Hello! Here it is! Chapter 19! Enjoy! (I do not own this Novela!)
Chapter 19
As soon as the ungrateful woman left, his older brothers bolted back into the house. Both of them had witnessed Sarita running out of their house with such impeccable fury.
Juan roughly grabbed Franco by the collar of his shirt and hauled onto an armchair.
"Why did you bring her here again?" he growled. "What the fuck did you do to that girl?"
Eva and Quintina came to Franco's defense.
"Don't distrust Franco!" Eva exclaimed. "He was only helping her regain consciousness!"
In distress, Franco jumped off the armchair and began to walk a few meters away from his angry brothers.
"If I had the opportunity to do anything to her", Franco shouted, "I wouldn't touch her with a single finger! I want you to understand that I do not like ugly, bland girls! Not even if she pours a whole bottle of perfume on herself! She still would smell like fucking horse sweat!"
"We were only trying to help that girl!" added Quintina nervously. "What is wrong with her anyways? She's always fainting! Does she suffer from vertigo or something?"
"No! That girl only suffers from bitterness!" Franco yelled. "That girl has no peace! That's why she's always attacking us!"
He had up to here with Sarita's insufferable behavior. She was making his blood boil to the brink of no return.
"And I will keep confronting her until she learns how to respect us!" He finished with that and stormed up the stairs, his mind racing with loathing and disdain for Sarita Elizondo.
He went to room and threw himself on his bed. He was deeply exhausted and wanted nothing else to say to his brothers. All the anger he felt for that damn ingrate who caused him so much grief plagued him.
He meant every word. He will make that little bitch learn in any way possible so she'll stop with her vile attacks. Despite her physical change, Sarita Elizondo will still be the hideous, bland, feral, and insufferable woman he had always known her to be.
He heard his bedroom door open and drew an exasperated breath when he saw his older brother Juan, coming in.
"Juan, are you going to go on with your sermons?" he retorted, watching his older brother taking a seat on the foot of Franco's bed. "I don't want to hear it anymore!"
Juan didn't bear any animosity this time. He only had a look of worry for his youngest brother.
"No, Franco." he assured him. "I know you couldn't stand Sarita's insults. I even wanted to shut that damn girl up myself."
Franco sighed in relief, but Juan wasn't done speaking.
"Look, Franco. I just want to let you know that I'm not mad at the things you've said but...why go to the extreme?"
"Because she started it, Juan!" Franco answered, his annoyance and revulsion piling up again. "I had to defend myself!"
"Listen to me, idiot." Juan told him, throwing his brother a stern glance. "Don't you think you're taking this rather personally? From the looks of it the two of you are determined to attack each other. It's not just her."
"She's annoying, Juan." grumbled Franco. "I won't let anyone humiliate me, especially a spoiled bitch like her."
Juan sighed but his usual hard expression was soft. He only seemed incredibly worried.
Franco got up from his bed and stood by his open window, in which Sarita had succeeded in tearing down his curtains when he grabbed her away. His jaw clenched at the sheer memory of it all. He began to think of all the women he'd encountered. They were all the same. All wanted to hurt and deceive him. A slow grudge began to steam inside him.
"If Rosario Montes mistreated and humiliated me…" he started to say, regretfully thinking of his past love. "I won't let another woman do the same."
He shot Juan a hateful glance over his shoulder. Juan in return, stared at his distraught brother with approval, but his dark eyes still held more worry.
A few days have passed, and there was no sign of any trouble. By trouble, it meant Sarita. There were no run-ins with that insufferable woman. Franco drew a breath of relief, but at the same time, he would wonder about her whereabouts. He simply didn't trust her. Surely he and his brothers were at peace but something could happen, like before. That girl knew how to ruin everything. If there was a calm after a storm, Sarita would know how to disrupt that calm.
In those few days, apart from a disaster came a miracle. Juan finally got to meet his son and Franco and Oscar were overjoyed to see their older brother grinning from ear to ear.
He mentioned to them that Norma, despite her mother's disapproval, was going to allow Juan's rights as a doting and loving father. They were all happy, especially Oscar, who saw this as a sign of hope to be able to reunite with his wife, Jimena.
Franco, on the other hand, couldn't help but feel excluded. Although he was no longer fighting for scraps as before, he still couldn't help the emptiness eating at him. His brother Oscar married the woman he loved while Juan fathered a child with a woman he loved...where was Franco's love?
He watched his brothers and Eva speaking with so much warmth and gusto over the marvelous news. As he did so, he lamented over his past love affairs. Rosario, Jimena, and even the elderly Eduvina...all three never truly loved him. The three toyed with him and he in turn would react in a manner that wasn't himself. But he really thought he could find true love with Rosario, the woman he broke a few ribs and bruised for, and even gave all his low incomes to her as a promise of his devotion. What for? Only so she could ridicule him by marrying someone who had more.
