CLAIMED BY THE HEARTLESS HEARTBREAKER

Rosevale was always supposed to be my forever.

How could it not be? It gave me everything.

The endless land, the peace, the kind of quiet beauty that made you believe the world still had good left in it. But it wasn't the mango trees or the winding river that made me stay.

It was Mama Celeste.

After my parents died, she took me in. No adoption papers. No long explanations. Just love. Real, unconditional love.

She raised me like her own.

Rosevale, with its vast fields, fruit plantations, and the towering mansion...Villa del Rosario, became my sanctuary.

Mama Celeste gave me everything. A home. A future. A reason to breathe again. Private tutors. Clothes I never imagined wearing. Jewelry that sparkled like promises. Even a monthly allowance most girls in Santa Rosalía could only dream about.

But none of that compared to the one thing I wanted most.

Elias.

Her only son. The promise she made without saying the words.

Mama Celeste once told me his name meant "Yahweh is God." But to me, he meant something entirely different.

He was the king of my heart.

From the first moment I saw him at Rosevale, I knew. There was something about Elias. Something impossible to ignore.

And maybe... I never wanted to.

I was eight. He was thirteen.

Even back then, I knew. Not what love was not really, but I knew I wanted to be near him.

Elias.

Tall. Quiet. Unreachable.

Everyone admired him. Girls tried too hard. Boys followed him like shadows. But he never let anyone in.

Especially not me.

He was the kind of boy who didn't need to talk to be noticed. He walked through town like he already knew the rest of us didn't matter. And maybe to him, we didn't.

But I watched. Every day.

I watched the way he disappeared into the Whispering Grove after school. No one followed him there, no one dared. Except me. I used to sneak behind him, hide behind trees, just to watch him draw.

Yes, Elias was an artist. Of course he was. As if being beautiful wasn't enough.

He had this stillness when he sketched, like nothing else existed. And in that stillness, I fell harder.

He never looked at me. Not really.

Sometimes he'd catch me watching and say one word.."leave". Just like that. No emotion. No softness. He wanted me gone.

And I went. Every time.

But my heart? It stayed with him.

So I built my own secret place... a clearing near the lagoon by the Del Cielo River. That was where I went when the ache got too loud.

It was quiet there. Peaceful. Mine.

I'd lie on a blanket and make up stories. All of them ended the same: he saw me. He chose me. We were something.

Of course, none of that was real.

Then came my fourteenth birthday.

He was leaving for university in a week. I knew it. Everyone did. I tried to act like it didn't matter. But that morning, I couldn't fake it anymore. I went to the lagoon, curled up on my blanket, and stared at the sky.

I must've drifted off.

And then footsteps.

I opened my eyes.

He was there. Standing over me.

Tall. Serious. Nineteen now. His eyes locked on mine.

And for the first time...

He didn't look through me.

He looked at me.

"So....this is what you've been up to, Princess," he said, his voice low but i could hear the sarcasm as he said the word 'Princess.'

"W-what?" I blinked up at him.

"While everyone's busy setting up your party, you're here, pretending you're royalty. How charming," he said with a smirk.

A wave of guilt washed over me. He was right. Everyone back at the villa was busy , getting everything ready for my birthday party, and here I was, hiding.

I sat up, brushing the dried leaves from my skirt. Just as I was about to stand, he grabbed my elbow

"Where are you going?"

"T-to the villa..."

"No need." He pushed me gently back down to the blanket and knelt across from me.

Still kneeling but he bent his legs so that his buttocks touch his heels, His eyes were unreadable, he looked around....at the trees, the lagoon, the flowers, the sky.

"You know," he said after a pause, "I'm just glad I'm finally leaving this place."

"What?" I blinked. "But Rosevale is your home."

He leaned forward, and suddenly, his face was so close to mine..I was so happy, his breath so fresh giving off a minty scent...I was finding it so difficult to breathe. I just wanted to be in that position with him forever........

"I'm happy because I won't have to see your face anymore," he said flatly.

His eyes pierced mine. The pain in my chest was instant.

"W-why do you hate me?" I said, as tears started rolling down my eyes.

He inhaled and exhaled sharply as if he was catching some air...his fresh breath brushing against my cheek.

"Because I'll never accept you as my sister. You'll never replace Arielle."

Arielle. His younger sister. She had passed away the year before I came. She and Elias had been inseparable, both prodigies with a paintbrush. She had died of leukemia, and Mama Celeste told me it broke something in him.

I never wanted to replace her.

"W-what do you mean?" I asked, still stunned.

He stood abruptly and stared out at the water.

"I overheard Mom this morning. She's planning to adopt you legally. Her lawyer's bringing the papers tonight. Don't you get it, Liana? I can't let you become my sister."

"Talk to mom!!!!" He said angrily as he turned and left, before I could even say anything in my defense.....

I didn't know about the adoption plan. But I knew one thing for sure, I don't want to him as my brother!

I could never forget that day, because it was the longest he had ever talk to me since I started staying in Rosevale....And that was also that was the day I did the craziest thing in my life, yes for Love.....

As I got back to the ma that afternoon, I searched for Mama Celeste to talk about the adoption, I found her in the study room. I quickly asked her about the adoption and she didn't deny it...

