An Infernal Pact

They say there are times when time and space stop for two people who were meant to be together to meet.

It's nine o'clock in the morning, Amanda runs down the hallway, the news of her mother's relapse fills her with terror. In front of her, in the opposite direction, a woman walks making rapid breaths and holding her belly, both are in the middle of a difficult situation; one of them fearful of the death of her mother, the other about to bring a new life into the world. Their shoulders stumble, they both apologize, there's something in one that surprises the other. But the moment vanishes instantly. Elena takes the aisle for the parturients and Amanda to the emergency side.

None of them have yet come out of their expectation.

"God, that woman looks so much like-"

"Family members of patient Veronica Lugo, please. The nurse peeks into the main corridor.

"I, I, am his daughter.

The nurse approaches, hands him the prescription for medication, and points out:

"You must bring this medicine right now, your mother is quite unwell. If he doesn't get the treatment-" He pauses and shakes his head.

Amanda doesn't need the woman to finish that sentence to know what will happen. Since her mother started with those pains a couple of years ago, she is the one who has been by her side trying to support her. Working day and night to raise the money to get his mother's kidney transplant. In that country, it's not enough to be on the waiting list, always the one who has the most, goes to the top of the list, she knows it.

Desperately she walks with the recipe in her hand, tears running down her cheeks, with the back of her gray sweatshirt, she wipes her face. He pulls out his phone to check how much he has in his account and buy the medicine.

Suddenly, she stumbles upon a man who is a little strange in his behavior, it seems that he is looking for someone in a hurry. She is accompanied by another subject whose appearance terrifies anyone, a scar on his face and a gesture of contempt towards her, make her shudder.

"Excuse me," she excuses herself, with the taller of the two. The man is extremely handsome, with clear eyes, a stubble and a deep gaze.

"Move, Paul. He rebukes his friend, who doesn't stop looking at the girl in surprise.

Amanda quickens her pace, at times she looks back and Pablo does too, their eyes meet again. She watches as they take the aisle to the birthing area.

Cross the street, enter the pharmacy. Ask about the medication.

"I'm sorry, miss, you're exhausted.

Amanda's anguish increases, she doesn't know what to do. He leaves there, walks to the next pharmacy, can't find the medicine either. A block down the road, he finally gets it, but the money is insufficient.

"Please, I need it urgently, my mother is very ill, she is dying.

"I'm sorry, but this is not a place of public charity. They are imported medicines. I can't do anything for you.

Amanda leaves that place devastated, she can't believe that this is the end of her mother, tears run down her face. She crosses the street without being able to see clearly, the horn of the cars that brake near her, stuns her even more.

"Get out of the way, you crazy woman," the driver of the car yells.

She doesn't look at him, she just runs to the sidewalk, enters the hospital through the back door. He runs down the hallway, bumps into someone again, raises his face, it's the same man from minutes ago.

"You, again," he says, his tone firm but tender.

"Excuse me, excuse me," she cries, unable to hide her anguish.

"What's the matter?"

"Excuse me, I don't know you. She adds with a lump in her throat with no one to vent to.

"Can I help you?" "Those words are magical, but she doesn't dare say anything to him, the hand where she holds the paper trembles and she lets it fall.

Pablo bends down, picks up the paper, sees the medicine, and asks again:

"Do you need to buy this?" She barely nods. He turns to his companion.

He takes her arm towards the exit, they go out to the street. He crosses past her with great strides.

"There, there it is," she replies.

"Wait here," he goes to the back, asks for the medicine, buys it, and walks out to the entrance. Grab her arm again and cross along with her. They go all the way to the hospital.

Amanda can't find a way to thank him for his strange gesture. She had prayed so much through tears that she could only be grateful for that miracle.

"I can't thank you for that.

"Don't worry, I know what it feels like. "At least tell me your name," she smiles slightly.

"Amanda Lugo, that's my name. He hurries away, every minute is vital to his mother. Go to the emergency room and carry the medication.

"Here, I'm sorry if I took a while but I didn't have to..." The nurse takes the medicine and walks in to where Amanda's mother is.

She sits down, trying to calm down. He remembers the man's face and soft hand. He thinks he must be that, an angel. Close your eyes and wait for the doctor to come out and talk to him.

Minutes later, the doctor comes out and she goes after him.

"Dr Mario, how is my mother?"

"Amanda, your mother's situation is getting worse and worse, the dialysis isn't working. We must do the transplant as soon as possible.

"Doctor, you know my mother is on the waiting list, I, I haven't been able to do more than I do to help her.