He had such terrible luck with women. For once in his life, he'd hope to find the same happiness as his brothers. He wanted a love as pure as theirs.
But there was no use. Chasing after women was buried in the past. He remembered a conversation he had with Juan regarding this subject before buying the open fields from the Morales.
Juan was stocking up wood in their new fireplace while Oscar made no rush on enjoying his new life as one of the wealthiest ranch owners in the region.
"We have no other choice." Oscar was saying, a glass of scotch in his hand. "We have all the tools to make this ranch the best in the region! But if we want to break into the business we have to become members of the ranch associations."
Juan stopped stacking the pile of wood and turned his head to Oscar, who was now standing next to Franco, who sat in an armchair with a book in his lap.
"What is this association?" asked Juan.
"They handle practically everything." answered Franco, his eyes skimming through his book. "They regulate and manage the quality control of the horses. And they are the middlemen in everything that has to do with reproduction, sales, and championships."
Juan understood but then began to get anxious. He left the remaining pile of wood and got to his feet.
"I guess we'll have to go to meetings and what not, right?" he grumbled. He was never the type for huge crowds, let alone with strangers.
"Not necessarily." Oscar assured Juan, who seemed to be getting green with anxiety. "We can have our lawyers represent us."
"Nope." Franco disagreed. "We have to go to them. It'll be more appropriate."
Juan sighed and gave in.
"I guess it should be that way." he grumbled again. "Even if it means we're going to bump into the Elizondos when we least expect it."
"Possibly!" agreed Oscar, raising his scotch. "But so what? Are we going to hide now that we have the tools and the means to confront them as equals? Don't be intimated, Juancho! This is the opportunity we've been waiting for, isn't it?"
Franco closed his book and started to get up from his chair.
"If you are intimidated, there's nothing for you to worry about, Juan." Franco reassured him. "I can take care of it at the end of the day."
Juan and Oscar glanced over at Franco, who began to walk over to the stairs.
"Because unlike you both, I do not have anything going on with Norma or Jimena Elizondo or any other woman involved in this matter."
His older brothers glared at Franco as he walked up the stairs.
"With no other woman!" he shouted before disappearing into his room.
Franco tossed the book he was reviewing on his bed and stalked over to his open window. He was disrupted by a knock on his door. It was Juan.
"You don't enjoy anything you have, right?" Juan said, storming inside Franco's bedroom and tossing his hat somewhere and taking a seat on any of the chairs closest to his younger brother. "You come and go, take care of business, but there's no time for your own needs."
"I'm not like Oscar, Juan!" shouted Franco. "Who takes pleasure in everything despite his situation with Jimena. You're not enjoying everything either. All you do is work like a dog, breaking your back."
"Mine and Oscar's problems are very different from yours. You don't have romantic problems."
Franco stood in silence. Juan noticed and took his silence as a challenge.
"Or do you?"
Silence again.
"Do you still think of Rosario Montes?"
Franco blinked a couple times, his heart wrenching in his chest when he last saw her but finally answered Juan.
"Every time I think about her it hurts." Franco confessed. "I get very sad."
"To hell with that!" growled Juan, but Franco knew that tone wasn't with him. "Forget about that! You shouldn't even think about her! Good or bad! You're young, Franco!"
Franco paced slowly in front of his window. The mention of Rosario bringing a bad taste to his mouth.
"You could find someone else who is worthy of you!" continued Juan. It was endearing to know just how much Juan loved and cared for his younger brothers as hard as he seemed to be.
"Juan, I'm good alone." Franco told him, not having any desires in searching for a love match that could be just as worse as the last ones he'd had. "I just want to be alone."
He stood still while Juan stood up from the chair and walked over to stand in front of him. Juan placed a consoling hard hand on Franco's shoulder.
"You can't let your life be destroyed by that affair you had with that bad woman," he affirmed. "Not all women are like that. There are relationships that stay with you. That hurt and poison you. But that can't happen to you, Franco."
Franco nodded, feeling his heart growing colder by each passing minute.
"There's something you can be sure of, Juan", Franco said, his tone serious and equally guarded as his heart. "I'm no longer suffering over Rosario and I'd like to bump into her to show her that."
Juan remained speechless and left Franco alone with a brand new heart. A colder, and more guarded heart.
More days have passed and the peace carried on. Franco was growing anxious and bored by each day. He wondered why nothing else was happening. Most importantly, he wondered why Sarita wasn't doing anything she normally did.
Franco was riding his horse by the fences that divided him from the Elizondo's estate. He stared into the distance, hoping Sarita would show herself and make his day a little less peaceful.
