That morning, Adriana had already arrived and taken her seat at the breakfast table with the entire Villarreal family.
I glanced quickly beneath the table.
Her leg was still wrapped in a neat white bandage, though I knew perfectly well there was no wound at all hidden beneath that gauze.
It was nothing but a performance.
“Camila, you’re keeping Adriana company again today,” Mama said abruptly the moment I arrived, her tone cold and leaving no room for argument.
“Once her preparations are finished, then you may go back to work. And remember—don’t cause any more trouble. Adriana has been so kind to you. She hasn’t even brought up what you did yesterday!”
I could only exhale a heavy breath at Mama’s demand.
I nodded slowly, knowing full well that refusing would be pointless—my voice hadn’t mattered in this house for a long time.
For now, I chose to stay silent and go along with whatever game Adriana wanted to play.
But inside my mind, one decision had already been made.
I had to leave this place.
First, I needed to find somewhere new to live.
More than that, I no longer wanted to set foot in this city at all.
I wanted to go far away, somewhere I would never have to see any of them again—somewhere I could bury this forbidden feeling once and for all.
“So, are Auntie and Uncle heading out of town today?”
Adriana’s honeyed voice pulled my attention back.
I turned to look at Mama and Papa. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
Normally, if they were planning a trip, they always told me beforehand.
But not anymore.
I truly no longer had a place here.
Did my presence even register with them at all?
“Yes, Javier’s grandfather is unwell, so the two of us have to go see him,” Mama answered, her face lined with worry.
I clenched both hands tightly beneath the table.
Grandfather?
My relationship with him had always been a close one.
I had spent years making time to grow close to him and care for him as I was growing up in this house.
But after Grandmother passed, he had chosen to live somewhere remote and quiet, to find peace and hold on to the memory of his late wife.
And now, I hadn’t even been told that he was ill.
“Camila, remember—while Mama’s away, don’t you dare do anything strange!” Mama warned again, eyeing me with deep suspicion, as if I were some kind of criminal.
“Yes, Ma,” I answered, my voice barely above a whisper, forcing down the tightness in my chest that kept climbing higher.
“Aaaa!”
I flinched, startled, as a piercing scream shattered the silence of the kitchen corridor.
How was that even possible?
How could I, walking slowly with a cup of coffee in hand, suddenly collide with Adriana, who had appeared out of nowhere from behind the partition wall?
It felt as though she had been standing there on purpose, waiting for my footsteps.
“Camila, what do you think you’re doing?!”
A thunderous baritone shout made me flinch.
I looked up to find Javier’s face hardened, a blazing fury burning in his eyes.
He had just come from the direction of the living room and had walked straight into the scene.
“I… I didn’t know.
I didn’t mean to—”
”Didn’t know what?!” Javier cut me off sharply, his voice climbing an octave.
“I’ve been watching you space out this whole time. And then, while you were carrying the coffee, you just happened to run straight into Adriana walking toward you? You did that on purpose, didn’t you?!”
I stood frozen, my tongue suddenly numb.
My gaze shifted to Adriana, who had already buried her face in Javier’s warm embrace, pretending to sob as she clutched her reddened hand.
My chest churned violently, aching with a pain almost too sharp to bear.
I truly hadn’t imagined Adriana could be this cruel, this cunning—deliberately sacrificing her own body just to paint me as the villain in front of Javier.
And what hurt even more was that Javier had accused me outright, without wanting to hear a single word of explanation.
“Javier, my hand hurts…” Adriana whimpered sweetly.
“Alright, let’s call a doctor to treat your wound,” Javier answered.
Before he walked away, he shot me a sharp look—as if issuing a warning of his own.