BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

The Torres Vera family are one of the few well-respected and conservative families in Guayaquil.

All those who knew them, felt that it was worth knowing them and having them as friends, because they are well loved among their loved ones and acquaintances.

All the men of the Torres Vera family are soldiers, marines, and policemen, as for the women, they have different professions.

The grandmother, who is María del Carmen Cedeño, is a nurse and all her children, including the women, are soldiers.

When she met José Luis Torres, she had already been divorced for two years and that was no impediment to her falling madly in love with José Luis and he with her.

Within a year, María del Carmen was pregnant and pregnant with triplets, all boys.

José Luis and Luis Arturo are living in the United States. José Luis in New York and Luis Arturo in Minnesota; instead, the younger brother, Miguel Ángel, stayed in Guayaquil.

At school, Miguel Ángel meets the woman who would be his current wife Ana Lucía Vera and with her he has four children who are: Miguel Ángel, the eldest of the brothers, José Luis, Mariana Jesús and Ana María.

They all lived in perfect harmony, without fighting; far from it, without envy and they went to church every Sunday to hear mass.

All the people who knew them knew that they were good Catholics and that they were always attentive and concerned about helping others.

Like all children, those who dreamed of studying abroad, to obtain a good degree, a good job and with an excellent salary to help their family, they were no exception; since, they wanted the same thing.

Miguel Ángel decided that he wanted to study, work, and live in Russia, because he saw that there one can prosper and be everything he has always wanted.

When it was time to leave, his family and friends went to the José Joaquín De Olmedo International Airport to say goodbye to their friend and in the middle of his farewell, they could not help crying but, they knew that Miguel Ángel wanted to prosper and that is why they did not feel guilt for his departure.

In Russia, Miguel Ángel meets his wife, who is called María Elena and with whom he has two children, who are named after them.

José Luis, following in his brother's footsteps, decides to study, work, and live in Croatia and once he starts working, send the money he earns to his family.

When it was time to leave, the same thing happened to her brother Miguel Ángel but, they understood that it is the best thing for them to study outside the country.

In Croatia, José Luis meets who would be his wife and her name is María Isabel and with her he has four children.

Mariana Jesús, seeing the triumph of her brothers and seeing how they had progressed in such a short time and that they made their parents decide to go live with Miguel Ángel, leaving the sisters in Guayaquil, felt happy.

His two older brothers; like their parents, they felt guilty about leaving them alone.

"Relax, we will be fine, as long as we have each other, we can fight all evil," Mariana Jesús told them, trying to calm both her parents and her siblings.

They were all on a group video call and the two sisters were taking the opportunity to meet their sisters-in-law and their nephews, because that was the only way they had to get to know each other.

"If something bad happens to you, please, regardless of the time, call us, don't write to us, just call us and we'll come to your aid, okay?" said José Luis, trying to control his nerves.

"Oh, little brothers! Not that we were weak or that we do not know how to defend ourselves! They offend us a lot, "Mariana Jesús told them.

"Little sisters, you know perfectly well why we say it," said Miguel Ángel, in a serious tone.

"If you say it for Carlos Alberto and Luis Fernando, they calm down because they are not the beasts that you say they are," Ana María told her brothers, trying to calm them down.

"Hopefully we are wrong but, we know that we are telling the truth", said José Luis to his sisters, trying to control his enormous anger towards Carlos Alberto and towards Luis Fernando, in the presence of his sisters.

After that, they drastically changed the subject and talked about other topics, trying not to touch the two of them at all.

"Well, we already have to cut the communication, because it is too late. Until the next time we communicate," Miguel Ángel said.

"The same I say, see you tomorrow, family and rest," said José Luis.

A week passed, a week in which Carlos Alberto and Luis Fernando had to appear in the lives of Mariana Jesús and Ana María and that the lives of the two sisters gave a drastic and traumatic change, not only for them; but also, for all his family, who were far from Guayaquil - Ecuador.

The two sisters were on their way to the University, when in the distance they saw Carlos Alberto and Luis Fernando.

"Hello friends, how have you been?" Carlos Alberto asked, in a friendly tone.

"We are fine, and what about you? How have you been? And what has happened to their lives?" asked Mariana Jesús.

"We have just arrived from Argentina and we are looking for a good university to continue our studies," replied Carlos Alberto, who did not stop staring at Mariana Jesús.

"You are very pretty and because of your bags and your clothes, we assume that you go to university, right?" said Luis Fernando, who did not stop staring at Ana María.

"That's right, Luis Fernando, we are going to university and why didn't they ask to be transferred from the university they were in? Thus, they would save themselves this headache of searching for a university," argued Ana María, who did not stop staring at Luis Fernando.

"It's true. To be honest, we did not want to do it, because we did not want to upset anyone, "replied Luis Fernando.

"Well, come to our university and so, if you like the careers they offer and the pensum they have, stay there and study," argued Mariana Jesús, trying to calm down, although deep down she was praying that they stay in it. their university and study together with them.

"Ok, we'll go," Carlos Alberto said simply.

The four friends went directly to the university and there, they left them with the secretary, so that they could provide them with all kinds of information about the career to choose.

Both Carlos Alberto and Luis Fernando behaved spoiled, foolish, and haughty with the poor secretary, now when Mariana Jesús and Ana María left the office.

