Chapter 5 - THE MORNING AFTERThe morning sun filtered through the hospital window, casting warm geometric patterns across my white bedsheets. For the first time in six months, my lower back didn’t feel like it was on fire. The contractions had completely stopped. The baby was safe, resting peacefully inside me.
Around 8:00 AM, the door clicked open, and a tired-looking nurse walked in carrying a breakfast tray, followed closely by Mateo carrying a stack of local newspapers and a tablet computer.
“Morning, mama,” Mateo whispered cheerfully, pulling up a chair and tossing the daily newspaper onto my lap. “Hope you’re hungry for some headlines.”
I glanced down at the front page of El Sol de Puebla.
My breath hitched.
Splashed across the front page, right next to a glowing society photo of Arturo and me cutting the wedding cake, was a high-resolution, crystal-clear photograph of the exact moment Arturo grabbed my veil and ripped it from my head at the head table.
The headline blazoned across the top in bold black letters read:
HIGH-SOCIETY SCANDAL: FUENTES HEIR ASSAULTS PREGNANT WIFE AT MULTIMILLION-PESO WEDDING.
“Oh my god,” I breathed, staring at the photo in horror and awe. “Where… where did this photo come from?”
“One of the wedding caterers was smart enough to keep his phone recording the whole thing,” Mateo grinned, biting into an apple. “Rodrigo bought the exclusive rights to the video at 3:00 AM. It’s currently trending #1 on every social media platform in Mexico. Twitter is calling Arturo ‘El Monstruo de Puebla.’”
Before I could process the sheer magnitude of what had happened, my phone—which lay on the bedside table—suddenly started vibrating violently.
Bzzzzz. Bzzzzz. Bzzzzz.
It didn’t stop. Missed calls and notifications were flooding in by the second. I picked it up, and my heart skipped a beat.
Incoming Call: Arturo.
I looked at Mateo. Mateo raised an eyebrow, reached over, and calmly pressed the speakerphone button before sliding the phone onto my lap.
“Answer it,” Mateo whispered with a grin. “Let’s hear what El Monstruo has to say for himself.”
I took a deep breath, swiped my thumb across the screen, and kept my voice ice-cold.
“Speak, Arturo.”
There was a moment of heavy, stunned silence on the other end, followed by heavy, ragged breathing. When Arturo finally spoke, his voice wasn’t filled with arrogance anymore. It was shaking with pure, unadulterated panic.
“Mariana! Where the hell are you? Pick up your damn phone! Do you have any idea what’s happening right now?!” Arturo screamed, the sound of glass breaking and shouting voices echoing in the background of his call.
“I’m in the hospital, Arturo,” I replied evenly, my voice steady and completely devoid of fear. “Recovering from the contractions your mother and you caused last night.”
“To hell with the hospital!” Arturo shrieked, losing whatever composure he had left. “My phone hasn’t stopped ringing since 6:00 AM! Investors are pulling out of our real estate developments! My father’s bank accounts have just been frozen by a court order! The police are outside our family estate with a subpoena! What did you do?!”
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I glanced at Mateo, who gave me a thumbs-up and a wide grin.
“I didn’t do anything, Arturo,” I said sweetly into the speakerphone. “I just let people see the real man behind the tailored suit.”
