Caray, Caray!

After Acacia tells the grandparents and Cris about the police going to the Association to question Esteban, Cris goes into the home office to speak to him and finds him writing a check from her/the hacienda’s checkbook. She takes the check from him, sees it’s a large amount, and asks what the deal is. He says it’s for his hotel bill (true). And that he needed to use the hacienda checkbook because his checkbook and credit cards were stolen (lie). He says he likely lost them in the restaurant where they reconciled, but he was so caught up with her that he didn’t notice. Cris buys it. Cris asks about the police and he tells her someone is trying to defame Dan, but glosses over giving her the details. Cris decides to continue with their 100% honesty policy and tells Este she called up Hector to meet with him to tell him about the reconciliation, and to create some distance between her and Hector. Esteban gives his permission for Cris to continue her friendship with Hector and to even do her art show with him. Cris thanks him, but she insists that she should work with someone else on her photo show. Este thanks her for being so considerate of his feelings. Smooches, happy smiles from Cris, and creepy behind the back looks from Esteban.

Meanwhile, in the living room, the grandparents don’t approve of Acacia badmouthing Esteban, if she’s not going to back it up with some real reasons and evidence. She of course does not do this, since it would implicate her backstabbing self. Elena asks if Acacia doesn’t want to see her mother happy? She has no answer for that. Later, Cris and Este tell her the real reason the police spoke to Este. Acacia clearly doesn’t care. She’s just looking for any reason to drive a wedge between Este and Cris, and it’s not working. She leaves in a huff. Cris is worried and perplexed.

Danilo brings Ale home from the notary, after putting his properties in her name. He’s ready to lock her up again, but before that they argue. He’s keeping her under double lock and key for her disobedience. He also says he will be delayed in becoming the legitimate businessman she desires, because of this drug bust. Ale doesn’t understand why he needed to get German mixed up in all this by accusing him. She points out that German has moved on and is marrying Lizzy. This makes Dan happy, but so does making German’s life hell, so he suggests they send them a wedding present and even show up at the wedding. Ale is not amused and doesn’t get what it will take for him to leave German alone. Dan’s answer—for Ale to love HIM like she loves German. (In other words, when Hell freezes over.) Perla comes up and starts kissing all over Dan, demonstrating the kind of love, affection, and devotion Dan wants from Ale. He allows Ale to go see Estrella for a while before being locked up. Dan and Perla knock back tequila shots in his office as he makes plans to hire some new henchmen—guys like Memo who would do anything for money. Perla nearly slips up by saying Memo IS one of a kind, and has to quickly correct herself and use the past tense. Dan admits that he no longer thinks Ale was the one who tipped off the cops, but he still doesn’t trust her and wants to keep the pressure on her, just to keep her in line. Upstairs, Estrella looks at a torn photo of her family, and quickly hugs Ale when she comes into the room. Ale cries and tells Estrella of her love who is getting married and is lost to her forever.

The police come looking for German at Benavente and question him about the false accusations against Dan. German has NO idea what they are talking about and makes clear he wants nothing to do with Dan or Ale. Ulises calls him right after the police leave, and he goes to meet Uli in his office to talk about it. Once there, Uli decides it’s time to tell German about Ale and why she married Danilo. German refuses to listen. He doesn’t want to know anything more about Ale, AND he’s marrying Lizzy. Uli is shocked to hear this, but respects German’s decision, even though he shakes his head at the ironic turn of events.

Rubio visits Luisa and brings her a much appreciated chocolate bar. He tells her that Esteban did not take away his position or lower his salary. Luisa is glad for him, although she’s always thought he was pretty lazy with his work. But she acknowledges that he’s done pretty well by staying on the straight and narrow path, unlike his brother and cousin. Rubio wants to know, if he continues to be an honorable man and make more money, if she will marry him. Luisa laughs it off and asks him not to complicate her life more than it already is. He wonders what she means, and she says she’s just thinking about the stupid decisions she’s made.

Cris meets Hector at the restaurant. He already knows something is wrong—when a woman says “we need to talk”, it’s not good. Cris tells him she’s gotten back together with Esteban. Since she knows that Hector wants more than a friendship with her, she thinks it’s unfair to continue to give him false hopes. And since Este is so jealous of him, it would be best if they put distance between them. Hector bows out and says he will distance himself. But his last advice to Cris is that she dig deeper and find out why Acacia is so against the reconciliation—for the good of her daughter and for her own peace of mind. Cris thanks him for his concern and care for her and her daughter. He kisses Cris’ hand, and looks like he wants to say something else, but changes his mind, before leaving.