But she was upset with the fact that I already know about the news, she wanted it to come in as a surprise later in the evening of my fourteenth birthday party.

"Mom, you can't adopt me, I don't want to become your daughter, Elias's sister," I uttered without thinking, or minding mama Celeste words.

She was amazed, as she lifts my head gently back up observing my expression. "Don't you like for me to be your mom?" She asked

"No mom, I love you mom, I can't even imagine my life right now without you in it."

"Then why can't I adopt you as my daughter legally?"

"Mom b-because..."

"Because what?"

"Because.....Mom because Elias can't be my brother"

She stared at me with a confused expression. "Elias can be a hard nut to crack but he isn't bad. He will be a good brother.

"I love him, Not as a brother. As someone I want to marry." I blurted

She stared at me like I have gone mad. But I meant every word. And slowly, her disbelief faded into a stunned smile.

"That's what you truly want?"

I nodded.

"Then so be it. You'll marry my Elias," she said brightly. "Let's announce it tonight!"

That night, in front of all our guests, she declared that I, Liana Celina Ruiz would one day become the wife of her son, Elias Joaquin Saavedra Rosario.

Engaged at fourteen. What could I say?

Elias had been completely blindsided. His expression was pure loathing as he stared at me across the ballroom.

He left before the party ended. I followed him outside like a fool.

"You'll never win this, Liana," he said coldly before walking off into the night.

The next day, he was gone. He went to the capital. I'm sure he was so angry at mom and me that he didn't even wait until the next week to leave.

And he never returned.

But maybe it made sense.

Maybe that life, the one far away from me... was the life he always wanted.

Not that Christmas. Not the next summer. Not the one after that. Every birthday, every holiday, I waited.

Mama Celeste said he was busy with his studies in Business Administration. I wondered why he didn't choose Fine Arts.

I ask mom why he didn't choose Fine arts, but she said that Elias being the only heir to the Rosario Empire, he had no choice. He would take over the family businesses, so he had to focus on taking a course that will help guide him on how to manage the business.

Also mom assure me that since she had already engaged Elias to me, he had no option but to marry me in the future.

You see Mama Celeste was that kind of person, she is willing do anything and everything for my sake. I was being selfish, very selfish. And at that time, I didn't care.

But during my seventeenth birthday, I received a very nice surprise, so should I say a very nice gift. I didn't know if I deserved it, considering I was regarded as a spoiled, selfish brat. Anyways I appreciated God greatly for this gift.

I went to my favorite spot at the lagoon to take my afternoon nap. Mama Celeste wanted to host a big birthday party for me but I told her that I don't like birthday parties anymore. I stop celebrating my birthdays with big parties after Elias walked out from my party three years ago. Also it was summertime, and all my friends in school has gone on vacation, so it was necessary to host a big party.

So I just promised mom to eat with her in the evening......just a private dinner like how we have been doing for the past three years.

Having dinner with mom was more than enough for me. She understood and we both kind of agreed to celebrate my birthday that way.

So since there was no birthday party arrangements for me to worry about, I decided to have a some nap at the lagoon. By the time I woke up, it was already dark I hurriedly packed up my blanket and other stuffs I came out with and put it inside the basket. By now mama Celeste was already waiting for me for the dinner.

I pick up my basket and I ran towards the narrow rough pathway leading to the cemented pavement that headed towards the House. It was so muddy out there on that rough path that I tripped on a rock by the wayside. Which caused me to lose my balance and eventually I fall down on the ground.

It was at that time when Jackson, a boy of my age seventeen and also a son of one of the house keepers, passed by riding on his bike.

He stop as he quickly pulled me up from the ground.

"Hey, are you hurt?" he asked with much concern in his voice.

I didn't feel much hurt in my body except for the slight scratch in my right ankle.

"I'm alright. Thank you," I said while trying to dust off the sand on my body and also find my basket on the ground.

I was always not comfortable being with Jackson since I learned from some of the house helpers that he had a crush on me. Umm...yeah he was, attractive and good-looking but he was not my kind of guy. Everyone in Rosevale, knew that I was to marry the Young Lord in the future.

When he handed my basket to me, he offered me a ride to the house.

"No thanks..." I said with the gawky feeling of being with a boy alone in the dark wayside.

Assertively, he took my arm so I could sit on the rear seat of the bicycle.

That was a very awkward scenario, Jackson holding my arm, as an unfamiliar car passed us by. Plus the fact that it was already dark, the car had also dark tinted glasses that I could not see who was inside.

Who could be visiting mom at this time? Was mom expecting a visitor? Was it someone who would join for dinner?

The car reached the house gate, it paused for a while. I wondered why it stopped so, leaving Jackson behind, I ran after it to ask the driver what could be the problem. I had this feeling that it was a visitor who got a problem with his/her car.

When I almost reached that car, the driver started the engine and headed its way to the house.

I got to the house around 7:55pm, and I saw that strange car again, now parked in the garage. Who could it belong to?

Who could be visiting Mama at this late hour, especially today being my birthday? What could be the reason for this ungodly visit?...I murmured to myself as I felt my heart racing.

I needed to find out.