Chapter 49

My father exhaled sharply, clearly impatient. His boot tapped against the dirt. Tick, tick, tick.
“Well?”
I tore my gaze from the two men, my mouth suddenly dry. “W-what?”
Father’s eyes narrowed. “Which one of these men was with you last night?”
I scratched my nape sheepishly. Oh, God. This was trouble in hell.
The only correct answer was neither.
But saying that? Admitting that my Mateo wasn’t here?
It would make me look even guiltier.
I turned back to the two men, my heart pounding hard:
The tall one was glaring at me with hostility he failed to hide as though he didn’t appreciate being entangled in a mess he knew nothing of.
Who would? His lips pressed into a hard line. Not him.
The short one was avoiding my gaze entirely, looking anywhere but at me. Also not him.
This was a nightmare.
I was trapped.
No answer I gave would be right.
And Camila, the useless little snake, knew it.
She clicked her tongue, all the while shaking her head. “Oh, this is a waste of time. Our saint little sister here is obviously lying, Father. Get her arrested or give her the punishment of her life. She thinks she’s smart playing pretend like that.”
I winced in anger, my hands clenching into fists.
She turned to Father, rolling her eyes. “She’s stalling.”
“I’m not!”
“Oh, please.” She scoffed, flipping her hair. “If she was telling the truth, she would’ve pointed already. Instead, she’s standing there like an idiot because she knows—”
“Camila,” Rosa murmured, tilting her head. “Let her answer.”
It wasn’t mercy.
It was bait. Tʜe sourcᴇ of thɪs content ɪs ⓝovelFind.net
I could feel both of them watching me, waiting, expecting me to crumble.
I swallowed hard and turned to Father, speaking in a trembling voice. “Neither of them were with me.”
And there it was—the bombshell.
What followed was a dead, but deafening silence.
My father’s gaze turned glacial. “What did you say?”
I forced myself to meet his eyes. “I said neither of them were with me.”
His nostrils flared. “You claimed a Mateo stayed with you.”
“I—I did. I thought he said his name was Mateo, but—”
Camila gasped dramatically. “Oh, I still can’t believe we are wasting our time with this criminal, Father! She needs to face the consequences of her actions!”
I snapped my head toward her, furious. “I’m not lying!”
“Then where is he?” she shot back, folding her arms. “Where’s your mystery, Mateo?”
I opened my mouth.
And nothing came out.
Because I had no answer.
Camila’s smirk widened. She turned to Rosa. “You know what this means, right?”
Rosa sighed. “It means she lied.”
“I didn’t—”
“It means,” Camila continued, wagging her fingers with malice, “that she wasn’t with a worker last night.”
I froze.
No.
No, no, no.
A wicked grin spread across her face. “She was with a man.”
A different kind of silence fell.
A dangerous one.
Even the workers looked uneasy, shifting on their feet.
And my father…
My father’s face darkened into something far, far worse than rage.
The color drained out of my face. “W-wait, I didn’t—”
“Who was it?” he demanded fiercely.
You know what? I give up. This was useless anyway.
I shook my head. “No one—”
“Liar!”
The slap came so fast I barely saw it.
Pain exploded across my face.
I hit the ground hard, the impact knocking the breath out of me. My ears rang and my vision blurred.
I tasted blood in my mouth.
And I heard Camila’s voice.
“So,” she mused, “who do you think it was? A worker? A thief? Of course, not. It’s our dear Omega rebelling.”
There were a lot of ways I expected my day to go. Being accused of lying, slapped across the face, and then having Camilla play the ’good daughter’? Not one of them.
I was still sprawled on the ground, my cheek stinging from my father’s slap and my head spinning from the ridiculousness of it all.
My heart pounded like a caged bird, but I forced myself to sit up, pressing my hand to the side of my face where his palm had landed. My father stood above me, arms crossed and eyes blazing.
“Since you want to behave like an animal,” he groaned, “then I will treat you like one.”
Oh, fantastic. Here we go.
“For now,” he continued, his nose wrinkling as if my very existence offended him, “go to your room. Wash yourself. Dress your wounds before you infect the animals with some disease.”
I stared at him, my throat tightening. Disease. Me?
“I mean, look at you,” he scoffed. “Filthy. Weak. Helpless. You don’t have werewolf abilities to heal yourself, and yet you insist on embarrassing me.”
Camila clicked her tongue dramatically, stepping closer to me. “Poor María José. If only she were born like the rest of us, she wouldn’t be such a useless mess.”
I shot her a glare. “If only you were born without a mouth, the world would be a much quieter place.”
I half expected her to turn to Father for rescue, but she cackled maliciously.
“Oh, don’t worry, dear sister. I’m sure Father will fix all of this very soon.”
“Fix?” I repeated warily.
Oh, well. By fix, she probably meant being punished for this. Funny how I was ready and not ready for it at the same time.
It wasn’t like it was every day Axel would save me from excruciating labor. That’s it… Axel yet again.
I’d always find a way to wriggle him into my thoughts, into every bloody thing.
Don Diego’s eyebrows knotted. “Furthermore, if I find out that this is the wrath of the Moon Goddess upon me because I have been harboring a cursed wolf in my household, then I will see to it that you are married off to an old rogue wolf.”
WHAT?!
My stomach twisted into a thousand anxious knots, and my breath ceased. No. No, he wouldn’t.
I forced out a shaky laugh. “Father, please. You can’t.”
“You think so?” He gnashed his teeth.
Panic climbed its way up my spine. This was bad. This was really, really bad.
Camila gasped dramatically, clasping her hands together. “Oh, that would be perfect, Father! A rogue! He wouldn’t care that she’s weak. He’d take her far, far away, and she could spend the rest of her days in the woods like the wild thing she is.”
FUCKING BITCH!