Chapter 18
Maria stays in her car for a few seconds trying to calm down before getting out to enter Trinidad's house.
Near the door, she sees Benjamin talking with the other guy, as if giving him instructions for tomorrow.
The lawyer gets out of her vehicle and greets them with a tense smile.
No matter how hard she tries, she can't get used to seeing that man always so close to Trinidad.
She knocks on the door with her knuckles while glancing at the two men, who remain distracted with their conversation when the door opens and Maria finds Trinidad freshly showered, with damp hair, barefoot and wearing comfortable pants and a basic t-shirt that gives her an informal air that, in the lawyer's eyes, makes her even more attractive than she already finds her usually.
For a moment, Maria forgets even what brought her there, but when Trinidad, who holds a glass of water in her hand, steps aside and gestures with her head for her to enter, she recovers that rage that led her there.
"You look beautiful," Trinidad comments in a burst of honesty when she closes the door.
Maria turns toward her and feels a jolt when she realizes the businesswoman is devouring her with her gaze, however, she's overtaken more by that monumental anger she feels every time she thinks about Trinidad not trusting her.
The engineer, still unaware of the storm unleashed in Maria's mind, approaches her intending to give her a soft kiss on the cheek, but Maria pulls away with a roughness that throws Trinidad off balance.
"What's wrong?"
"I came to talk, not to fuck," she responds sharply and Trinidad's friendly expression transforms into an ice mask.
"Alright," Trinidad takes a sip of her water and walks barefoot toward a pair of armchairs facing a huge window that overlooks the back garden, "then talk," she says without sitting, leaning her rear on the back of one of them.
Maria has to try hard not to jump on her and make love to her until she runs out of energy, because every gesture from Trinidad seems like a temptation to her.
"I want you to tell me who you are, Trinidad. Or should I call you Adriana?"
If Maria had known how Trinidad would respond to this sudden attack, she would have approached the situation in a less aggressive way, but now she's said it and Trinidad has lost the color in her face, her expression has changed from coldness to terror and the glass she held in her hand has slipped until crashing against the floor to shatter wrapped in a loud noise that accelerates Maria's pulse.
Maria, fearing Trinidad might faint from how pale she's become, approaches her stepping on the glass just as the entrance door opens abruptly and Benjamin enters alerted by the noise of broken glass.
"What happened?" the man asks approaching them in two strides.
"I don't know," Maria responds given Trinidad's silence, who remains paralyzed and hasn't even reacted when she grabbed her by the waist.
Benjamin approaches and observes his protégé with a clinical eye before taking her hand and indicating where she needs to step to avoid cutting herself with the glass.
"Come on, you need to sit down, Trinidad," the man says and Maria steps aside, watching with amazement a scene that touches her heart seeing the affection with which Benjamin treats Trinidad and the way she moves like a puppet guided by him.
"I'll bring water," Maria says and runs to the kitchen.
There she grabs a pitcher and allows herself to drink to try to calm down before returning to the living room, where Trinidad, who seems to have come back to herself, confronts her as soon as she sees her.
"Where did you get that name, Maria?" she asks with an anguished tone that makes the lawyer feel even worse.
"A man approached me when I was leaving work and asked me if I knew someone named Adriana Martín," Maria explains and Trinidad takes a deep breath while Benjamin, upon hearing the lawyer, immediately places a protective hand on the businesswoman's arm.
"I told him no and then he showed me a photo of you and asked if I was sure. "
Trinidad brings a hand to her mouth and tries to contain her crying.
"And what did you tell him, Mrs. Maria?" Benjamin asks.
"I told him no, that I didn't know her. The guy gave me a bad feeling and..." Maria interrupts her response when she realizes that Trinidad, the woman who until now she believed cold as an ice block, is crying.
"Don't worry, Mrs. Trinidad," Benjamin tries to calm her, "I'll double the security. I assure you nothing will happen to you."
Benjamin gives her arm a squeeze and stands up while taking his phone from his pocket and heading toward the door.
"Stay with her," he tells Maria, "and when you want to leave, let me know so someone can accompany you."
Benjamin leaves the house and Maria, stunned and intrigued, approaches Trinidad and sits beside her, waiting patiently for her to calm down.
"Who was that man, Trinidad? Please, tell me because I don't understand anything," Maria pleads when the businesswoman stops crying.
"My husband," Trinidad responds.
Maria remains frozen in place, although the answer makes sense, it's the last thing she would have imagined.
"And why is he looking for you? I'm very lost," Maria takes her hand and wraps it with hers.
"He's looking for me because I fled escaping from him after he almost killed me, and now he's found me."
Trinidad lets out the air contained in her lungs and looks at Maria, although, this time, the lawyer no longer sees traces of that mask of coldness under which the businesswoman usually hides.
"Why did he say your name is Adriana?"
Trinidad smiles bitterly and sighs again.
"Because that's my real name, Maria, I changed it so he couldn't find me, but I guess it was a matter of time, someone so sick and possessive can't allow being abandoned."
"Will you tell me?"
