Chapter 4

Miguel sighed as he stared at the Adolfo Mansion.

Today was the day he was supposed to be here to sign the divorce papers.

"Let's get this over and done with," Miguel breathed out.

He was still pained about having to divorce Annabelle, but he knew it was her choice and he was grateful that he was lucky enough to see who she really was before he got back his wealth.

Just as he walked into the sitting room, he saw Annabelle sitting on one of the couches with her new fiancé, Leonard.

"Look who is here," Annabelle said, as she looked at Miguel with disgust.

Leonard turned towards the entrance as well. He huffed at the sight of Miguel.

Miguel obviously looked like he was not in his best mood, so Leonard believed he was looking that way because he was sad about losing Annabelle to him.

Before Miguel even had a chance to sit, Annabelle sneered, "So, you wore the same clothes you left here with last night?"

"I shouldn't be surprised, considering you're so poor that the only things you had were the ones in my house," Annabelle said, staring at the clothes Miguel wore.

What she didn't know was that Miguel had a wardrobe filled with extravagant outfits.

The only reason he wore this here was because he was not in a mood to select outfits from his extremely large collection.

As Miguel reached where Annabelle and Leonard sat, he folded his arms across his chest and waited for her to bring forth the papers he was supposed to sign.

"I can't even imagine where you slept, since you don't have any friends in town and you're an orphaned pauper," Annabelle said, and Leonard smirked.

Annabelle didn't just want this to end with the signing of the documents. She wanted to humiliate him first.

Miguel wasn't bothered by her insults anymore. It had pained him when she insulted him earlier because he had truly lost his wealth and felt powerless, but now, nothing she said affected him.

"When you're done blabbing," Miguel said calmly, "maybe you could give me a pen to sign the divorce papers and go."

Annabelle's pride was wounded by his indifference. She hadn't expected him to be so detached.

She enjoyed the part where he pleaded with her to reconsider, as it gave her more chances to belittle him.

Now, he acted like he didn't care about signing the divorce papers at all.

Annabelle nodded toward the papers on the table in front of her, and Miguel followed her eyes to see that there was a pen there.

"Didn't you see the pen earlier?" she snapped. "Or has poverty blinded your eyes?" Leonard laughed out loud at Annabelle's insult.

Miguel ignored her completely as he walked closer to the table. He grabbed the pen and signed his part without hesitating for a second, which shocked Annabelle.

She stood up from where she sat with Leonard and pointed at Miguel's face.

"Look at you," she said, pointing her index finger at his face.

"You can claim all you want that you don't care about me anymore or that you can survive without me," she scoffed.

"I was your only means of survival, and you know it. Signing this document means you no longer have access to anything of mine. This will make you homeless, penniless, and worse," Annabelle said, reminding him of all the things he would miss.

Miguel remained silent, only staring at her. He didn't want to exchange words with a woman like her.

"I wonder how life will treat you now that you've lost me," she continued, her voice dripping with disgust.

"I was your only hope for feeding, clothing, and everything else. Now, who knows? You'd probably look for someone else's daughter to trap in your unending poverty," she said.

Miguel looked at her calmly.

"You don't have to worry about my survival. You are too rich to worry about someone like me," Miguel said, and it got her confused.

"I'll survive," he said simply, then turned and headed for the staircase to grab his belongings.

He wanted to take all the clothes he had bought with his own money and some of his personal stuff.

He didn't need any of those things anymore. He just didn't want to leave anything of his behind at the Adolfo mansion.

Miguel went to their former bedroom and grabbed all of his personal items.

He took only the things he had bought with the little money he had on him before his accounts were frozen by his father. The Adolfo family hadn't contributed anything to his life then.

As he walked down the stairs, pulling his suitcase along, he heard voices behind him. It was Mr. and Mrs. Adolfo.

"What the hell is happening here?" Mr. Adolfo's voice cut through the air and it forced Miguel to turn.

"Wait!" Mr. Adolfo shouted.

Miguel was furious and wanted no conversation with any member of that family, but he stopped to hear what Mr. Adolfo had to say.

Mr. Adolfo turned to his daughter Annabelle, looking angry.

"Annabelle, don't tell me you stood here and watched this happen. How could you do something like this?" Mr. Adolfo demanded, looking angry at his daughter.

Miguel had no idea what Mr. Adolfo was talking about.

Annabelle was also shocked, having no idea what her father meant by what he said.

Mrs. Adolfo chimed in, "Annabelle, how could you be so careless as to allow someone like Miguel to go into the room alone to get his things?"

Mr. Adolfo nodded in agreement. "Desperate and hungry gold diggers like Miguel shouldn't be allowed in any corners of our house alone. You know how these things work. We have a lot of valuable things, and he must have stolen something to sell off and get some money, probably to feed once he leaves this house since he is penniless without us."

Annabelle gasped as if realizing her mistake of letting Miguel go alone into the room to take his things. She stepped forward towards Miguel in shock.

Miguel stood there, their words making him burn in anger. He had promised himself not to engage in any conversations with them, but he couldn't tolerate that level of disrespect.

Although they were ignorant of his wealth, he would not take such insults.

"I am not a thief," Miguel said firmly. "You have nothing valuable to me that I would want to steal and sell off. I will not entertain further insults from you or any member of your family."

"You should stay away from me and learn to focus on your new in-law," Miguel added, and Mr. Adolfo's brows raised, as he was not used to Miguel talking to him with such boldness.

"Look at the pauper who my daughter fed and clothed, saying that there is nothing valuable to him in this house. Can you even hear yourself speak? Even my daughter's earrings are worth stealing to you because they are expensive sets and can take you out of poverty," Mrs. Adolfo said, and Leonard smirked.

"You know, she's right, man..." Leonard added from where he stood behind Annabelle.

As Miguel turned to walk out, Mr. Adolfo quickly placed a call. When the person he called picked up, Miguel heard him saying to the phone, "shut the gate, don't allow anyone out."

Just before he cut the call he added, "Call the police because we have a thief in the house."

Miguel was shocked, and his brows drew together at the accusations and the fact that the police were now involved. His jaw clenched as he turned around to face the Adolfos.

"What is the meaning of this?" Miguel asked sternly, anger written all over his face.

Now he could not go out of the mansion as fast as he wanted because the gate was now sealed under Mr. Adolfo's instruction.

Annabelle walked up to Miguel, her hands linked with her fiancé's.

She smiled. "Now I know why you weren't bothered by leaving me. No wonder you were so confident. It's obvious you had a plan to get something to rely on, probably by stealing my expensive jewelry to sell off and have some money to feed or do some basic things."

Miguel clenched his teeth in anger. "There is nothing of yours in my bag. I am not a thief. You, your family, and your property, none of it has any worth to me," he said through clenched teeth.

Annabelle smiled as she saw the door being pushed open. "There's no need to try and defend yourself. The police are here already."

The police officers entered the room, their presence adding to the tension. One of them stepped forward, a stern look on his face. "We received a call about a theft. Who made the call?"

"I did," Annabelle said, "actually, my father did."

"This wretched man," she pointed at Miguel, "was alone in our house and we suspect he has stolen something valuable from me."