”It’s nothing, really.
The wound isn’t serious.”
Listening to the private doctor’s explanation after he’d finished examining Adriana, I could only smile bitterly to myself.
It was already painfully obvious the wound wasn’t serious at all.
Her skin had barely caught a few drops of splashed coffee.
Just a few drops, that was all.
And yet Adriana had made such an elaborate show of it, as if the injury were massive and life-threatening.
“So it won’t leave my hand disfigured, will it, Doctor? I won’t need surgery or anything, right?” Adriana asked, her voice deliberately trembling with anxiety.
I wanted so badly to laugh out loud at that ridiculous question.
It was completely absurd, utterly childish.
The faint reddish mark on her hand was barely even visible.
“There’s no need for that, Miss. It will heal on its own—this ointment I’ll leave for you is more than enough,” the doctor explained kindly, then took his leave once he’d finished treating Adriana’s hand.
The moment the door closed, Adriana turned straight to her fiancé.
“Javier, look at Camila. Why does she have that smug look on her face? Does she actually want me to be badly hurt?”
There it was—see for yourself!
I had been standing silently in the corner of the room this whole time without saying a word, and yet somehow she still managed to twist the facts, all to win Javier’s attention and paint me as even more of a villain in his eyes.
“Me? What’s wrong with my face?” I finally asked, losing what little patience I had left to stay silent.
“I haven’t done anything.
I’ve just been standing here quietly.
Even back in the kitchen, you were the one who suddenly appeared from behind the partition wall and—”
”What, Camila?!
Are you seriously accusing me of planning all of this?” Adriana cut in sharply, her eyes widening as though she were the most wronged victim in the world.
“You think I deliberately threw myself into your coffee on purpose? How could you possibly think something so cruel?!”
I let out a slow breath, then nodded, meeting her gaze head-on in challenge.
“Because that’s exactly what happened!
I never intended to hurt you.
You’re the one who staged this whole scene so everyone would believe I meant to harm you!”
”Why would I?
Why would I do something so damaging to myself?” Adriana demanded, practically seething.
In the next instant, her gaze shifted to Javier, who stood rigid beside the bed.
“Javi, think about it properly. Why would I ever do something so low? I already have everything in this world. I’m successful, I’m wealthy, and soon I’ll be marrying you. So why on earth would I go looking for trouble with your adopted sister?” she demanded, seeking absolute vindication from her husband-to-be.
My tongue locked tight.
There was no way I could shout in Javier’s face that Adriana was doing all of this because she had discovered my greatest secret—that I was in love with her husband-to-be.
If Javier ever found out about this forbidden feeling, he would be furious with me.
He would see me as disgusting, shameless.
And that wasn’t even counting the entire Villarreal family, who would surely throw me out of this house without a shred of dignity.
“That’s enough, Adriana. What matters now is that you’ve been treated and you’re fine,” Javier cut in, putting an end to the argument.
He then turned, fixing me with a hawk-like gaze, sharp and intimidating.
“Perhaps Camila did this because she’s still too immature to control her emotions,” he continued, driving an invisible thorn straight into the pit of my stomach.
“I don’t want to hear about any more problems or commotion after this, Camila. You already know the consequences, don’t you?”
I stood there, stunned, forcing myself to swallow whole the pain and disappointment slicing through my chest, because once again, Javier had chosen to believe Adriana’s lies over anything I could say.
All I could do was give a small nod, my head bowed low in sorrow, while up on the bed, I could see Adriana wearing a smug, triumphant smile, satisfied that she had once again succeeded in tearing down my dignity.
As if utterly pleased that everyone was now on her side.
Everyone who had once loved me was slowly starting to hate me instead.