Prelude (2) to Grand Filnale

The last few days have taken me offline due to some personal obligations. Pardon my absence, please. The phony wedding of Carmelo to Catalina did not go without its accompanying drama. Gustavo attempted to stop the wedding at the registry but Sebastian advised him to let them be. After the wedding, Carmelo eventually released the documents of ownership of the Hacienda Ranch to Sebastian, as a ransom for 'buying' Catalina from him.

The truth of how Lupe was betrayed began to seep out. It was that desperate and calculating b*tch called Jessica, who stole the Will of Lupe from her father, Don Chuco's law chamber, and conspired with Carmelo to alter the Will, so as to dispossess Sebastian, in the hope that Catalina would leave Sebastian, once he became poor. She had hoped that with the new 'inherited' wealth of Carmelo, he would buy Catalina's love.

Carmelo's elaborate honeymoon plan to go on a yacht cruise with Catalina and Adela was canceled because, Marcelo called Carmelo to warn him that Lupe was proving too tough to handle. Carmelo gave a load of money to his disappointed mother-in-law, Adela, to go on a shopping spree in order to compensate her for the mysterious cancellation of the cruise. On the first wedding night, Catalina bluntly declared that she would NEVER allow Carmelo to make love to her because she would never stop loving Sebastian (and that was exactly how it went till the end) .

She said she would rather commit suicide than allow him to make love to her. She said that, why she agreed to marry him was because she wanted Sebastian and Martina to partake of their father's inheritance which Carmelo 'legally' hijacked (Oops! what a lame and foolish excuse).

Sebastian, with the help of Don Chuco, Alvaro, his lawyer and Romero, were getting very close to unraveling the kidnappers of Lupe. Carmelo got jittery and transferred Lupe for the umpteenth time, this time, to Catalina's penthouse. (part of the divorce settlement from Sebastian). Carmelo employed two snarling and mean-looking thugs as guards to keep watch over the Penthouse's storeroom to keep watch and prevent any busybody from gaining access to Lupe. He lied to Catalina and her family that the guards were keeping watch over his 'money', kept in the storeroom for him.

Emilia was surprised to see to see her lover-boy, Marcelo, driving a new Porsche car. He told her that Carmelo just bought it for him. She began to suspect that Carmelo and Marcelo may have been the kidnappers of Lupe. Marcelo later confessed to her, (as a proof of his blind love for her), that her suspicion was correct. However, Carmelo overheard him when he (Marcelo), revealed their deep secrets to his lover-girl (Emilia). Carmelo decided he would have to get rid of both Marcelo and Emilia before they reveal his secret crime to all.

Gustavo went foul of Carmelo, and his hired thugs beat him (Gustavo) up into a pulp, a beating that made him hospitalized. Catalina was afraid and called Sebastian to tell him the trouble she was going through in the hands of a potential murderer called husband. Sebastian told her that was the price she would have to pay for marrying for money.

She hotly denied it, and declared he was the only one she truly loved, and she decided to prove it by 'giving herself' to Sebastian and showing him that she was still a virgin, even after marrying Carmelo. She agreed with him that he would be her only lover, while she was still married to Carmelo. That one-time love-making eventually led to Catalina being pregnant with the child of Sebastian. A pregnancy that later stirred up the hornets nest with controversy.

One day, Catalina discovered to her shock that Lupe was hidden in the attic of the Penthouse's storeroom, kidnapped by Carmelo. He told her all what had befallen him in the hands of Carmelo and Marcelo. Catalina took a dare-devil risk by releasing him through opening the door. She later pretended that she did not know that Lupe was kidnapped, hidden or has escaped. (since nobody confided in her, in the first place). She later made a desperate call to Sebastian to tell him that Lupe has been found and was kidnapped by Carmelo.

The inevitable death of Emilia was tragic. She was caught in the crossfires between former allies- Carmelo and Marcelo. After the escape of Lupe, the two traded blames for their respective carelessness. Carmelo made up his mind to kill Marcelo to erase every living witness of his heinous crimes against Lupe and family. Emilia and Marcelo planned to run away from Mexico.

Marcelo also planned to kill his business partner, Carmelo. He planted a bomb in the ignition of Carmelo's car. Unfortunately for him, it was his lover, Emilia who snatched the car for her own escapade. But Escape she did, but to hell. As she turned the ignition, she exploded with the car into smithereens. Carmelo knew that Emilia took his place in the death that Marcelo planned for him. A perilous war broke out between Carmelo and Marcelo, something, or somebody must go for the other, but who? What became of Lupe, Sebastian, Catalina? The next prelude would determine that.