My heart felt like it had dropped into my stomach. I wanted to speak, to defend my father, but I couldn’t find my voice.
Father wasn’t always . He used to break down walls if I did as much as sneeze a little. I used to be his adorable, beautiful daughter. This was all my fault.
Maybe I deserve this for making him into a monster. Maybe this was my fate.
I just stood there, frozen, watching as the situation escalated beyond anything I could control.
Axel wasn’t finished. "Have you even looked at her, Don Diego?" he demanded again, pointing at me. "Take a good look at your daughter’s bruises, and ask yourself if you’re really the one keeping your family’s image intact, or if you’re the one staining it."
My father’s face turned the most evident shade of crimson, his eyes shooting flames. He stepped forward even more. "You dare..."
But Axel interjected yet again. "I dare, Don Diego. I dare because someone has to say it. You’re a disgrace to your family, to your name. You’re the one tarnishing everything you’ve built. I’ve been watching, and you’re killing her."
My father’s hands clenched into fists, but his words were slow burn and seething with fury. "Get out. Now."
Rosa, who had been quiet up until now contributed to the back and forth.
After all, Axel was supposedly hers.
She opened her mouth to speak, but my father silenced her with a sharp glare. "Not now, Rosa," he snapped. Then, turning his gaze back to Axel, he snarled, "You’re not welcome here anymore."
Axel’s eyes didn’t waver. "You’re going to regret this. You’ll lose every ounce of respect you have left if you don’t do something about this. Look at your daughter. Look at what you’ve done to her. In three weeks, she’s already a ghost! So ask yourself, Don Diego—what kind of man are you if you can’t even see your own child suffering right under your nose?"
His face twisted with fury.
Oh, Axel. This wasn’t father’s fault. This was the Moon’s wish. I’d never forgive myself if Axel got in trouble because of me.
I didn’t know what to feel anymore. Anger? Shame? Confusion? It was all a blur. But the one thing I did know was that Axel was right. I wasn’t the same anymore. I wasn’t the person I used to be.
"You will never speak to her again," my father growled. "Get him out of my sight. Now."
I saw Axel’s eyes darted to me with a silent apology in them. He didn’t want this. None of this. But he couldn’t leave without trying to make my father see what he was doing to me.
And I hated him for it. Hated him for making me feel this exposed, this broken. But deep down, I knew it was for the best. Maybe I did need someone to stand up for me. Even if it was Axel.
"Rosa! Camilla! Do not speak to Axel again. You hear me? Do not speak to him." Father barked out his orders.
Rosa, who was standing there like a deer caught in headlights, looked like she was about to protest. I could see the conflict in her eyes, but Don Diego wasn’t having it.
"This is Maria José’s fault!" She finally with disdain in her voice. "She’s the one who messed up! She should be the one to pay for her mistakes, not Axel!"
I couldn’t believe it. I wanted to scream, to tear this damn place apart, but Don Diego’s temper flared again.
My "Enough, Rosa! Leave it. We will deal with this later as a family."
As a family? I could break down in painful agony right now. I knew quite well what dealing with this as a family meant.
In all that it was, it would definitely end with more bruises on my body and more tears running down my cheeks.
Rosa wouldn’t stop blaming me though. "She’s the one who..."
"I said enough!" my father thundered again, his voice shaking the very walls. "GUARDS!"
The guards entered the room then.
" Take him out. Now!"
They marched toward Axel. "Come with us," one of them said, grabbing him by the arm.
Axel shook them off, his fists tightening as he turned to face them. "You touch me, and I’ll break you," he growled a dark threat.
But the guards weren’t intimidated. They advanced on him, but Axel wasn’t about to let them take him without a fight. He lashed out, knocking one guard to the ground with a single punch, and then another. The sounds of fists hitting flesh rang followed by a series of ahs and yells:
The room broke into chaos. My heart was pounding in my chest, my hands shaking as I watched Axel dismantle the guards with the skills of a warrior.
He was a force of nature, and no one was able to stop him. They tried to pull him back, but he kept swinging, fury in every strike.
"Axel, please!" I cried out all of a sudden.
His anger was terrifying, and I couldn’t bear to watch it anymore. My face was already drenched in tears that trailed down to my neckline.
The thought that this was all because of me... that Father was being disrespected because of me, that Axel had to disrespect Father because of me or even fight the guards who were just trying to do their work was unbearable.
It made my chest hurt. It needed to stop:
He froze at the sound of my voice, his body tensing as if he were fighting against the urge to turn and walk away. But when his eyes met mine, I could see it filled with something deeper than anger.
Guilt, maybe? Or Regret? I couldn’t tell.
He slowly lowered his fists, his body still taut with tension. "I’m sorry, María José. I just wanted him to see."
Oh, he didn’t have to apologize. I wished to hell that I could tell him that.
He turned then, striding toward the door without another word. My heart shattered as I watched him go, the pain of everything he had said sinking into my bones.
As Axel drove away in his car, I couldn’t help but feel a pang of something I couldn’t name. Something I knew for sure was gratitude and sorrow. He had tried to help me. He had tried to fight for me when no one else would.
But in doing so, he had made things worse. And I was left standing here, in the wreckage of my family, with no one to save me from the consequences of my father’s wrath.
But maybe I didn’t need saving after all.
Axel had given me something no one else had: a reminder that I was still worth fighting for. Even if no one else could see it.
Now, how would this end for me?