It’s ti to drop the bombshell on María José. Hell, I can only hope that she has the vigor to handle it. Or at least, find it... sowhere. Sohow.
I watched her closely as I sat beside her, feeling like my tongue was curling in on itself at the realization of what I was about to do. María José had been quiet, so quiet, ever since we had kissed.
I didn’t want to tell her. I really didn’t. But it was ti. She needed to know. She deserved to know. So I gathered the courage and decided to tell her.
I had also made a vow to myself not to hide things from her. I’ll trust in her abilities and that she could handle things too.
"María José..." I started, and though my voice was low and steady, my heart already pounding harder than it had any business doing.
She glanced up at , her lips slightly parted. I could see that expectancy in her widened eyes. She could feel sothing was coming, but I didn’t think she could have prepared herself for what was about to hit her.
"Rosa’s pregnant," I blurted out, letting the words sink in like a stone.
The silence that followed was suffocating. Her face froze. Her hands twitched, and for a mont, she couldn’t speak. Her lips quivered as though her mind couldn’t catch up to what I had just said.
"Wait—what?" she finally whispered, her voice cracking. "Rosa?" Her eyes searched my face, as though looking for a sign that I was joking.
But I wasn’t. I would never joke about sothing like this.
"But... that ans..." Her voice trailed off, and the shock hit her all at once.
I watched in silence as her hands trembled in her lap. Her knees pulled closer to her chest, and the small sob that escaped her lips hit like a punch to the gut.
María José was crying. I wasn’t ready for this reaction. Hell, I wasn’t ready for any of this. I had expected confusion, maybe anger—but not this. Not the raw, vulnerable pain that radiated from her like a fire that I couldn’t put out.
"María José," I said urgently, reaching for her, but she pulled back, tears streaming down her face. I wasn’t prepared for her to cry—this was not what I had expected. "Hey, hey, co on, don’t do this. What’s wrong?"
Her hands covered her face, and I could see her shoulders shaking. "This... this ruins everything, Axel," she whispered, and I felt her words slice into like a blade.
She didn’t look at ; she stared at the floor as though the weight of her thoughts had completely paralyzed her. "If Rosa’s pregnant... that ans you have to marry her. Even if you didn’t sleep with her, no one would believe it wasn’t you. We have no proof to convince them otherwise.
I felt the blood drain from my face. "What?" The words didn’t even register for a mont, and I found myself gripping the edge of the couch. "No, María José. No. You don’t..."
She shook her head, cutting off before I could finish. "You have to marry her. Because... because there’s no way for anyone to know you didn’t sleep with her. No one will believe you." Her sobs were soft but desperate, and I couldn’t bear it.
I moved to sit closer, wrapping my arm around her trembling shoulders. I tried to comfort her, but nothing I did seed to stop the flood of emotion. My heart ached for her, for the pain I knew she was feeling. She was strong, but this—this was too much.
"Listen to , María José," I said firmly.
It was increasingly becoming hard to keep my voice steady despite the storm in my chest. "You cannot let this shake you. We can’t let this ruin what we’re building. You hear ? It changes nothing. It doesn’t change us. We’re still going to expose him. We’re still going to find the witch. He’s the one who’s been manipulating all of this, and he’s the one who will pay for it. I swear it."
She lifted her head, eyes red and still brimming with tears, but her gaze found mine. There was hesitation, and uncertainty, but beneath it, I saw sothing else—sothing stronger. She was listening.
"You’re right," I continued, brushing a hand through my hair and I got lost in the lushness of it for a while before I went on.
"Rosa’s pregnant, but I’m not the father. That hasn’t changed. We just need to keep pushing forward. We need to work harder, fight harder, and take that bastard down. This doesn’t change our plan. It can’t."
She was quiet, her chest rising and falling rapidly as though she was still trying to catch her breath. After a long and tense mont, she nodded. "Okay. But what now? What’s your plan?"
I leaned back, letting out a sigh. I wasn’t sure she was ready for what I had to tell her next. But she needed to know. She deserved to know.
"I already started," I said slowly, my eyes on her as I watched her try to piece herself back together. "I’ve been working on sothing. And it’s risky, but it’s the only way we’re going to make this work."
She furrowed her brow, the confusion back in her eyes. "What do you an? What are you talking about?"
I took a deep breath, letting the words settle in my chest before speaking. "Luis. The cousin I told you about? I went back there."
Her eyes widened, and she shot to her feet. "What? You went back there again? After what happened to you?" She was moving toward , her hands clenched in fists as if she might physically strike for the information. "What are you doing? You— Axel, why?"
Aww... my pretty flower’s all grown up now. Look at her, worrying so much like she was the mother I never knew I had.
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