31 - The truth

"Please tell me she's okay," the young gangster begged, leaving aside his terrifying and powerful persona that he used to use with people.

Even so, the doctor was nervous, and he didn't blame him, he knew the reaction that knowing who he and his family were could cause in people.

The man pretended to see something on his computer for a couple of seconds that felt like an eternity to Ivan. He had started digging his nails into his pants to try to focus on that pain and not on the urge to scream and protest that he should talk the hell out of it before he went crazy.

-Miss Aguirre's results have arrived- he began to say without stopping looking at the screen- Everything is fine.

Ivan released a long, heavy breath that he didn't know he had been holding and stopped digging his nails to run his hands over his troubled but now calmer face.

"So what happened?" He asked when he was able to regain his speech after the shock. "What caused him to faint like that?" He growled as he remembered the disgusting hands of his enemy holding his beloved.

“If only I would have been more attentive,” he said to himself, feeling guilty for not having been the one who was there for her at that moment.

-It's nothing serious, he just has low iron levels which caused his blood pressure to drop. I'm going to prescribe some vitamins and you should follow a diet with more iron.

"Take it for granted, doctor, I'm going to make sure she eats better," he exclaimed, puffing out her chest.

From that moment on, the young woman's fasts would end and she would receive abundant meals that she would finish whether she wanted to or not in front of Ivan's vigil.

The doctor wrote a prescription with the vitamins and gave it to the man.

-Do you mean that she already discharges him?

-The best thing would be for her to stay until first thing tomorrow morning, since she is on the serum now and probably still feels a little weak-

The young man stood up from his seat and shook the man's hand effusively.

"Thank you very much doctor, I thank you for taking care of Helena," he exclaimed sincerely.

The man received the squeeze and nodded, unable to speak and continue lying to his face.

Ivan left the office and then the clinic to buy his beloved's vitamins so they would have them with him when they returned home. He planned to stay all night watching over the young woman if necessary. With a smile on his face, relieved to know that it was nothing serious, he crossed the street towards the pharmacy opposite, ignoring that at that same moment Erik's car was entering the clinic's parking lot.

---

After her vile father-in-law left her private room, Helena felt anxious.

How would she be able to lie to Ivan's face? With just one dimpled smile her entire deception would fall apart. But she had to be strong, at least for a while, until she could be sure that she would become Ivan's wife and therefore she and her baby could be safe from the young man.

“If I can't get this, I won't have any other option but to run away from this family,” she thought, gently resting her hand on her belly.

Helena didn't recognize herself, it's not that she didn't like children, but the very idea of being a mother had always felt very far away, especially since just a few weeks ago she had not experienced any type of sexual relationship with a man during her more than 20 years.

Suddenly everything had happened at once and she was surprised at the maternal side of her that had emerged from within her as if it were something natural to her. She smiled looking at her belly, feeling proud of herself.

"I think she could be a good mother," she said to herself but also to the little light of life that came from her love that was growing inside her.

The door to her room opened slowly and she quickly moved her hands away from her stomach as if it were burning, what she least wanted was for Ivan to have the slightest suspicion of her pregnancy.

"Ivan..." she exclaimed, showing a weak smile that quickly faded when she saw that the one who had entered her room was Erik and not her beloved.

“Didn't anyone in the damn clinic be in charge of controlling the visits? "They could kill me in my room without anyone knowing," she thought, swallowing heavily and looking with trembling eyes at her new enemy.

"Helena..." the young man whispered, walking slowly and carefully towards the young woman as if she were a wounded animal.

"What are you doing here?" he exclaimed, grabbing the sheets tightly, feeling that his grip was very weak and he couldn't defend himself against the man if he tried to hurt him. "If you don't leave right now I'm going to scream," he warned, throwing away his only letter.

"Helena, please," Erik begged, showing the look of a wounded deer and raising his hands as if to show that he was not going to hurt her. "I was very worried, I didn't know what had happened to you, suddenly you had fainted in my arms," he said. with a trembling voice.

"What happened to me is none of your business," he said bitterly. The last thing he wanted was for Erik to know about his baby on the way. His family had already gotten rid of his parents and could do the same with his offspring. "You've seen that I'm fine, so go away." favor.

-Helena, we were friends, you trusted me, please trust me once again. "My family didn't do that..." he exclaimed desperately, taking two more steps forward. "I would never lie to you like that."

"Please go," he begged, clenching his jaw tightly, "I don't want you to name my family anymore. You're dead to me!" If I had the necessary strength I would take revenge myself right now...

Erik looked desperate, revealing on his face the mercy and clemency he wanted to get from Helena, he had never begged anyone, but with her it was different, he didn't want to get away from her, not after knowing the truth. He had thought it was still too early to reveal it to her, but it was a desperate time and he had no choice.

In a quick movement he had taken the brunette's hands in his and knelt down next to his bed.

-Let me explain you…

"Let go of me, damn you!" He screamed so loudly that the walls of the room rumbled.

-Helena please!

-She told you to let her go!

"Ivan!" the young woman screamed, feeling relieved by the presence of her lover.

Erik's hands slipped from the young woman's trembling hands because Ivan had grabbed him by the collar of her shirt and thrown him back with force, as far away from Helena as possible.

Ivan didn't take a second to plant a strong blow on the same cheek where Helena had slapped him just a few hours ago. After that blow came another and another and suddenly the young woman no longer felt so good that Ivan killed him right there.

"Ivan..." she sobbed, feeling her eyes watering.

But the young man did not listen to her, he was lost in her hatred for that man, who had not even defended himself from the blows, as if he had already resigned himself.

"Please stop!" Helena's heartbreaking and pain-filled voice made her fist stop halfway and she came to her senses. "Let him go," she begged, feeling helpless on the bed.

Ivan growled, tightening his grip on the man's shirt before carelessly releasing him to the floor.

"You were saved thanks to her," she spat, walking away from him.

Ivan wiped off Erik's blood that had remained on her knuckles with his cloth handkerchief because he didn't want to get it on Helena when he approached her.

Erik stood up slowly, feeling between consciousness and unconsciousness, he looked one last time at Helena, with her only healthy eye, but the young woman looked away in pain. The injured young man left there quickly, Ivan's threatening look said it all, he had only been saved thanks to Helena because White would have had no problem getting rid of him even if that would have meant starting a war between the two families.

Once the door closed again, they were both finally able to breathe again.

-Are you OK? Did he hurt you? - asked the young man, sitting on the edge of the bed examining the young woman.

"It didn't do anything to me," he exclaimed softly, looking at the wound on her lover's fist. "That needs to be cured, I'll tell the nurse to give you something."

"Don't worry about me, you just rest, it's been a long day," he exclaimed, making the bed return to its horizontal state. "You're going to be discharged early tomorrow and we'll be able to go home. Is that okay?"

"Ivan..." he exclaimed and bit the inside of his cheek.

What was he about to say to her? He couldn't tell her the truth although he was dying to do so, instead he took her hands lovingly and exclaimed:

"I want us to be free to show our love, to be like any ordinary couple. Is that too much to ask for?" He said with a pout.