Esteban traps Acacia in the office as she’s looking at a pic of the two of them together. Esteban can’t believe she thought he had done something criminal and is looking for money, when she knows his new business will be making him a ton of money soon. She thinks his recent actions show that he neither loves her, nor Cris. He says some blah blah about his feelings for her, and that he only came back because Cris called him and BEGGED him to come back. She was desperate. What could he do? Acacia seems to buy it.

Dan offers Rubio the job as his new #1 Henchman. Rubio will have the three things he loves most—money, power, and tequila. Dan even taunts him with the fact that Este is back as top dog at Benavente. He’s offering him triple his Benavente salary. Rubio turns him down! He doesn’t want to leave Benavente, and above all, he doesn’t want to leave Luisa. Just as Dan can’t live without Ale, he can’t live without Luisa. Disappointed Dan dismisses him.

Cris tells Este how things went with Hector. He’s so happy, he even offers to help her find a new art expo location. Cris wants to speak to Acacia to figure out what’s going on with her. Este discourages her, says he already spoke to Acacia, and that she’s just mad that he left Cris when she was in crisis. Cris wants Acacia to understand that SHE was the one who asked him to leave.

German asks Norb to tell Dan to get off his back—he’s no longer interested in Ale. Norb agrees to do it, and expresses his happiness and pride in German for marrying the woman he loves, and earning his living on his own. He offers the hacienda for the wedding, and says he’ll make sure Juli doesn’t do anything crazy. He tells German he wishes he had raised Manuel the way he raised German (I’m guessing without the child abuse part), because German is a real man.

Hector and Acacia meet. He tells her he’s bowing out. He asks why she’s so opposed to Esteban. Once again she uses the excuse of him leaving when Cris needed him most. Hector asks if there is anything else. Acacia says that Este has changed, but doesn’t go into details. She says Cris is blinded by love. Acacia wishes Cris returned Hector’s feelings, and says Hector has been like a father to her. Hector knows you can’t make someone feel something they don’t. He wishes Cris all the best. Hector and Acacia hug their goodbyes.

Manuel speaks to German about his upcoming nuptials and wants to organize the bachelor party. German puts the kibosh on that. He’s happy to hear that Manuel has actually been putting some effort into his work at the Association. Manuel thinks he will work even harder once his store/business is ready. (Little does he know that Mommy Dearest has stolen his business and the cash associated with it.) Manuel then asks about Luisa and her health—he’s worried it’s complications from the abortion. German tells him he should have thought of that before he sent her to get one. In any case, it’s just exhaustion and she’s doing fine. Manuel still wants him to double check. German is pleased Manuel is showing genuine concern. Manuel jokes that it’s because he’s a good person.

Uli and Art talk about the recent Danilo-Ale-German drama. Art tells Uli he needs some more support and Uli agrees. He thinks it’s time to tell Hector.

Later, Art visits with Luisa. They have a catering gig that weekend, and he’ll have to hire someone to help him. It will mean less profit for them, however. Rosa offers to help Art. Luisa doesn’t want her working harder than she already does, but Rosa says they (she, Luisa, AND Art) are family, and that’s what family does for each other. Rosa is no longer mad at Luisa. She’s excited about her great grandchild and tells Luisa that she loves her. She caresses Luisa’s face and baby bump, and kisses her hand. Art looks on, smiling.

Acacia goes to see Alejandra, and Perla thankfully leaves them alone. Acacia admits that the entire time Esteban was out of the house he courted her, they spent time together, they kissed, he told her he loved her, and they acted like novios. Ale’s mouth is hanging open in shock. Now he’s returned to Cris, and Acacia feels awful and needs to leave that house! Ale wants to know what she feels awful for—the BETRAYAL of her mother or JEALOUSY of her mother? Acacia continues to cry about how bad she feels.

Ale: Acacia, tell me the truth. Do you love (querer) Esteban?
Ac: We both know that that cannot be.
Ale: Yeah, yeah. But that’s not what I asked you. I asked you what you feel.

Acacia continues to say she doesn’t know what she feels. All she knows is that she can’t stand seeing them together. Ale’s eyes grow even wider with a knowing look. Ale knows how love is—as much as she tried not to fall in love, she did anyway. Acacia thinks she’s speaking about Danilo, and Ale rolls her eyes. Acacia doesn’t notice. Ale points out that her circumstances are different than Acacia's. She asks Acacia if she thinks Esteban really loves Cris. Acacia doesn’t know, and doesn’t know how she can open Cris’ eyes without telling her the truth. Dan comes into the living room and interrupts the confessional. He lies and says Ale needs to get dressed to accompany him to a business meeting, in order to get rid of Acacia. Acacia asks if the meeting is related to the biz he’s doing with Esteban, and he informs her of his money loses which have delayed his investment. After she leaves, Dan wants the scoop, but Ale gives him nothing. He sends her back to her bedroom-prison, despite Perla vouching that she’s keeping an eye on her in the living room.

