Daylight

Chapter 48: A mother's song

Clara Jauregui was a woman with few regrets, but the ones she had, weighed the same as their millions.

The first was to accept the imposition of her family to marry Michael Jauregui, the man was powerful, rich, handsome, and single and that was a recipe for disaster. As it went, the first year of marriage, Clara was in love with her husband while he was in love with his whores and his company, mostly in that order.

For a long time, she pretended she didn't understand why her husband was arriving so late or why he didn't seem very interested in her presence. His temper's also not the best and Clara had too much self-preservation instinct to challenge his attitudes.

Her second regret was to accept Michael his bastard inside her house, from the day the small boy showed up she'd been jealous. Suddenly Michael was not so busy anymore, he always had time for some whore's son.

That same week Clara stopped taking her medication. If he treated the bastard son like that, Clara would give him a legitimate son who'd follow his legacy and he would finally love her.

Of all her mistakes, Lauren was not one of them.

She loved her daughter from her first kick and her love was so great that the woman no longer cared whether Michael would want to be with her or not. Everything important was inside her belly.

Her third regret was that she let her daughter grow up believing that her brother loved her because Clara knew the truth, she knew that Chris was just a snake in disguise ready to pounce on his sister at the first opportunity.

Her fourth regret was going to a medical conference and meeting Roberto. Clara was emotionally worn out, unwanted, and betrayed by her husband. Humiliated inside her own home.

Suddenly a younger man's attention made her feel alive, just for a second. He offered her everything - and he was willing to give everything - he was willing to love Lauren as his daughter, to love Clara as his wife. It didn't take long before he offered to run away together.

Clara accepted without thinking twice, it was her dream to get Lauren out of that nest of snakes and take the girl far away, where the evil of the Jaureguis couldn't find her.

Michael, though, had all the evidence, all the photos.
He knew everything, he wanted it to happen so he could use it to have Clara in his hands. And she was in his hands since her daughter's custody depended on it.

Clara wasn't going to get on that plane and she kept saying that to herself, she wasn't going to get on without Lauren but just thinking about going back to her prison at Jauregui's mansion made her jump in nausea. What could she do?

Michael had given her two options, to be with Lauren - as he swore he would take her anyway - or to go without Lauren. Either way, she'd be without her daughter.

She thought she could at least be free.

It was her fifth - and biggest - regret.
Clara goes to sleep haunted every night, wanting to go back in time and scream to herself: FIGHT FOR YOUR DAUGHTER.
She got on the plane and today she has nightmares with the look of betrayal that little Lauren had given her at the airport.

The weight of age brought her wisdom, she knew she'd have fought Michael but at the time she was scared, without money, without any kind of power.
What could she do?

She would've stayed if she could go back in time.

On second thought, maybe Clara has more regrets than she'd like to have.

"Mrs Jauregui?" Demi, one of the former employees of the Jauregui mansion, opened the door to her daughter's house "What are you doing here?"

"Demi, I'm waiting for her" Lauren called from inside the hall "You can let her in"