Chapter 206

The rain pounded against my skin, making the fabric of the towel stuck on my skin like it belonged on it. It was cold, but the storm wasn’t what made me shiver… it was the gnawing thought in my chest.
What if Axel couldn’t forgive me?
I’d been wrong. So wrong. I couldn’t believe it, but I’d doubted him when I should have trusted him. He had tried to help me, tried to tell me the truth, and I had thrown it all back in his face, convinced he was part of some game of hearts.
What if I’ve lost him forever?
The thought pushed me forward. I didn’t think, didn’t pause to even consider the consequences. I just needed to see him. To explain. Maybe he’d listen, maybe he wouldn’t. But I had to try.
I ran out into the night, the cold droplets stinging my face like tiny needles. My bare feet splashed in the puddles, and I didn’t care. Every step was a small piece of redemption, and I wasn’t going to stop. The world was a blur around me with my heartbeats drumming in my ears.
I didn’t know how long it would take, but I had to reach the packhouse. I had to find Axel.
By the time I reached the gates, my legs were shaking from exhaustion. I was soaked through, my body shuddering under the weight of my emotions more than the cold.
But I didn’t care. I was here. Finally.
I approached the guards at the entrance, panting, drenched with my hair clinging to my face. “I need to see Axel,” I said, voice hoarse from the running and the tears that threatened to stream down again. “I’m María José. Let me in.”
The guards didn’t even flinch. They just stood there, blocking the gate like a solid wall of indifference. “You need to leave,” one of them said gruffly in a dismissive tone. “Go back to wherever you came from.”
“No!” I shouted, stepping forward. “I need to see Axel! He’s expecting me!” I didn’t even know if he was expecting me, but I couldn’t stop the words from spilling out.
“Please, I’m María José, I’m telling you! Let me in!”
They didn’t respond, just stood there with their arms crossed, looking at me like I was some stray dog begging for scraps.
“I said go back,” one of the guards repeated. “No one’s getting into the packhouse right now.”
I understood that the security of the pack was now tight due to the recent brutalities, but a fire had already ignited in my chest.
No one would stop me. From now on, no one stops me!
“I am María José. I belong here. Let me in!” I screamed on top of my voice. For origınal chapters go to
The guards exchanged skeptical looks, their patience wearing thin. One of them raised an eyebrow. “Do you belong to any noble family?”
A noble family?
The words hit me like a blow to the stomach. I could feel the scars on my soul tighten. I could almost hear my father’s cruel words all over again.
You’re nothing without the De la Vega name which you no longer belong to.
For a moment, I almost said it. The words almost slipped out, like a safety net I could latch on to in this difficult moment.
I’m a De la Vega. It could’ve been my ticket in.
But I remembered everything. The disownment. The cruelty. The rejection. My family, who had cast me aside like I was nothing. Their brutality. I wasn’t a De la Vega.
Never would I be again.
“No. I don’t belong to any noble family.”
The guards exchanged glances again, and one of them sighed, clearly irritated. “Then go. There’s nothing here for you.”
My heart sank. They were sending me away because I didn’t belong to a wealthy family. I was nothing to them. I fucking hate this pack.
But I wasn’t leaving.
“I want Axel,” I yelled. “I need to see him!”
They tried to ignore me, but I refused to back down. My body shook from the cold, from the fear, from the uncertainty of what I was about to face. But I couldn’t stop now. I couldn’t go back.
For a moment, it felt like I was losing. I was screaming at the universe, pleading for something… anything—and getting nothing in return.
And then, just as I was about to give up, the sound of a car engine blared from behind.
I snapped my head back to see a black car pulling into the driveway, tires crunching over gravel. The lights of the car illuminated the guard’s faces, and I barely registered the vehicle before I saw the one person I didn’t ever want to cross paths with.
Álvaro.
Of course, it had to be him.
The guards stood straighter as the car came to a stop, and I felt my chest tighten. I wanted to shrink into the rain, and disappear into the night, but I couldn’t. I had come this far, and I was not backing down.
Álvaro stepped out of the car with a look of arrogance and in his expensive clothes. He didn’t even look at me at first. He just turned to the guards, expecting them to fall over themselves in submission.
“What’s going on here?” he asked, his voice oozing superiority.
“Some girl’s been shouting about wanting to see your brother, señor.” one of the guards explained, pointing casually at me.
Álvaro raised an eyebrow, his eyes scanning me slowly. His gaze flicked over my wet hair, the scar on my face, and the towel wrapped around me.
The disdain in his eyes was clear… he could barely hide his contempt for a lowly girl. “Who is she?” he asked, face scrunched up with disgust.
Of course, he wouldn’t know it was me. I was no longer the beautiful María José to whom he had waited two years for just because of her beauty and discarded when he discovered how worthless she was.
Of course, he wouldn’t know. I was but an ugly dickling now. Shame on me.