"I know, Amanda," he places his hand on the girl's shoulder, "The next relapse can be deadly. I won't be able to do anything there.

The doctor's words are like a dagger piercing Amanda's heart. Veronica, her mother, is everything to her. It's always been the two of them, for each other, with no one else around them. His father never knew him, he has only heard a few things from him and not very good things at all.

Amanda walks down the hall, back and forth. He waits for his mother to be discharged and return to the boarding house where they rent, everything is chaos in his mind, everything seems to fall apart. He remembers the girl he bumped into a few minutes ago. The resemblance between the two is extreme, does it have something to do with her? Maybe she's her father's daughter? Maybe it's his dopler ganger? She heads to the delivery room. Listen to the voices of the men chatting in front of the operating room door. She recognizes Paul's deep voice, she is paralyzed when she hears that sentence:

"If she doesn't give up the child, we have to kill her," Ruben said.

"Are you crazy?" The boss asked us to take her and the baby alive.

"That bitch is to blame for the mark on my face.

"It wasn't his fault. He was just trying to defend himself.

"Stop the, Pablo. I know what you and she-" He pauses as he hears Amanda's phone ring.

She turns back down the hallway, listens and pretends not to have heard the conversation, suddenly she feels the hand covering her mouth and sees the gun pointed at her temple.

"Were you spying?" The hitman asks her. She shakes her head, as she tries to tell him no.

"Leave her, Reuben. Paul commands. The man obeys, uncovers his mouth, and pushes it away. Paul approaches her.

"Are you okay?" She nods in terror. "Don't listen to my partner, he's a jerk. He is nervous because his wife is giving birth.

He looks at her to see her reaction. Shrewdly, Amanda pretends not to have heard the previous conversation.

"I came to thank you again for what you just did for my mother.

"There's nothing to be thankful for. I was in the same situation with someone I loved very much and because I didn't have any money, that person is no more. The bewilderment in his voice was evident.

"I'm so sorry.

At that moment, the nurse comes out with the child in her arms and Ruben goes after her. Pablo follows him, while Amanda takes a deep breath trying to calm herself. What is happening is not normal. The baby's mother is in danger. She goes to the recovery room. The doctor comes out and she comes in. He sees the woman on the stretcher, the resemblance between them is really too great to think that it is just a consequence. Elena also looks at her and asks in anguish:

"Where's my baby?"

"Okay, they took him to the newborn area.

"No, no. These men want to hurt you. It's my baby. Help me, please. He implores her.

She hears the footsteps approaching and recognizes the voice of that disgusting man, she hides desperately under the curtain.

"I'll see you again, bitch. "Elena is terrified, she tries to scream and he covers her mouth." When you leave here you will leave with us. The boss already knows it's his son. Elena shakes her head, trying to defend her son from that atrocious fate.

In a desperate attempt, he bites Ruben's hand and he, without hesitation, shoots him in the head with the gun using a silencer.

"What the fuck did you do?" Pablo bursts into the room. The boss said he wanted her alive, you.

"The boss only needs his heir, and we've got him.

"You don't know what a mess you've gotten yourself into.

Again Amanda's cell phone begins to vibrate, it is her mother's doctor, something terrible happens, she trembles with panic, she must answer that call, but if she is discovered she will be the next to die.

"Who's there?" He asks and walks over to the curtain, lifts it. "You're dead this time," Ruben smiles.

Pablo puts his hands to his head, this time he had no way to stop his impulsive companion from acting. Amanda begs for her life.

"Please don't kill me. I beg you. My mom is in a very serious condition. I swear I didn't see anything.

Hearing the voices, Ruben grabs her arm, points to her side, as he warns her.

"You make the slightest noise and you're going to go with the little girl." Walk and dissemble!

Both men quickly leave the room where Elena still lies between life and death. The nurse who enters, seeing that well of blood under the stretcher, cries out in despair. The hubbub of doctors running down the corridor causes anguish for patients' relatives. Doctors make efforts to save the young mother's life.

Ruben and Amanda enter one of the unoccupied rooms.

"Here," Pablo points out, who is devising a plan to stop Ruben from shutting up the beautiful girl.

"Your time has come, Mommy. He whispers in her ear. Amanda trembles in anguish. He kneels down to implore the indolent killer.

"No! Out of pity don't do it, my mother only has me.

"Calm down, that girl can be of use to us, don't you realize that she's very similar to Elena." She can prevent the boss from eliminating you.

Ruben stares at her, he hadn't noticed that detail, when he received the cut on his face a year ago, he lost visibility in his left eye.

"You're right, this bitch is just like that one.

"Let me talk to her. You go to the checkpoint to see how you solve the baby thing.

