Isandro watched her intently, and in that moment, he felt inexplicably like pushing her, goading her into revealing…something.
Anything.
Something that would make things easier for him to understand. He quashed the annoying voice, and asked, "Why did your father want to marry you off so badly that he made you a part of the deal?" he asked as went and sat down across from her.
"Let me guess you thought my father wanted my inheritance." Rachel said as she balled her hand and laid her head on top of it.
Isandro's gaze narrowed. "Didn't he? He was going bankrupt. I thought he saw you as his ticket out of lifelong debt. That he was offering you up for marriage for that reason."
"…."
"It was obvious there was little affection between you, Maddison. Anyone could have seen that."
"I suppose neither of us made it obvious. But, what can I say like father, Like daughter" Rachel leaned back even more "My father was sick. No one knew how bad it was apart from me and his cardiologist. It's why he lost control of his business and work. Why he looked for someone to bail him out. He wanted to save face before he died." She shrugged minutely. "And he just wanted to see me married to a suitable husband. He had no interest in the money."
"I had no idea he was ill."
"Why would you? It was hidden well…" Rachel looked seriously "Both my parents wanted me married to someone worthy before they went.
Isandro, I never wanted to marry in the first place. In fact, I would rather have been alone for the rest of my life. But it was what my parents wanted, so I agreed." Rachel turned her face away from the window when she saw that Zac went back inside. "And in the end, you got what you wanted, you where able to get your foot into American Banking, and you gained a child, a male heir at that. So shouldn't you be happy?"
"Happy? I wouldn't say happy, exactly, Satisfied, perhaps. Tell me. Why you left, Maddison?"
"…." Rachel sighed
"Then let me ask you this, Isandro, what was our marriage to you? It shouldn't have been anything more than a 'convenience' on both of our sides, a marriage with no attachments. The first time we met each other was on our wedding day and even after that we only spent one night together.
And then you left, and barley was home, business was and always had taken priority. I understood that and it was my place, I also understood you needed a heir and I willingly gave you. I never complained Isandro.
I have my faults but so do you, so I won't give you the answer easily. If you want to know then find out where I had been these last two years"
Rachel finished and then finally felt a weight come off her shoulders, the words that Maddison had always wanted to say, the grief that she took with her all these years.
-Next Day-
Rachel spent another day alone in the room she occupied it was all almost over just one more week. She looked out the window and folded her arms. Little Zac was playing outside again
Before hearing noise not too far away from her room and sighed.
Burst, a familiar gorgeous face burst through her door.
Anna Santios, her beautiful sister-in-law. Isandro's family members where hellish people to live with for Maddison. Physical and Mental abuse she abstained from these people weren't pretty.
"So, the gold-digging wife is really back" Anna said viciously
Rachel looked at the women calmly, she felt the emotions Maddison had towards this woman swarming in her. Making her stand up from her chair as she walked toward her.
"Do you really think I'll let you come back to this family after what you did to my brother and my nephew." She spat "DO You Hear Me You-"
SLAP!
Rachel slapped the women so hard she fell to the ground "You have no idea how good that felt." Rachel said her hand trembling. Isandro's mother ran up to her daughter in a protective way and glared at Rachel, who wasn't making any expression still. While Isandro and his father stared in shocked silence.
"Your nephew, you say. That didn't stop you from pushing me down the stairs the day I birthed him now did you. I remember each painful moment that day, the shock of falling down the stars induced labor pains. You refused to call the ambulance for thirty-minutes, you smiled at my pain even while I was bleeding."
Both mother and daughter pair glared at Rachel in silence as they didn't rebuke the plain and ugly truth.
Rachel turned her head too Isandro "I bet you didn't know that did you? Did you know that I almost died in labor? Did you?"
"…." Isandro stayed silent.
"Don't believe this whore, Isandro" Anna said to her brother.
"Your sister is right, this woman was never anything more then poison to our family" Isandro mother defended.
"…" Rachel looked back at the two women on the floor and then looked at Isandro father and gave him a sad expression. The rest of Isandro family may have been god awful, but this sad old man wasn't.
Isandro's father fell in love with an American girl and wanted to marry her against his parents wishes. Isandro's mother, her family and his own family set him up. In the end he was forced to marry this vicious woman and leave the love of his life. A decade later, he who was already miserable in his marriage meet his love again and had an affair. This affair came to light and Isandro's father took priority over his lover and sent her away for her protection.
His family has never forgiven him for the betrayal, and it stuck with them for decades.
Isandro's father gaze also went sad in great understanding of her pain.
Rachel leaned against her door "I'm sure if your dear brother went to the servants who you fired that day, they would tell him the truth. As well as the hospital who still has the record of my condition that day." her attention back to the women who weren't even holding their malice to her just glared. "Now, is their anything else you like to add"
They went pale.
Rachel laughed as she turned around and went back into her room this locking the door behind her.