He Caught His Luxury-Loving Girlfriend Abusing His Frail Old Mother — His Reaction Proved Exactly What Kind of Man He Really Was.
Rafael kissed his mother’s forehead and left, without imagining the terror he was leaving behind.
As soon as the car disappeared, Barbara turned to Doña Marta with that icy expression that terrified her so much. Without a word, she grabbed the woman’s arm tightly, digging her fingers into the wrinkled skin. Doña Marta let out a groan of pain, but didn’t dare scream.
—Please… —whispered Doña Marta, tears welling up—. I’ve never hurt him… why are you doing this to me?
Barbara violently released her arm, leaving red marks that would soon turn purple. “Because you’re in the way, because this mansion, this money, all of this should be just mine and Rafael’s. There’s no room for a useless old woman in this life.”
The kitchen door opened and Marina came in with a basket of fruit. She froze at the sight: Doña Marta with a sore arm, Bárbara standing too close, her expression changing instantly at the sight of her. “What a fright!” Marina thought. Bárbara laughed, putting her hand to her chest as if acting. “I was helping Mom put on her bracelet.”
Marina saw the marks on her arm, the fear in Doña Marta’s eyes, how she cowered as if expecting an attack. “Doña Marta, if someone is hurting you…” Marina began, gently taking her hand.
“No!” shouted Doña Marta, louder than she had intended. “Please, don’t say anything to Rafael. I beg you.”
Marina wept alongside her, gently embracing her. “I promise I won’t say anything you don’t want me to. But I will watch over you and protect you, even if you don’t let me tell Rafael.”
Doña Marta wept in that embrace, clinging to Marina like a life preserver in a turbulent sea, praying silently: “Lord, I know you do not abandon your children. Please, open Rafael’s eyes. Protect me from this evil. I trust in you.”
That evening, when Rafael returned from Monterrey, he found a seemingly perfect scene: Bárbara and Doña Marta dining together, conversing amicably. He didn’t see the marks on his mother’s arm, nor did he notice how she barely touched her food, nor the poorly disguised terror that appeared whenever Bárbara approached.
“Wonderful, my love,” Barbara replied immediately. “Your mother and I had a lot of fun, didn’t we, Mom?”
Doña Marta forced a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Yes, son, it was an unforgettable day,” she lied, and it was, but not for the reasons Rafael imagined: unforgettable for the terror, the pain, and the growing feeling of being trapped in a snare from which she couldn’t escape.
The days passed, and the situation only worsened. Barbara grew bolder and crueler. A week before the wedding, the tension in the mansion was almost palpable. Doña Marta had lost weight; her sunken eyes revealed sleepless nights, and her hands trembled constantly. Marina spent as much time as possible by her side, though without fully understanding what was happening; she only knew she had to protect her.
“Stop!” Rafael’s shout echoed throughout the mansion with a force that made the walls tremble. Barbara froze, her foot still raised in the air. She slowly turned her head, and when she saw Rafael standing in the entrance to the foyer, her eyes widened in pure terror. It wasn’t the fear of being discovered, but the terror of seeing something in Rafael’s eyes that she had never seen before.
Righteous fury, profound disappointment, and something worse: utter disgust. Rafael crossed the hall with long, quick strides, without looking at Barbara. His eyes were fixed solely on his mother, lying on the floor, bleeding, weeping. He knelt beside her with a gentleness that contrasted sharply with the rage seething within him.
“Mom, oh my God! What did he do to you?” Her voice trembled as she carefully touched her mother’s injured face, checking the bruises and blood.
“Rafael!” Barbara tried to say, her voice shrill and desperate. “Rafael, I can explain… she fell, I was just trying to help…”
“Marina!” she shouted, appearing from behind the wall where she had been pushed. “I saw everything, Rafael. And it’s not the first time. This has been going on for months.”
“Months?” Rafael’s voice came out as a choked whisper. He looked at his mother, and for the first time, he truly saw. He saw how much weight she had lost, he saw the bruises on her arms, barely hidden under her coat despite the heat, he saw the absolute fear in her eyes. He saw months of silent suffering etched into every line of her face.
—Son…—said Doña Marta, no longer able to hold back her tears—I tried to tell you, but she said she would send me to an asylum in Switzerland, that you would never find me, that she would say I was crazy… she threatened me.
Something snapped inside Rafael. He helped her sit down against the wall, then turned to Barbara with an expression she would never forget.
“Don’t go near her!” Rafael shouted. His voice was as sharp as a knife. Barbara tried to explain, her hands outstretched in a rehearsed pleading gesture: “Rafael, let me explain…”
“No!” Her scream was so intense that Barbara tripped over her own feet and fell to the ground. “You deceived me. You hurt my mother, the woman who gave me life and who never hurt anyone.”
She pulled out her phone with trembling but steady hands and began making calls. She canceled everything: the banquet, the church, the photographer, the honeymoon. Every word she spoke cut deeper than any scream. Barbara fell to her knees, weeping dramatically.
“I can change! I love you!” But Rafael simply looked at her with contempt and deep sadness.
“You never loved me, Barbara. You only loved what I represented: the money, the mansion, the status. And you were willing to destroy an innocent woman to get it.” Continue reading…
