Crack!
The sound of a brutally hard slap echoed through the silence of the living room.
The moment my foot touched the last step down to the lower floor, Adriana’s palm had already flown, striking my left cheek dead-on.
I stumbled backward, clutching my cheek, which instantly burned and throbbed fiercely.
I lifted my chin, glaring at her with a sharp gaze blazing with fury.
“Why?! What did I do wrong?” I demanded at once, my voice trembling as I insisted on an explanation, certain that I hadn’t done anything wrong at all.
“What did you do wrong? You still dare to ask what you did wrong, Camila?!” Adriana snapped, her pretty face flushed with overflowing rage.
I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to quell the storm building in my chest, certain I hadn’t done a single thing to wrong this woman.
If anything, I was the one who should have been furious, since it was Adriana who kept slandering me.
“I’ve warned you over and over, so why do you still insist on acting recklessly, hm? Why did you sleep with Javier last night?! What exactly did you do with him in that room?!” Adriana pressed relentlessly, stepping forward until she closed the distance between us.
I fell silent at once.
My tongue went numb.
Considering Javier had come home deeply drunk in the middle of the night, no one should have known.
Unless…
one of the house staff had seen him.
But who?
Who was the two-faced traitor in this house who had so brazenly reported my every move to Adriana?
“Don’t just stand there in silence, Camila! Do you want me to report this disgusting act of yours to Aunt Isabella, huh?! Do you want me to expose your behavior so you’ll be thrown out at once and made to suffer for the rest of your life?!” Adriana threatened, a cunning smile now curling on her lips.
“I didn’t do anything, Adriana!” I defended myself, trying to steady my voice, which was nearly breaking as tears began welling up.
“Javier came home deeply drunk last night.
He wasn’t even conscious when he walked into my room!”
”If that’s really how it was, then you should have left the room!
Called the house staff to carry him out and take him back to his own room!
So why did you just stand there and do nothing?
Why did you let that man sleep in your bed all night instead?!”
Adriana’s pointed question left me utterly speechless.
My chest felt tight.
I had been foolish to think that the secret of that night would never reach anyone’s ears.
“I…
When I woke up, he was already beside me, and—”
”I’m warning you one more time, Camila,” Adriana cut in coldly, jabbing a finger right in front of my face with an intimidating glare.
“I can very easily make not only Javier’s parents hate you, but Javier himself as well! So watch yourself, because if I catch you scheming your way toward Javier, you’ll regret it!”
I could only stand frozen, clenching both my hands tightly at my sides until my knuckles turned white.
Adriana’s threat this time struck me dead in the pit of my stomach.
Make Javier hate me?
My adoptive parents had already stopped caring about me, and that reality alone was enough to make my world collapse.
What would become of me if Javier—the one man who secretly held my entire heart—also turned against me, looking at me with disgust?
I wouldn’t be able to bear it.
After unleashing the full weight of her vicious threats, Adriana turned and strode away with arrogant steps, leaving me alone in a suffocating silence.
I let out a harsh, held breath, allowing a single tear to slip down and wet my cheek.
“And here I’d already steeled my heart to leave this house far behind… so why do I still feel scared to death of being hated by them?” I murmured softly into the silence of the room.
I began walking again with heavy, unsteady steps, still clutching my cheek, which still burned and glowed red.
Beneath the sting spreading across my face and heart, my eyes swept sharply around every corner of the house, consumed by a fierce curiosity over who the two-faced servant was—the traitor who had reported everything to Adriana.