Chapter 2 1

-I declare Mr. Carlos Albertos Sáenz innocent of guilt and charge, and the State must pay compensation for the total amount of 250,000 pesos, which must be deposited within 30 days starting today. I said! -And there was the loud sound of the hammer hitting that small wooden platform, which ended the session.

Santino Rivas won a new case once again. In twelve years of career he had never lost a single case, and that led him to be considered the most successful and best paid lawyer in recent times. Therefore, not everyone had the purchasing power to pay for their services, and this was one of those cases.

Mr. Carlos Alberto Sáenz had been charged with a homicide, but he turned out to be innocent, and thanks to Rivas he was not only able to obtain his freedom, but also a bonus for having been unfairly charged.

-Congratulations, Dr. Rivas- one of his team of lawyers spoke to him.

He just nodded his head at her in thanks and continued without saying anything else.

Although he belonged to a VIP law firm, he wasn't looking to socialize with anyone. In short, he fulfilled his work schedule. He barely answered his colleagues' greetings.

There wasn't a woman in the building who wasn't struck dumb by the sight of him. The nonchalance with which he behaved towards them made him more desirable in their eyes.

The successful years, by the way, of his career in that firm had given him one of the most privileged places in the entire building, and that was the office next to the boss's. Santino was synonymous with success. However, what everyone wondered about was his personal life, if in twelve years he hadn't even mentioned a partner. In fact, he didn't seem friendly to anyone, he just ignored them. His private life was a mystery. Some believed that he was homosexual and others claimed that a woman had broken his heart, and that is why he was frivolous with everyone. The truth only he knew.

Santino had never been in love. In fact, he didn't even know what it felt like to love someone or even have any kind of emotion over something even insignificant. He was not the typical man who watched an action movie and blended in with the male character. He even turned on his 57-inch LED. Despite the fact that he bought it five years ago, he never removed the plastic, much less lit it. On second thought, I didn't know if it worked either, I just had it and that's it.

Wherever he passed, the women turned to see him.

At each traffic light where he stopped, there was no person who did not feel intimidated by his demeanor as a serious and arrogant man.

But that morning everything would change.

Six months ago.

April Evans was preparing to take one more subject of her career and be able to pass second at the University of Law. All week she was reading and rereading because she dreamed of having that degree in hand and giving her parents the joy and pride of having a daughter who, despite adversity and the needy environment in which she lived, was able to have her degree with a lot of effort. I wanted to buy them a house no matter how small it was. A house at last. However, fate had something else in store.

After kissing Catalina, her 13-year-old sister, and her parents, she entered the building. It would be the last time he would see his parents alive and his sister standing.

When the clock struck eleven in the morning, his cell phone rang. Looking at the screen of it, said Mama. An icy chill went through her, making her feel restless. An awful foreboding washed over her. She dreaded taking the call, but she did because maybe her mother had forgotten to tell her something. Perhaps she was just feeling unsettled from having spent the last few weeks getting little sleep because of the exam. Without further ado, he took a breath and answered.

-Hello? Mom?

Despite telling himself that everything was fine, something in his chest was wrong. I could breathe a heavy atmosphere.

-Am I talking to the daughter of Mrs. Susana Williams de Evans?-

At that moment he felt a pain in his chest and dropped the pen from his hand.

-Yes. What happened to my mom? My father? My sister? She started to get hysterical. In the face of the silence of the person who was speaking to her, the more nervous she felt. Please miss, what about my mother?-Then he paid attention to the sounds in the background.- They were ambulances.

-I regret to inform you that the car in which the lady was accompanied by a man and a minor was involved in an accident, where both adults died.

She couldn't listen anymore.

His crying was accompanied by a heartbreaking scream that took everyone in the classroom by surprise, his 187 classmates, including teachers and assistants.

-What's wrong, Miss Evans?!- The teacher asked, but she just covered her mouth and screamed into her hands. Meanwhile, he knelt down and made involuntary movements back and forth.

At that moment, her best friend, Erika, grabbed her cell phone, which was on the floor, and learned the reason why her friend collapsed on the floor in tears.