"What are you doing?"
Franco tore his eyes from the Elizondos' side of the fence and turned to look at his brother Oscar, who eyed him with great suspicion.
"I'm just keeping watch, that's all." Franco told him, his eyes traveling back to the other side of the fence.
"Are you waiting for something?" Oscar asked. "Or are you waiting for someone?"
"I told you.." snarled Franco. "I'm just keeping watch."
"You're worried Sarita would come and fuck shit up, aren't you?"
Franco didn't answer Oscar's pestering questions. He only signaled his horse back to his house, secretly disappointed that Sarita never showed.
Sarita was on his mind the remainder of the day and during the evening. He just kept wondering about her. Everything about her. Remembering her hard demeanor and excessive need to attack him and his brothers, made him wonder how life must've been for her. Had she always been so rough? Well, come to think of it, she may have been with a stern mother like Gabriela. But then again...how is it that Sarita is so different from her sisters? Norma was classically beautiful and her personality is as soft as air. Jimena was also a beauty, with her jovial and flirtatious personality. That leaves Sara, who obtained no physical flavor but her mother's strong temper. Although, he had to admit the drastic change in her. She was no longer bland to him, but her temperament was still intact. He won't ever forget the way she looked at the Rosales' party. He was mesmerized by her sudden change. There was no denying the undulating desire he felt observing the woman who did nothing but attack him.
The more Franco wondered, he needed to know more, so he asked the one person who had the opportunity in raising the Elizondo daughters.
"What's your take on Sara Elizondo, Eva?" Franco asked, standing next to his open window while the older woman organized his bed.
Eva shot him a curious glance but still answered.
"That girl is very difficult and reserved. Out of the three girls, Sara is the serious one. She's always been that way even as a baby. She's clearly got her mom's temper."
Franco nodded in agreement. She's definitely inherited Gabriela's temper. He walked away from the window and stood at the foot of his bed, his mind racing with Sarita's new and profound beauty.
"Now she looks prettier than before, right?" he said, picturing Sarita's doll-like face and how that black dress she wore accentuated such womanly curves he never knew she could possess.
"Yes." agreed Eva, smiling at the thought of the young woman she used to care for. "There's clearly been a change. I've never seen her so pretty, but it doesn't matter since she's so aggressive."
"Then how can you explain after everything that's happened with her, she didn't do anything else?" asked Franco, his worry piling since it's been days since his encounter with the feral young woman. "I mean, it seems to me that she hasn't said a thing to her family, right?"
"There's no doubt about that." said Eva. "If Sara did say something, her mother would have raised hell."
Eva paused and eyed Franco with great curiosity.
"But you are right though." she said calmly. "Sara's behavior is strange."
Franco scratched his temple and wondered what Sarita could be doing at this very moment.
More days continued to go on and within those newer days, only two things have happened. The Reyes have teamed up with Leandro Santos in regards to his crumbling fashion store, and are invited to another one of the Rosales' parties, in which Juan feigned an illness.
Dinora Rosales was left in pieces when Franco and Oscar told her he couldn't make it, but it was quite entertaining knowing that Dinora had it in for their brother.
Franco and Oscar were enjoying themselves until Zacarias Rosales gathered his guests for a special performance. Franco and Oscar went rigid when they saw who the Rosales hired.
Rosario Montes.
She wasn't alone. She was accompanied by her evil husband, Armando Navarro.
The shameless woman was still more beautiful than ever as she sang one of her best numbers. Franco's heart started hammering when Rosario's bedroom eyes lingered on him and then started to perform closer to him and his brother. Armando noticed this, his eyes were beginning to darken evilly when Rosario flirtatiously grazed Franco's cheek as she sang.
Franco flinched at her touch, memories flooding through his head of all the pain she'd caused him. He needed to leave. So he and his brother excused themselves and headed home. Both brothers swore to each other not to mention any of this to Juan, whom they know would not let this go.
He didn't think he would see Rosario again, but Franco was quite proud for not allowing himself to be wrapped around her charms as before.
He threw himself on this bed and thought about their encounter. He felt sick to his stomach at the sight of her shamelessly approaching him, knowing the hurt she'd caused him while her husband stood there. How could he have loved a woman like her? A woman who flirted with other men right under her husband's nose. He even thought back on those times he'd been with her. Could she have flirted with other men like she'd done with her husband with him?
He already knew the answer to that.
"How could she be so cold?" he asked himself. "She has no shame."
Franco sighed and sank his face into a pillow, attempting to smother away any more thoughts of his past affairs.
That's one thing I love about Juan... he's very intuitive and cares so much about the people most importantly in his life. That flashback was very powerful to me because he believes Franco is worthy of so much more. Anyways... on to Chapter 20!