Katia tells Ulises that Hector’s gone to Italy to spend time with his son, and to disconnect for a while. He has no fixed return date. He left power of attorney with Katia to make business decisions. That’s not what Uli was concerned about, but he does ask Katia to take care of getting Juli back her money because he wants no more problems with that woman.

Perla babysits stir-crazy Ale in the bedroom-prison, and tells her that Dan doesn’t believe she was the snitch. He’s just trying to control her. Now that the blinders have fallen from her eyes, Perla sees how he operates, and she’s even tired of having to be amorous with him. Ale points out that this is how true love changes your outlook. Perla is all smiles.

Acacia storms into the home office, where Cris and Este are working. She’s just heard from Manuel that Este asked Don Fermin for a loan, AND that his business deal with Dan fell through for lack of funds. Now she knows why he came back to Cris. For money!

Julianita catches Perla hovering over her phone waiting for a call from Memo. She warns Perla to erase the call log so that Dan doesn’t see the recent calls from Memo. Then she mentions how her own phone has been erasing her call log all on its own. Hmmmm….. In any case, she tells Perla the good news from Uli--that she can have the original location she wanted. Yay! “Wait, you didn’t let him see Ale alone, did you?” J-nita is saved from answering when Perla gets a call from Memo.

Esteban tells Acacia that he already told Cris about Dan’s investment falling through, and that the loan he asked Don Fermin for was to cover some credit card debts he had that couldn’t immediately be covered. Este and Acacia start yelling in each other’s faces—she, that she doesn’t believe him; he, that it’s the truth! Cris tries to get them to calm down, and asks Esteban to leave the office so that she can speak to Acacia alone. Once alone with Acacia, Cris demands to know what the heck is really going on.

Norb goes to see Dan to demand that he leave his son alone. Dan agrees. He tells Norb that the police questioning didn’t lead to anything, the brothel is still up and running and J-nita is ready and waiting for him when he wants.

Acacia tells Cris that Este didn’t come back for Cris but because he wanted money. Cris tells her to give her the proof. Acacia says she doesn’t have any proof—she just KNOWS she’s right. Cris says that Esteban already explained to her what happened with the textile business, and she’s decided to invest in the business. Acacia is completely impactada. Cris says she trusts blindly in his business advice. She has no reason to doubt him. Not even one cent went missing when he was administrator of the hacienda.

A: I can’t believe that you have more trust in him than in me!
C: Please, Acacia. You’re not a child anymore. It’s not fair that you make me choose between Esteban and you. If you have something to tell me, do it! Without beating around the bush!

She’s greeted with silence from Acacia.
C: That’s what I thought. And frankly, your attitude hurts me.

Uli is telling Art on the phone that Hector is traveling to Europe and he won’t be able to contact him until tomorrow. But he needs to speak to Alejandra. Perla walks in just in time to hear this last part and wants to know why Uli wants to speak to Ale. He tries to cover and says she’s the one he’s been trying to speak with. He wants to know if she wants her money back, or does she want her store in the original location- A2? Manuel walks in just in time to hear this and is ticked off that Uli is once again defrauding them and selling them the same space. He attacks Uli, and Uli has to quickly explain that his mom sold his space and took the money.

The mother-daughter discussion continues.

C: I am warning you that you can no longer be rude to me or Esteban.
A: I’m trying to open your eyes, Mama.
C: Enough, Acacia! It hurts me that you have changed like this. If you can’t get along with Esteban, that’s your problem. But don’t bring false accusations against him. At least be polite.
A: But, Mama…
C: Enough! It hurts me so much that you don’t understand me. That all my attempts to get you both to get along have failed. I don’t like for people to lie to me, especially you. And if you have something to tell me, tell me already! Tell me the truth!
A: I’m going to demonstrate to you that Esteban doesn’t love you anymore! That he is no longer interested in you as a wife, nor as a woman!
C: (SLAP!) Enough! As long as you don’t have any proof that Esteban is betraying me with another woman, keep your comments to yourself!

Avances: Acacia lays a HOT kiss on Esteban.