-And where is the girl hospitalized-

The doctors informed her that they admitted her to their unit an hour ago and that the girl was in a very serious condition, that she was in the operating room and that they had to come to the clinic so that Abril could sign the papers for the authorization of the operation to Catherine, who was a minor.

When he saw some police officers, they informed him that they were the victims of a madman who was traveling at full speed down a street that they could not circulate at more than forty kilometers per hour. The worst part of the case was that the guy was drunk and that he was a deputy of the nation. What were the chances that a powerful personality like him would be convicted of the crime of poor and humble people without putting his influence on the line? None. That was a losing battle. However, that was not all that April had to face, since after two months she lost her house, because it was mortgaged; Her parents were the only ones who could pay for it. For this reason, when they died and did not receive the installment, the bank went through with the auction of it, so that, in addition to not having parents and being orphaned, they were now on the street, but, luckily, Erika, who she lived alone, she lent them a part of her apartment. That was where they lived.

She helped her with Catalina, because she was in a wheelchair, and despite having to attend a special school due to her condition, the reality was that she did not have the money to do so. She could barely pay for kinesiology sessions on the measly salary she earned at the health food store. On top of that, the doctor had given Cathy hope, as she called her sister, of walking again if she could have surgery in the United States, but the amount she had to raise was $250,000, neither more nor less. Where would she get them from? She did not want to break the illusion of the girl, but she could never afford that operation. However, one morning, six months later, her life would change.

Nowadays

Santino was traveling in one of the most expensive cars in all of America, the same one that only had three copies, and only he had one of them.

While traveling disinterestedly through the streets of Buenos Aires, Abril took a shift job and delivered mail on a bicycle that every few minutes had a flat tire and left her on foot cursing the guy who sold it to her.

She felt so frustrated at having had to drop out of school to be able to give her sister that operation she needed so much, of which she dreamed so much, that she overexerted herself so that the girl could use her legs again, even though she was sinking into a well from which he knew he could not get out so easily. In fact, she doubted that she would ever be able to, but this morning things were going to turn around in her life.

When the traffic light turned red and gave Santino the step to move forward, she didn't see Abril coming on her bike, which she was crossing quickly to be able to arrive with the schedules, and he rammed her. Thank goodness she barely touched the front wheel, causing her to fall. A small scratch appeared on her knees, which were bare because she was wearing shorts because of the heat.

"But are you an idiot?!" -April shouted when she realized that all her letters had been intertwined when she fell to the ground- Are you planning to stay there or are you going to help me?!

As soon as she hit her car with her bicycle, he got out immediately, but seeing that the girl was fine and that nothing had happened to her, she focused all her attention on the trunk of the car, which apparently had a scratch. When he realized what April was telling him, he just stopped to look at her from above. It wasn't her fault, she crossed wrong. Why should he help her and get her suit dirty? After all, her bike had scratched her expensive car and he would have to take care of her.

"Oh, God, these guys don't even know what humility is," he heard her say in an angry tone. She felt that comment was meant for him.

-Forgiveness? Did she refer to me as "these guys"?

When April managed to get all the letters together and put them in the basket to stand up her bike, she gave him her full attention.

-Yes, any problem? he asked defiantly. If there was one thing she hated, it was people's lack of empathy and lack of chivalry.

And for him there were two things that bothered him more than anything.

1. Being addressed in the terms she used because she claimed it was totally disrespectful.

2. That they mess with his most precious asset: his car.

"You have to apologize," he told her seriously and emphatically. She started looking both ways. Noticing that her expression didn't change at all, she asked who he was talking to. To you. You must apologize immediately.

She put her hands on her hips and let out a big laugh.

"You really are sick in the head."

He felt insulted by what she said and insisted that she apologize.

If there was something that Abril hated, it was men like him, who thought they were in control of everyone and everything, but she would not be part of that "everyone" without more. She moved closer to him.

He extended his hand to her and she stopped in her tracks.

"You're invading my personal space. I demand an apology immediately.

So she, tired of the man's arrogance, she ended the conversation.

-Know what? She," she smiled. Meanwhile, he patiently waited for those apologies, which not even in her dreams would come. Rot! "And she left to continue her work."

Instead, he stood there blankly.

It was the first time she had said "no" to something he proposed.