Also, they were insolent, arrogant, haughty, and not only satisfied with that; and they even terribly humiliated the secretary, even making her cry.

All the people who were near that place could not believe what they were hearing and went directly to the secretary's office.

When they got there, they saw how the poor secretary could not stop crying inconsolably and all the people who were there kicked them out and prohibited them from entering the place.

"How if we want to study in this pigsty! Not that we were doing you a favor! " Luis Fernando shouted in a degrading way.

For Carlos Alberto and Luis Fernando, that was not going to prevent Mariana Jesús and Ana María from falling into their nets, they only had to hide their beast side and be meek sheep, until they achieved their goal.

Little by little, the two friends began with their plan that both Mariana Jesús and Ana María fall madly in love with them, to have them as their employees and not as their wives.

As the weeks passed, Carlos Alberto and Luis Fernando began to gain the trust of the two sisters, with ulterior motives.

While the two sisters thought they were sincere, they spoke badly behind the two sisters' backs.

Within a year, the four of them became best friends but, they were already feeling something and that something they did not know how to explain it.

It was Christmas and as was customary, the Torres Vera family had the habit of making a long video call, to catch up on their things and to wish each other Merry Christmas.

"Hello little girls, how are you?" asked her dad, happy to see them well, healthy, and alive.

"We're fine daddy and how are you guys? We miss them a lot," said Mariana Jesús, as she began to cry.

"There are my daughters, do not cry, we are fine and for the first time in life, we are all together. The only thing missing is you, to be complete", said his mother, also sad.

"Mommy, daddy, little brothers, you are crying too," said Ana María, also crying.

"Well, my beautiful princesses, we are crying from sadness because they are not with us and from the happiness of seeing that they are well," her father said again, trying to calm himself down.

"Daddy and family, even though we are far away, we don't feel like that, because our hearts will always be united," said Ana María, with a smile on her lips.

When the conversation was more animated, they knock on the door and when they open it, the brothers of Mariana Jesús and Ana María, see who they are, and they do not like that at all.

"Damn you scum, get out of our house! They are not welcome there", shouted Michelangelo, red with the anger he had.

"If you don't leave, we will tell our little sisters, everything we know about you, which is the truth that you have hidden from her," yelled José Luis, just as annoyed as Miguel Ángel.

"Damn bastards! I have not yet been able to forget the death of Lorena, my ex-girlfriend and I know that you killed her," Miguel Ángel said again.

Faced with the screams of hatred from their brothers towards their friends, the two sisters had no choice but to tell them to leave.

When they were alone, the two sisters were freaking out, seeing how much hatred there was in their brothers' eyes towards Carlos Alberto and Luis Fernando.

"What the hell were those doing in our parents' house? They are not welcome", began Miguel Ángel.

"After what our brother lived, those slags are like nothing. It is true! You do not know anything. I will tell you the real reason why we do not want them to be near you…. " Miguel Ángel interrupted his brother so that he would not tell his sisters about that disastrous episode.

Deep down, Miguel Ángel knew that his sisters were not going to believe them, because they noticed that they had fallen in love with them.

"See you tomorrow and the only thing I'm going to say is the following: if you insist on being with them, forget about us forever," said Miguel Ángel, in a dry tone.

And closed the communication. Both Mariana Jesús and Ana María could do nothing but cry inconsolably and did not understand the reasons for the cold treatment of their family towards them, the reaction they had and why they were sharp and cold at the end of the conversation.

The following month, the two sisters heard no more from their family. There were no calls, voice mails, letters, nothing, just silence.

While their family was moving away from them, Carlos Alberto, and Luis Fernando, were getting closer to them.

The four of them were more united than before and could not help falling in love and, consequently, they were in love.

At first, everything was rosy, as if they were on their honeymoon; until the fights came and everything started to go downhill.

The first strong fight they had, they could not control themselves anymore and they beat them so hard that they left them unconscious.

Carlos Alberto and Luis Fernando, seeing that they were passed out as if unconscious, began to beat them all over their body and did not stop until they began to bleed. After that, they left calm, thinking that no one was going to help them.

Martha, Cecilia, María Magdalena, Gabriel, Román, Valeria, Bernardo, Rafael and Ana, who are the best friends of Miguel Ángel and José Luis and who are now the friends of Mariana Jesús and Ana María, went to the house of them, to see how they were, they got the worst of surprises, when they saw them on the floor, passed out and exaggeratedly beaten.

They knew that they did not go or must go through the same thing that their friends went through, because of Carlos Alberto and Luis Fernando, who decided to call their brothers, to tell them what had happened, and they sent them photos, so that see how your sisters were; after that, their friends notified the police.

Miguel Ángel and José Luis, seeing the photos of their sisters, decided not to say anything to their parents, so as not to worry them but, they decided to take the first flight to Guayaquil.

As soon as they arrived in Guayaquil, they started looking for Carlos Alberto and Luis Fernando and when they found him, they gave them a beating that they would never forget that they should never hit any woman.

After that, they were taken to the police station, where they have many charges against Carlos Alberto and Luis Fernando.

The two spent the rest of their lives in jail. Miguel Ángel and José Luis, took their sisters to live with them and to recover there.