The entire room froze.
Don Diego stood so fast his chair scraped against the marble like a growl. "What nonsense is this?! Sit down, María José!"
She didn’t.
"Explain yourself now," he barked at her, but she didn’t recoil.
Yes, that’s the defiance I was rooting for.
Hugo was howling in my head: "Save us, momma! Save us from this witch!"
"I cannot support this union because Rosa doesn’t love Axel. Because she’s using him. Because she doesn’t deserve to bond with anyone, especially not soone as good as him." She declared, chin raised high.
Boom.
Shock ricocheted through the hall like an earthquake. Soone dropped their champagne
The air in the grand hall thickened, every breath laden with anticipation and the faint scent of roses wilting under the weight of deceit. My heart pounded, not from love or joy, but from the impending storm that María José had just unleashed.
Rosa’s face instantly turned ugly. Bet she hadn’t expected her "useless" little sister to grow enough balls to uncover her secret.
She stepped forward, shilling in a crescendo that burst through the silence.
"You will pay dearly for this, María José!" she scread, her eyes blazing with fury. "How dare you try to ruin my wedding and cause such a scene?"
María José stood her ground, unflinching. I really wanted to go over there, hold her arms, and do this with her, but we had a plan.
"You’re hilarious, Rosa," she retorted. "Playing the innocent bride when you’re nothing but a manipulative liar. Trying to push a bastard child onto Axel? That’s low, even for you. And mamá? What did you do to her?"
Gasps rippled through the crowd like a wave crashing against the shore. María José’s last question was a huge blow no one was prepared for.
Don Diego’s face turned a shade of crimson that rivaled the red carpet beneath our feet. He pointed a trembling finger at María José, his voice thunderous.
"You insolent girl! You will regret disgracing today!"
María José turned to him, eyes retaining the sa fire with which she had been speaking. Right now, it seed as though she had tapped into her inner Katniss Everdeen.
"Maybe if you weren’t so busy polishing your reputation, you’d have noticed the monster Rosa has beco. But you were too blind, too corrupt and too proud to see the truth, Don Diego!" She snapped back at him, eting his gaze head-on.
She held up the leather-bound journal that I had co to recognize too well.
"This," she announced, "is Rosa’s journal. Inside are years of her twisted thoughts and sches. She’s a psychopath who needs to be stopped. And that baby she’s carrying? Like I said, it’s not Axel’s. It’s her secret lover’s—a witch she’s been seeing behind everyone’s back."
The room erupted into chaos. So guests stood, others sat in stunned silence. The neighboring Alphas exchanged wary glances, their expressions filled with shock and intrigue.
Rosa’s eyes widened as she recognized the journal. She reached out for it, wanting to yank it off of María José before rembering herself.
"She’s lying! That journal is fake. She’s always been jealous of , always wanted what I have. She’s delusional!"
She turned to the crowd, her voice rising in desperation.
"You all know María José has always had a childish crush on Axel. She even fought over him when he chose . She’s just bitter because she lost."
Rosa went on like a faucet that had finally burst under pressure. "She’s jealous because I’m the one Axel chose! She couldn’t take it when he ca to . When he made love to . She was outside the door, begging him not to stay! Crying like a pathetic puppy!"
Camilla so readily supported Rosa. "That’s true! I am a witness to that."
Don Diego stepped forward. "Enough! María José, you are no longer a De la Vega because of your shaless act that sa day. I didn’t expect you to get even worse. Leave now, or face the consequences."
María José stood tall, gritting her teeth. "I won’t be silenced anymore. The truth needs to co out."
I stepped forward, placing myself between the two sisters.
"That’s enough," I said, my voice firm. "This charade ends now."
The room fell silent, all eyes on .
"I won’t marry soone who lies and manipulates.
Beside , Rosa’s fingers dug into her bouquet like she was about to stab soone with the roses. She spun toward her sister, face twisted in rage beneath her veil.
"You will pay for this," she hissed. "You’ve ruined everything. You’ve ruined my day!"
María José raised an eyebrow like Rosa was a toddler throwing a tantrum in a tiara.
"Ruin it? You’ve already ruined everything, Rosa. You’ve just been pretending like your life isn’t a dumpster fire in a silk wrapper." Her voice was as sweet as venom. "It’s honestly funny, you standing there trying to play innocent when you’re carrying soone else’s bastard and trying to pass it off as Axel’s."
Cue the apocalypse.
I swear I heard a few people gasp in Latin. Soone dropped their monocle—I didn’t even know people still wore those.
Don Diego let out a sound that was sowhere between a bark and a roar. "What did you just say?!"
"That baby," María José repeated, holding her ground, voice rising over the murmurs. "Is not Axel’s. It belongs to her secret lover. A witch."
Chaos was now on the buffet table.
So guests stood, others looked at one another like they couldn’t decide whether this was real or a reality show they forgot to DVR. One Alpha spat out his wine. I was sure I heard soone say, "Bruja?!" like it was a slur.
"María José!" Don Diego bellowed. "You will regret this day. You disgrace our family na!"
She turned to face him with the kind of cold that burns. "Maybe if you weren’t so obsessed with salvaging your own reputation, you’d have noticed your daughter was a snake. Or maybe if you spent less ti shaking hands with criminals and more ti raising your children, Rosa wouldn’t have turned out to be a manipulative lunatic."
Hugo was practically wagging his tail. "That’s our girl," he whispered. "Damn, she’s scary hot when she’s righteous."
Soone muttered, "If it’s true..." while another whispered, "That baby isn’t Axel’s?"
Rosa began to tremble.
Not from fear but from fury.
I looked at her. At everyone. Then at María José. Who stared back at with this calm, devastating focus. We’d rehearsed for this. We knew Rosa would lash out like a cornered rat.
And the crowd? They were turning.
You could feel it—like wind changing direction. The way so Alphas furrowed their brows. The way mothers covered their daughters’ ears.
Rosa wasn’t done.
"She was disowned because she tried to ruin ! She’s not even a De la Vega anymore! She’s nothing! Just a jealous, lonely little—"
"Still prettier than you," María José muttered.
Rosa blinked. "What?"
"I said," María José repeated louder, "still prettier than you. And smarter. And stronger. And unlike you, I don’t have to trap a man with a fake pregnancy to feel important."
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