hallway and looked at the man who had once been the brightest part of my life. The AVM throbbed again. Alejandro, I thought, I have spent three years paying for a debt that was never mine. Soon I will give you the freedom you wanted too. I rested my cold fingertips against the wooden door.
"After I'm gone, will you be happy?"
The dry rasp of my old fabric suitcase opening broke the silence of the early morning. I packed very little. The evening gowns and jewellery Mrs. Navarro had once selected for formal family events stayed in the wardrobe. I took only a few worn clothes from my university days. My savings account held only a few thousand euros, and the funeral-home receipt lay at the bottom of the suitcase. In the mirror, I hardly recognised myself. My hair was dry and tangled, dark circles hollowed my eyes, and my skin looked almost colourless. The AVM and the repeated neurological episodes had left me exhausted. The bedroom door opened. Alejandro stepped into the hallway in an impeccably tailored black suit. His eyes moved to the small suitcase at my feet.
"That's all?"
His low, cold voice carried a trace of suspicion.
"What about the supplementary card I gave you? You don't intend to take it and spend my money at the very last minute, do you?"
I lowered my eyes and lifted the suitcase.
"The PIN for the supplementary card was Daniela's birthday. I left the card on the dressing table. I haven't used it once in three years."
Alejandro paused for a beat. His gaze bored into my face as though he were searching for some sign of deceit, or for another attempt to manipulate him by seeming compliant while secretly holding on. But he found nothing. The silence in me now was not the bitter endurance I had shown for the past three years. It was the withered remains of an ember that no longer had the strength to burn.
"Let's go."
He turned coldly and walked downstairs.
"Don't keep me waiting."
At nine in the morning, the notary's office in Madrid was quiet. Snow continued falling outside, unusual enough that traffic reports were warning of delays. Lucas, the lawyer who had prepared our mutual-consent agreement, sat beside us. We had no children, and the agreement stated that neither of us was asking the other for property, maintenance, or compensation. The notary reviewed the document and looked from Alejandro to me.
"You both understand the agreement, and you both wish to proceed with the divorce voluntarily?"
She pushed her glasses up and asked in the flat, procedural tone of someone following official protocol.
"Yes."
I answered before Alejandro did. After the notary confirmed the terms and Lucas confirmed that he had advised us, we signed the public divorce deed. The notary would send it to the Civil Registry for recording, but between us the marriage ended with those signatures. I held the certified copy for a moment, running my thumb over the raised notarial seal.
"It's over."
The debt, the confinement, the endless nights of waiting—everything was over. Alejandro stood and took a banker's draft from his coat pocket, pushing it toward me.
"Take it. Consider it compensation for the last three years. Use it to start over somewhere else, and stay away from Daniela."
The banker's draft was for €1.5 million, more money than I had ever imagined possessing. Yet at that moment it looked like nothing more than paper. I raised my head and met Alejandro's eyes without flinching.
"Alejandro, do you remember the day we were in the university library?"
I asked softly, my voice almost blending into the wind howling beyond the window.
"Back then, you told me you'd stay beside me no matter what happened."
Alejandro's pupils contracted violently. His jaw tightened, and a complicated emotion flickered through his eyes, perhaps disgust mixed with a trace of suppressed nostalgia.
"Don't bring up the past."
He forced out each word.
"The woman you used to be died the night you drank and drove."
I smiled, a smile filled with unbearable sorrow.
"Yes. The Elena from those days is already dead."
She died on that night of torrential rain, when I knelt before his mother and accepted the blame for ruining Daniela's life in exchange for the money needed for my aunt's surgery.
"I'm not taking your money."
I pushed the banker's draft back to him and slowly stood up. A sudden wave of dizziness darkened my vision for two seconds. I had to grip the edge of the desk tightly to keep from collapsing. When my sight gradually returned, I forced myself to keep my voice as steady as possible.
"I hope the rest of your life is peaceful and happy."
After saying that, I picked up my suitcase and turned to leave without looking back even once. I was afraid that if I turned around, I would not be able to stop myself from asking him one question.
"If you ever learn the truth, will you regret the way you treated me?"
But what would be the point of asking? Regret could not give me another day. I stepped out of the notary's building into the freezing air. A black Bentley waited at the kerb. The driver opened the boot and brought out a wheelchair. Mrs. Navarro, wrapped in an expensive winter coat, helped Daniela from the back seat. A thick blanket covered Daniela's legs; chronic pain and nerve damage meant she still used the chair for longer outings even three years after the amputation. Her face was pale, but her eyes burned with hatred when she saw me.
"Sister-in-law."
Daniela's tone was shrill, the title soaked in deliberate sarcasm.
"No. I suppose I should call you Elena now. It's finished, isn't it?"
I stopped on the steps. Mrs. Navarro stood behind the wheelchair, watching me with a warning in her eyes. She was still afraid I might finally tell the truth: that Daniela had taken illegal stimulants at an underground party; that she had insisted on driving; that I had tried to stop her and later tried to wrest control of the wheel when she became erratic; and that the crash had made me the perfect scapegoat for a family desperate to protect its reputation.
"It's finished."
I answered flatly, my gaze passing over Daniela's severed leg. Although she had caused everything, the price she had paid was already too cruel.
"Good."
Daniela laughed coldly, her thin fingers digging into the wheelchair's armrests.
"You know, Elena? For three years, every time I saw you in our house, living under the same roof after what I believed you did to me, I felt sick."
"Daniela, enough."
Steady footsteps sounded behind us. Alejandro had come out. The instant Daniela saw him, the vicious edge vanished from her face, replaced by a weak, pitiful expression. Alejandro hurried down the steps, passing me as though I were invisible. He bent down and carefully pulled the wool blanket over his sister's legs, his voice filled with a tenderness I had not heard from him in three years.
"It's freezing. Why did you make Mother bring you here? You're still not well."
"I wanted to see her leave with my own eyes."
Daniela looked up at him with tearful eyes.
"Alejandro, our home is finally free of her, isn't it?"
"Yes. It's over."
Alejandro pulled the blanket higher over Daniela's legs and nodded to his mother. Mrs. Navarro looked at me with a faint, satisfied smile. She believed the secret would remain buried. I said nothing. I dragged my suitcase down the street as the rare Madrid snow thickened around me. After roughly two blocks, the headache I had been suppressing exploded. A high ringing swallowed the sounds of traffic. My suitcase dropped into the snow. I staggered backward until my shoulders hit the brick wall of a narrow side street, clutching my head and fighting to remain conscious.
Full Story: https://youtu.be/Mj1EHyqZd34 | Audio Code: NK-326
