Diana

Hello, my name is Diana Leon, I am 24 years old, my lifelong dream? To be a wedding dress designer, but I don't have the financial means to make my dream come true.

Some time ago I met Marcus Smith, my boyfriend. My mother died 2 years ago, I only live with my younger brother and my stepfather, who doesn't want me to be near Marcus, he wants to marry me to his boss, a man who could be my grandfather, but who has a lot of money, supposedly so I can live without worries for the rest of my life. My brother has always tried to convince his father, my stepfather, not to force me to marry that man, to let me be free, but he never listened to him and sometimes even hit him, so I asked my brother not to interfere anymore, because I didn't want him to suffer, he's a good kid. For this reason, Marcus and I have decided to keep our relationship a secret, he has proposed marriage to me.

In a week I will marry the man I love, and we will be able to live our love with complete freedom.

I live in a small town, where Marcus's family has some businesses and a ranch, but he lives in the city, he told me that when we get married, he will take me to live with his family.

I am about to graduate as a university nurse, I really don't like this profession but it was my mother's dream and for her I have decided to study.

At this moment I have left classes, now I am heading towards the river waterfall, where I usually meet my beloved Marcus.

Arriving, I can see him with his back to me. I run towards him and hug him. I can feel his body tense when he hears my laughter.

"Diana, I have told you a thousand times that I don't like you playing these kinds of jokes on me" he says turning around with a frown, his black eyes are fixed on me, he seems annoyed.

"I'm sorry my love, I just got excited to see you that's all" I replied somewhat embarrassed.

"It's okay" he replies and kisses my forehead.

"I am counting the days to be your wife" I say enthusiastically.

"That's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about darling" he says looking down, somewhat nervous.

"What's wrong? You don't want to marry me anymore?" I asked scared.

"No, it's not that my love. It's just that there has been a problem with my family's companies abroad and I have to travel to take care of it and I won't be able to be there on the day we had agreed to get married" he says taking my hands.

"And then when will we get married?" I ask with a broken voice.

"We will get married anyway, only it won't be a wedding like the others. I will sign the act before leaving on a trip and then I will send the judge here for you to sign, so we will be married and we will be together when I return. Meanwhile I will let my family know to receive you in my house, I promise you" he says very calmly.

"Marcus, that's crazy, I would never go to your house if you are not there" I say confused.

"My love, they already know that I am going to marry you and they are dying to meet you, in fact my mother wanted the wedding to be a big celebration, but I have convinced her to let us do it our way" he says with a smile and somehow it calms me down.

"Okay, if you say so" I say not very convinced.

"When I return from my trip, we will go on our honeymoon. And you will finally be mine, I am dying to be the first man in your life" he says kissing my lips.

"So it will be then" I say hugging his body.

...

Finally the day came to get married. Maybe not as I had imagined but I would get married in the end.

Marcus has contacted me by phone to inform me that he had already signed the papers and that the judge would come the next day so I could sign.

And so it was, I was finally with the judge in a small restaurant in town, my hand was trembling but I finally signed the papers and now I was married to Marcus Smith.

"Well miss, here is your marriage certificate. Now I must take it to the Smith family at the request of Mr. Marcus" says the judge, he was an elderly man and inspired confidence.

So I took advantage of the fact that my brother and my stepfather were at work to get my things and escape from home. I left a note for my brother, telling him the reason for my departure and saying that I would be fine, that I would call him later.

Diana

It's going to be night in a few hours, and we've been traveling with the judge to the city where Marcus lives.

We've arrived, you could already see the big buildings, the streets, the traffic and everything characteristic of big cities.

I just watched through the car window, while the judge mentioned something about an address that Marcus had given him, where we should go.

"We've arrived, miss, this is it. Let's go in, I'll accompany you," says the judge.

"Give me a second, I'll call Marcus to let him know I'm here," I say, taking my phone and dialing his number.

"Hello, honey?" Marcus answers, sounding a bit agitated.

"Hi, love, I've already signed the documents and I have our marriage certificate, I'm outside what seems to be your house," I say, a little nervous.

"Perfect, honey, just go in and tell them you're from me, they'll know what to do with you," Marcus replies and hangs up.

It seemed strange to me, but I decided to follow his instructions.

The young man at the entrance let us pass, it was a huge house with a large garden, just seeing it made me nervous, surely they were very wealthy people and I would feel out of place there. Marcus had told me that his family had money but I didn't think that much.

At the door we were greeted by an older woman, she said she was the housekeeper and invited us to the living room.

The judge asked if we could see the owner of the house, and she nodded.

"Mr. Samuel will be here in a moment," she said and disappeared down one of the corridors.

"Good afternoon, how can I help you?" a voice distracted us, it was an older man, dressed very elegantly.

"Mr. Smith, I am Judge Ricardo Fontana," he says and they both shake hands.

"And you, young lady?" he says, turning to me.

"I am Diana, Diana Leon, sir," I say with an unstable voice.

"What brings you to my house?" he says very kindly.

