Chapter 1 - The Shattered Mask
"She is not your servant. She is my wife!"The words didn't just leave Alejandro’s mouth; they tore from his chest like a physical blow. The silence that followed was instant, heavy, and suffocating. In the living room, the loud laughter died instantly. The TV continued to blare its mindless reality show, but nobody was watching it anymore.
Alejandro stepped into the kitchen, his heart hammering against his ribs. He gently but firmly grabbed Sofía’s raw, trembling hands, pulling them out of the greasy, freezing water. When he looked down at her swollen ankles, anger—pure, unadulterated fury—blinded him.
"Alejandro... please, don't," Sofía whispered, her voice cracking as she tried to pull her hands away. "I’m fine. I just... I wanted to help."
"Help?" Alejandro turned his head slowly toward the doorway.
There stood his mother, Doña Carmen, flanked by his three sisters. Ximena was still holding her high-end phone, looking bored. Valeria crossed her arms, while 19-year-old Fernanda hid slightly behind her mother. None of them looked remorseful. In fact, Doña Carmen’s expression quickly shifted from brief surprise to cold, aristocratic annoyance.
"Alejandro, don't raise your voice in this house," Doña Carmen said, her tone dripping with matriarchal authority. "And certainly not over her. We asked her to do a simple chore. It is the least she can do, considering she lives here for free."
"For free?!" Alejandro’s voice cracked with disbelief. "She lives here with me. In the house I bought! With the money I earn by working fourteen hours a day! She is eight months pregnant with my child, mother! Look at her hands! Look at her feet!"
Ximena rolled her eyes, letting out a loud, dramatic sigh. "Oh, please, Alejandro. Don't be so dramatic. In our hometown, women work in the fields until the day they give birth. Sofía is just washing a few plates. It’s not a tragedy. Besides, she offered."
"I didn't..." Sofía began, but a sharp glare from Doña Carmen instantly silenced her. Sofía shrunk back, wrapping her arms around her heavily pregnant belly, terrified of the conflict she was causing.
"She offered?" Alejandro walked up to Ximena, his eyes burning. "Really? Then why are there catering boxes from a restaurant in Polanco in the trash, but the sink is piled high with greasy pots and pans? Did she cook a feast for you all first, or did you purposefully use every single dish in this kitchen just to make her clean it?"
Valeria spoke up, her voice laced with venom. "Alejandro, you are letting her manipulate you. She’s been playing the victim since the day she dragged herself out of Puebla and into our family. She knows exactly what she’s doing. She wants to turn you against us."
"That is enough!" Alejandro roared, slamming his hand against the marble kitchen counter. The sound echoed like a gunshot. "Starting tomorrow, things change. No more unlimited cards. No more luxury trips. If you want to live like queens, you will start treating my wife like one."
Doña Carmen stepped forward, her eyes narrowing into slits. She didn't look like a grieving widow anymore; she looked like a calculating dictator.
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"Is that a threat, Alejandro?" Doña Carmen whispered, her voice dangerously calm. "Before you make a decision you will regret for the rest of your life, you might want to look closer at the woman you are defending. Because your sweet, innocent Sofía... is keeping a secret that will destroy everything you think you know about her."
Alejandro froze. He looked from his mother’s smug face to Sofía, whose face had suddenly gone completely pale—not from exhaustion, but from sheer terror.
