Alejandro Mendoza—Spain’s youngest billionaire and heir to the Mendoza fortune—had everything: skyscrapers bearing his name, a fleet of cars and jets, homes across Europe, and a girlfriend the tabloids called the most photographed model in the country. Yet on a flawless September afternoon, standing in his glass-walled office forty floors above Madrid, he felt hollow.
For months a single doubt had eaten at him: did Isabela love him, or only the power and wealth that trailed him like a spotlight? The signs were subtle but relentless—her glow around gifts and galas, her distance in quiet conversations, her absence on hard days and sudden presence whenever the cameras appeared. In business, Alejandro trusted his instincts. In love, they said something bitter: he was a luxury ATM, not a partner.
So he devised a radical plan. With the help of his personal physician, Dr. Carlos Herrera, Alejandro staged a car accident and faked a spinal injury that left him “paralyzed” from the waist down. Medical reports were forged; equipment was installed in his mansion. He called Isabela—then in Barcelona for a shoot—and told her everything. Her shock rang true, but the pause before her comfort chilled him.
That night the Maserati hummed over the gravel drive. Isabela swept in like a star on a red carpet—Louboutins on marble, scarlet suit flawless, makeup immaculate. Genuinely worried women did not arrive camera-ready, he thought. When he explained that recovery might take years, he saw, just for a heartbeat, disappointment flash in her eyes. She vowed to help “for a few months,” then briskly listed reasons she would soon be away: a contract, a campaign, a fashion show in Milan.
As she spoke, a quiet figure entered with tea: Carmen López, the Galician housekeeper who had worked there three years. Plain clothes, dark hair pinned back, gentle hands. When she looked at him, her concern was unvarnished, without pity or performance. Isabela excused herself to call her agent, leaving only expensive perfume and an emptiness in her wake. Carmen tidied in silence until Alejandro asked her to stay. For the first time, they spoke like two people rather than employer and staff. She sat naturally, listened without flinching, and told him softly that he was going through something terrible and needed those who truly loved him.
Her words struck him harder than any declaration Isabela had ever made.