"Well, as your son Marcus has already informed you, I have brought his wife here with his family. He said that you were already aware of everything," says the judge calmly.

Mr. Smith just looks at us both in amazement, and then looks at me confused.

"Did I hear correctly? My son's wife, you say?" he asks, frowning.

"That's right, sir, here is the marriage certificate," I say, showing the document.

"What's going on?" a woman's voice echoes in the place.

"She says she's Marcus's wife, and apparently it's true, here's the signed document," says the man.

"It's impossible, if it's a joke, it's in very bad taste, Marcus doesn't even have a girlfriend, much less would he get married," says the woman, observing me.

"I'm sorry, she is my wife, Eva," says the man, introducing the woman, she just looks at us and nods once.

"Samuel, there is only one way to clear up doubts, call my son, there must be an explanation for all this," says the woman with a stern voice. Without saying a word, the man walks across the room until he disappears down a corridor.

My heart started to race and I started to get nervous.

"Se... Madam, I know it seems impossible, but your son told me that we would get married before he went on a trip, in fact he signed the documents before I did. I just spoke to him on the phone and he told me that you would be waiting for me," I say with my voice about to break.

"What are you talking about, Dad? I don't have a wife, what kind of joke is this?" a man's voice resounded, but it wasn't Marcus's voice, this voice was thicker and more cutting.

"Look at her, it's her and she has a document signed by you, where it says that she is your wife," says Samuel, pointing at me.

Suddenly, a young man appeared in front of me, with features very similar to Marcus's but clearly it wasn't him. He had black eyes, with abundant eyebrows and eyelashes, but he was perhaps a little taller and looked somewhat younger, also for a moment the indecent idea of saying that he is more handsome than Marcus crossed my mind.

He just looked me in the eyes without saying a word.

Diana

"Who are you? And why are you saying you're my wife? I've never even seen you before in my life" he says with hatred towards me.

"I'm sorry, I'm looking for someone else. I'm looking for Marcus Smith. His family has a car dealership, they have a small branch in my town, Laguna del Valle, and they also have a ranch, that's where I met him." He said he would be away for a few days for work, and that I should stay with his family, but there was a mistake, I'm sorry "I apologize sadly and with tears in my eyes, my heart is going to jump out of my chest, I can't believe what is happening."

"This is my son Marcus Smith, and yes, we do indeed have a partnership with a small agency in Laguna del Valle and also a ranch, but the person in charge of that business for the last 10 months was not Marcus, but Mauricio, my eldest son. But he returned to Italy, where he has lived for years" Samuel explained.

"Look, is he the boy you met?" Eva asks, showing me a photo on her cell phone, where she and Marcus, or rather, now Mauricio, appear.

"Yes, that's him" I say, bursting into sobs.

"You damn scoundrel" Marcus says in a whisper.

"Sir, you are a judge. Can you explain to me how this happened?" Samuel says.

"Mr. Marcus...I'm sorry, Mr. Mauricio contacted me to ask me to marry him and his girlfriend, I told him that what he intended was complicated but he begged me and said it was urgent, so I asked him for all the required documentation, and when he presented me with the papers, everything seemed to be under control. If you want we can review the document, it's original" says the judge.

"Please, go to the office, I need to clarify this" says Marcus. He, Samuel and the judge leave for the office.

"Come on girl, I'll give you some water, you look very upset" says Eva, who looks at me with compassion.

We walk through the large house to the kitchen, where she asked one of the maids to give me a glass of water.

"I'm sorry" I say between sobs.

"I don't know what to tell you, I still can't believe that my son has done something like this, there must be some explanation. Come on, let's go to the office to see what they're talking about" she says, taking me by the shoulder.

Upon entering the office, I saw Samuel sitting in a leather armchair, the judge in front of him holding some documents, and Marcus with his hands resting on the desk, and his gaze fixed on the floor.

"What's going on?" Eva asks.

"Apparently Mauricio has used Marcus's identity to do this, he has forged his documents and his signature" says Samuel.

"Oh, it can't be. But being like that, they can ask for the annulment of the marriage" says Eva.

"That's impossible" says the judge.

"How impossible?" says Marcus.

"Yes, his signature was forged, he has the right to ask for it to be annulled" says Samuel.

"I'm sorry, but no, Mauricio gave me a blank document with his signature, and he asked me to prepare a kind of marriage contract, which says that they must be married for 6 months without the possibility of annulment, after the 6 months they can divorce" explains the judge.

"That's crazy" says Eva.

"He's a damn son of a bitch" says Marcus and slams a crystal ornament against the floor, which flies into a thousand pieces.

"But it was a forged signature, sir" says Samuel.

"No, it wasn't, Dad. I signed that damn blank document, I was in a hurry that day and that bastard Mauricio took advantage of it, he told me to sign some blank documents that he would take care of the rest," he said they were just some documents that he had to present at the bank. I trusted him, Dad, he was my brother and look what he did to me. I swear I'll kill him! "Marcus shouts and rushes out of the office, bumping into my shoulder and making me almost fall to the floor."