I’m Luis, I just turned 20, I’m 1.80 meters tall, I have a nice appearance and I’m a sophomore at a university in Mexico City. My life was pretty normal, until I met Doña Carmen—a wealthy 60-year-old woman who had owned a chain of major restaurants before retiring.

We met by chance at a charity event I attended with the college club. Doña Carmen, with her elegant bearing, her penetrating but warm gaze, impressed me from the first moment.

Although we were 40 years apart, we soon became very close. She told me about her life: an unhappy marriage, no children, and decades dedicated entirely to building her emporium. I was attracted by his intelligence, his experience, and also by the loneliness that he hid behind the smile. Just three months later, I decided to propose to her.

“I don’t care about age,” I said, kneeling in the rain. I just know that I want to be with you.

My entire family was furiously opposed. My parents called me crazy, claiming that Doña Carmen was “buying” me with money. Cousins, uncles and even neighbors murmured that I only wanted their fortune. But I didn’t listen to anyone. I truly loved her, not for the money, but for the peace she gave me, something I had never felt in my previous relationships. After much discussion, I moved out on my own and arranged the wedding with my parents’ reluctant acceptance.

The wedding was simple, with a few close friends and some of Carmen’s former associates. On the wedding night, in his luxurious mansion in Polanco, I was nervous like any young man who loves for the first time. She, despite her 60 years, maintained a distinguished and elegant air. He came out of the bathroom in a silk nightgown, sat down next to me, and placed in my hands three deeds of land in the center of the city, valued at tens of millions, along with the keys to a newly purchased Porsche for 6 million pesos.

And then he gave me a statement that made my blood run cold.

I stood motionless, staring at the shiny keys and thick writings. My heart was pounding in my chest. I stammered:

“What… What does this mean? I don’t need these things…

Doña Carmen smiled slightly, with deep eyes that caused me both fear and intrigue. He took my hand and, in a deep voice, said:

“Luis… If you have already chosen this path, you must know the truth. I didn’t marry you just to have company. I need an heir.

I froze. “An heir?” What do you mean…?

He paused, and then, in a serious voice, explained:

“I don’t have children. My fortune, of hundreds of millions, if it is not in the name of someone trustworthy, will end up in the hands of greedy distant relatives, who have been waiting for years for me to die to divide it all. I want everything to be yours. But… There is a condition.

The air in the room became dense, I had a hard time breathing. I asked in a broken voice:

“What condition…?”

She looked me straight in the eye and said, slowly:

“Tonight… You must really become my husband. Not only on paper. If you don’t… tomorrow I will tear up these deeds and annul my will.

I was stunned. My head was spinning. All the love that I thought was pure was tinged with a strange power game.

I swallowed, my heart pounding. And when, trembling, I stretched out my hand to her delicate silk nightgown… Doña Carmen suddenly held my arm tightly, and an icy glint appeared in her eyes.

“Wait, Luis. Before you go any further… You need to know a secret about my ex-husband’s death.

Doña Carmen squeezed my hand. His voice trembled slightly, but his gaze was cold as a blade.

“Luis… The truth is that my husband did not die of a heart attack, as everyone believes.

I froze. My whole body tingled and I swallowed dry.
“What… What is he saying?

She took a deep breath and looked me straight ahead:

“He beat me, humiliated me… One day, in a fit of rage, he stumbled on the stairs. I didn’t push him… but I didn’t help him either. I dropped it. And since then, I have carried that weight.

The room was silent; I only heard the racing beat of my heart.

“Now you understand,” he continued. I don’t want my fortune to end up in the hands of vultures who hate me. I want it to be for someone who has the courage to stay, even knowing who I really am.

Trembling, I looked at the woman in front of me: as vulnerable as it was fearsome. On the one hand, the love and protection she had felt; on the other, a secret capable of destroying everything.

I took a deep breath and took her hand:
“Carmen… I can’t change the past. But I can decide to stay. Not because of your money, but because… I choose you.

His eyes moistened; for the first time I saw her fragile. He rested his head on my shoulder and whispered,
“Thank you, Luis. No one had chosen me like that.

That night was no longer a power exchange, but two unknown souls meeting in the dark.

The next morning, when the light flooded Polanco’s mansion, I woke up and saw on the table the three deeds and the keys to the Porsche. But this time they were no longer a condition: they were a deposit of trust.

I smiled, put my hand on his shoulder in his sleep, and murmured,
“Maybe the world will never understand us. But as long as we’re together, it’s enough.

Outside, Mexico City was still noisy and full of prejudices. Inside that room there were only two people—a young man and an experienced woman—who dared to choose each other in spite of all the murmurs.

And that was the beginning of a love story that the family called “madness”… But for us, it was the only truth.

END