From Substitute Wife to the CEO's Obsession novel · Chapter 1 of 24
Chapter 1: The Day After Our Anniversary
Ignacio says he remembered the anniversary and leaves for the hospital; at the gala that night the stage thanks him and her sister, not her, and Lorena decides to leave first. Her mother texts that they must discuss what happens when Renata wakes.
The morning after her wedding anniversary, Lorena asked her husband if he knew what yesterday had been.
Ignacio stood at the dining room door in his dark suit, his car keys in one hand.
The white roses she had bought for the table were turning brown at the edges.
She had set two places last night and eaten alone.
"Yesterday was our anniversary," she said.
"I know."
He answered at once, without looking away.
So he had not forgotten.
He had decided it was not worth coming home for.
His phone rang before she could say anything.
"Yes, Doctor," he said.
He listened, and Lorena watched his hand tighten on the keys.
"Her fingers moved?" he said. "I'm on my way."
He put the phone away and looked at her for the first time that morning.
"Renata's neurologist. I have to go."
"Go," Lorena said.
"The hospital gala is tonight. The car comes at seven."
"I'll be ready."
He nodded once and left.
Lorena stood in the empty dining room with the roses.
Her older sister Renata had been in a coma for a year.
Renata's car had left the road on the way to her own wedding to Ignacio Barrera.
Eight days later Lorena had stood at the altar in her place, because her parents asked her to and because she had loved him in secret since she was twenty-two.
Upstairs she took the contract out of her desk drawer.
It was four pages long, and the lawyer had written every line but one.
On the last page, in Ignacio's own blue ink, it said the marriage could end thirty days after Renata woke.
It was the only line in the contract that he had added himself, and the lawyer's black type stopped just above it.
She had read that line so many times she could have drawn it from memory.
It was his way out, and he had written it himself so no one could say he hadn't been honest.
Now the neurologist said Renata's fingers had moved.
Lorena put the contract back and went to find a dark dress.
That night the Hospital San Lucas benefit filled the ballroom of the Hotel Real with three hundred guests.
Lorena walked in on her husband's arm and felt every head turn, then turn away.
They did not look at her face.
They looked at the empty space beside Ignacio, where they had expected to see someone else for a year.
"Señora Barrera," a woman said, and kissed the air beside her cheek.
Then the woman's eyes went to the stage, where a banner hung above the podium.
It read: With thanks to Ignacio Barrera and Renata Mendiola.
Lorena read it twice.
Her own name was not on it.
Her mother-in-law appeared at her elbow in navy silk and pearls.
"Don't take it badly, Lorena," Consuelo said warmly. "The printer made it in January. Nobody wanted to change it."
"It's no trouble," Lorena said.
"You have been such a blessing to this family."
Consuelo squeezed her hand and turned to the couple beside them.
"Lorena is keeping the chair warm for Renata," she told them. "Isn't she good at it?"
The couple laughed.
Lorena looked for Ignacio.
He stood a few yards away with his back to her, talking to a board member, and he did not turn around.
Her mother arrived in green satin, with her father one step behind.
"My girls," her mother said to the whole circle. "God willing, Renata will be here next year and Lorena can finally rest."
The guests murmured their agreement.
Her mother kissed her cheek and spoke into her ear.
"Don't make a scene tonight. Remember what this marriage paid for."
Her father looked at the floor.
Ignacio finally turned around.
He saw her face and started toward her.
A man caught his sleeve with news about the donations, and Ignacio stopped to listen.
Lorena set her glass on a passing tray.
She walked out through the lobby into the cool night air and stood by the fountain.
Nobody followed her.
She took out her phone and opened a blank note.
She typed today's date and under it she wrote: I go first.
She had made up her mind.
If she was going to be sent away, she would not wait to be told.
Her phone buzzed with a message from her mother.
Bring the contract to lunch tomorrow. We need to discuss what happens when your sister wakes.
Lorena read it once and typed back: I'll bring it.
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