"It's all right. "Before leaving the room, he puts on his reversible jacket on the other side to avoid being recognized by anyone.

Pablo tries to calm the young woman, who cries and can't contain herself.

"Let me go, I beg of you. My mother's doctor is calling, she's very sick.

"I can't, Amanda. She is surprised to see that he still remembers her name. "Ruben is relentless, you know that. You'd better stick with the plan. I can help you if you help me. You understand? She nods. "Tell me what your mother has?"

Between sobs and hiccups, the young woman tells him about her mother's plight. He listens to her attentively, as he arranges in his head a plan where everyone will benefit, everyone including her.

"Listen to what I'm going to propose, please." Your mother needs a transplant, the girl who just died may be the donor. I know the owner of the hospital, just one phone call and he will have no problem performing the operation, of course if both the donor and your mother are compatible. "Although that sounded far-fetched, Amanda knows it's her chance to save her mother's life.

"Tell me what I should do?"

"First calm you down, second give me some information about your mother, and third do what she asks. She nods a second time, she has no choice. He had to choose between dying or saving his mother and saving himself.

"I'll do whatever you ask."

While Amanda gives him the information about his mother, Pablo makes the calls he needs to make. In minutes everything seems to go by quickly and as if by magic the plan begins to work perfectly. The compatibility test between Elena and Veronica is positive. Veronica is immediately hospitalized and the operation begins.

The doctor disconnects Elena, by orders from above, both women enter the operating rooms and as in a fictional series they operate simultaneously on both women. Ruben, meanwhile, returns to the room, it will soon be dark and they must bring news to the boss.

"Did you manage to convince her?" Pablo nods, "The baby is in perfect condition.

"I've done my part, now it's your turn to do yours." You must go and look for the baby as if you were its mother. No one knows about Elena's death, except the three of us and the nurse we'll take care of later. You will have to go to the room, take the bag that Elena was carrying and use her documents, then you will go with Rubén to pick up the child. You'll go out together, I'll wait for you in the car. I don't want to make mistakes, Amanda. Your mother is alive because of me. Oh, don't worry about her, I've already left a nurse in charge who will take care of her personally.

Accompanied by Ruben, she went to the checkpoint. He had already done his part, giving the nurse on duty a good paycheck.

"Here," the nurse handed the child in her arms.

Amanda had to turn her face away so as not to be recognized by the same nurse who hours before, received the medicine for her mother from her hands. That was something incredible, to see how that same woman was able to receive money and deliver that baby without caring about its fate.

"Walk," Reuben ordered again.

"May I ask you for just one favor?"

"A favor?" Do you think it's not enough that he left you alive? I'm not really interested in pleasing you in anything.

"It's just passing by the room where my mother is and seeing how she is.

"Pablo already told you it's fine, and the boss is waiting for us."

The baby began to cry, it had been three hours since he had been fed.

"He must be hungry."

"And what do you expect me to do?" Move and let's get in the car.

The girl walked to where he was leading her, trying to calm the baby's crying so as not to arouse suspicion, while she also screamed in pain inside without being able to say goodbye to her mother. He got in the car.

"What's wrong, why are you crying?" Pablo asked, upset.

"He must be hungry." She answered.

"Well, and what should we do to make him shut up?"

"Feed him, we need to buy him some food."

"Go to Ruben's pharmacy, buy baby drink and a bottle.

"Don't with me, Pablo. You go.

"I didn't kill the mother, so move," Ruben got out of the car, fired up.

Minutes later he returned. He brought the powdered milk and the bottle, while he uncorked a bottle of water to take a drink.

"I need water to make the formula!" She replied.

Ruben glared at her, handed her the half-finished bottle, and she prepared the bottle. He gave it to drink, the baby desperately began to take it.

"Already my love, everything is going to be all right," she said, kissing one of the foreheads of the little angel in her arms.

Pablo observes from the rearview mirror the sweetness of that beautiful woman, although she was physically equal to Elena, he could never compare her to Amanda.

Amanda is full of confused emotions and feelings. He must have been happy for his mother's life, but the fear of what he had to face now paralyzed her completely, not to mention that he had witnessed the death of that woman and now complicit in the kidnapping of a baby. Her life had changed in fractions of a second without her imagining all that was yet to happen to her.

The beautiful girl couldn't stop thinking about how Pablo had solved everything with just a couple of pieces. Who was he and even worse what he was involved in? The answer seemed obvious, but she also couldn't deny to herself that this little man inevitably attracted.

Life is like a chessboard where the pieces move from above, only she was just a pawn.

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...