Javier squeezed my hand.
“My mother knew.”
My breath caught.
“She knew this entire time?”
He nodded.
“She knew you weren’t a gold-digger. She knew you had more than enough to help yourself. She just wanted everyone to believe you were beneath her.”
I turned my face toward the hospital window.
Outside, the morning sun was rising over Valencia.
And for the first time in months, I felt something I had almost forgotten.
Strength.
Because Carmen thought she had broken me on that kitchen floor.
But she had done the opposite.
That fall didn’t destroy my life.
It opened Javier’s eyes.
And when Carmen walked into my hospital room later that afternoon with a fake apology and a smile hiding her anger…
She had no idea that everything she built her power on was about to collapse.