Trinidad sketches a sad smile.
"You won't like it, Maria."
"I like you and that's what matters."
The businesswoman smiles again and kisses her hand before getting into a more comfortable position after glancing at the broken glass on the floor.
"I met him in college. We both studied engineering and, although at first I didn't pay much attention to him, he insisted and we started dating when we were in second year.
During the courtship everything was perfect, he was attentive, affectionate and thoughtful, and considering he was handsome, you could almost say he was the perfect man. "
Maria makes a face of disgust, she's been working alongside Ursula for too many years to know through the women of the association that perfect men don't exist, and those who seem to be are the worst.
"We got married shortly after graduating and that's when he started to change.
Not only because he stopped being how he was, but slowly, he began to isolate me from my surroundings to the point where I felt completely alone and all I had was him.
He forbade me from working under that primitive pretext that I should stay at home.
From there I helped him with his own projects, turned into a kind of slave who followed orders and spread her legs whenever he ordered it.
He managed to nullify my will because every time I voiced an opinion or did something he didn't like, I got a slap or he threw things at me. "
Maria listens shuddering, unable to imagine a strong woman like she knows Trinidad is now, subjected in that way to the will of a predator like the guy she's describing.
"He became obsessed with the idea of having children and would go crazy with rage every time I got my period.
He'd beat me so badly I'd be in bed for a week and that's how the years passed until I got pregnant at twenty-eight.
He turned gentle suddenly and started being attentive like at the beginning.
I was so naive I thought he could change, that maybe the whole problem was that the child he wanted so much hadn't arrived yet, but now that we were going to have one, we could be a normal family. "
"And what happened?"
"One day I decided to go see my parents to tell them the good news. I was about to give birth and wanted them to know they were going to be grandparents. When I got home he was there, he went crazy thinking I was cheating on him and beat me so badly that I woke up nine days later in the hospital."
Maria's face crumbles and she can't help looking at her belly, where she saw the C-section scar.
"And the baby?" she asks with a broken voice.
"It was a girl, they took her out dead as soon as I arrived at the hospital.
When I woke up I didn't understand anything no matter how much the psychologists tried to explain it to me, until my mother came in and told me the housekeeper found me lying on the living room floor.
Ismael, that's his name, apparently thought I was dead and disappeared.
His family has a lot of money and better connections, they had always gotten him out of all the trouble he got into, bribing and asking for favors, and I assure you there were many. "
"My God," Maria whispers.
"When he found out I was alive he tried to see me in the hospital, but the police wouldn't let him.
I was hospitalized for more than two months and during all that time, I kept learning through my parents that, again, his family's lawyer had managed to get him off the assault charges and the murder of my daughter.
They sold the story that someone broke in while I was alone at home and attacked me, and just as we knew he'd get away with it, we also knew that as soon as I set foot outside the hospital, he'd come to finish what he'd started. "
Maria is shaking. She's heard many stories like this without knowing which is more chilling, but this one, due to that feeling she's developing for Trinidad, affects her in a more direct way that has her trembling and filled with helplessness.
"Then one day, the social worker who came to see me every week told me that if I wanted to live, I had to disappear and start from scratch.
She was the one who got me a new identity and, when they discharged me, my parents gave me all their savings and put me on a bus in the middle of the night that took me from Salamanca to Barcelona, and from there I took another to Gerona. "
"It must have been horrible," Maria says horrified.
"It was very hard. I was twenty-eight, broken inside and completely alone, and I couldn't even visit my daughter's grave," tears slide silently down Trinidad's face again, "but I made myself a promise to move forward for both of us, not to let that bastard take our lives completely.
So I found a job, got my degree with the fake name and did a master's to specialize in robotics.
I lived in a rented room, barely had a life because I didn't feel like socializing with anyone and I was also terrified to go out on the street in case he found me, so I spent my free hours designing everything I had in mind, until I got funding for one of my projects and started the company.
As soon as I had financial solvency, the first thing I did was rent my own house and hire Benjamin, the rest, you more or less know. "
"I don't know what to say, Trinidad," Maria says distressed.
"You don't have to say anything," Trinidad smiles at her, "deep down, I knew that sooner or later he would find me, it was just a matter of time."
"Now I understand why you don't separate from Benjamin or want your image to be public anywhere, or why there's barely any information about Trinidad Aleman."
"You see," Trinidad smiles more calmly, "in reality, I don't exist, but what I truly feel is that Adriana Martín is the one who doesn't exist, she died the same day as my daughter and I identify with the person I am now."
"I think you're an incredible woman," Maria says honestly and Trinidad smiles recovering some of that strength she seemed to have lost.
"You say that because you want to go to bed with me," she jokes and winks at her.
"Well, that too, of course, but what I'm saying is true. And I'm sorry for being so presumptuous since we met."
"Don't worry, I would have distrusted someone like me too. Do you want to stay? I really don't feel like being alone tonight."
"Of course, but first tell me where you keep the broom so I can clean this up or you'll end up cutting yourself," she says pointing to the broken glass still scattered on the floor.