Akibat Cinta Terlarang

~~Sofia~~

By the time I discovered my sister and fiancé had made me sacrifice myself for a lie, the deed had already been done.

When I stepped inside Hector's house, they were curled up on the couch, kissing, deeply and passionately like they belonged to each other. Like I was never in the picture to begin with.

My fingers tightened around my phone until the edges dug into my palm. For a few seconds, I couldn't breathe properly. I stared at them, waiting for someone to pull away and laugh, to tell me this was some horrible misunderstanding.

Neither of them even looked startled to see me standing there. They didn't even jump apart or try to explain.

“Hector….” His name came out of me as little more than a whisper.

My lips trembled as I tried swallowing past the lump in my throat.

They finally pulled away and he turned to look at me like I was the intruder. And the man staring back at me wasn't the same man I had sat beside in that hospital room, looking sick and pale. His face was hard and his eyes held no warmth. Just coldness.

“What's…. what's going…on?” I stuttered, my hands fidgeting.

“Well well well.” He said with a smirk. “The cheating girlfriend returns.”

I stared at him, unable to understand what I'd just heard. Cheating? He was calling me a cheater after everything I'd done for him?

Just days ago, I had sat beside his hospital bed while doctors told me he needed a hundred-thousand-dollar surgery to survive.

I was only a janitor. Even if I saved every dollar I earned, it would take me years to gather that kind of money.

Then Karla had offered me a solution. A man would pay me to spend one night with him. She said a friend of hers told her the idea.

I hadn't wanted to do it but I thought Hector was dying.

So I went to that hotel.

But I never met the man Karla had promised me. Instead, a stranger dragged me into a room.

He was drugged, confused and barely aware of what was happening. And when he offered me three hundred thousand dollars, I accepted.

I gave the money to Karla and I gave myself to a stranger.

All to save Hector.

And now he was sitting here, kissing my sister, looking very healthy and calling me a cheater.

My eyes went straight to Karla. She was now smirking smugly, like she had finally won some kind of game I hadn't even known we were playing.

“Hector,” I took a step toward him before stopping myself. My legs suddenly felt too uncertain to carry me any farther.

“I did it to save your life.” my voice cracked. “Hector, I thought….” The rest stuck in my throat.

“I know.” he nodded, guiding Karla to sit beside him like she was some kind of delicate princess. “You did it because you thought I was going to die.” Then he let out a chuckle and dropped the bombshell. “The thing is that….I was never sick, Sophia.”

For a moment, I heard nothing after that. Not Karla. Not the ticking of the clock or even my own breathing.

So everything was fake. They made me give myself to a man with tattoos covering half his chest for a lie.

“You ....were—you were….” I couldn't even get the words past my lips.

“Yes.” Karla chirped.

A strange coldness spread through my hands. I looked down at them as if they belonged to someone else.

Just then, movement caught my attention. Mrs. Ramirez stepped out of the kitchen. She leaned against the doorway with her arms folded across her chest, watching me with an expression that made me feel like I was the worst human being on earth.

“Are you back?” She asked coldly.

“Mom….” That was what I usually called her since she was supposed to be my mother in law soon. But she cut me off by raising a finger, signaling me to shut up.

“Don't call me that.” She spat. “I can't have a slut as my daughter-in-law”

The words landed harder than a slap. I couldn't even blink. My mouth remained slightly open as I stared at her, trying to find the woman who had once called me her daughter

They knew. All of them. While I had been sitting by his bedside, crying my eyes out and praying for him, they had all been laughing at me behind my back.

“And news flash, sister.” She paused, almost enjoying the way I was looking at her. “I'm pregnant. With Hector’s baby.”

She turned towards him and kissed him again. Right in front of me. My fists clenched. How could they do this to me?

Karla pulled away with a satisfied smile, as if she had just delivered the final blow she'd been saving for me.

My stomach dropped as the word ‘pregnant’ echoed in my head.

For a second, I couldn't look at either of them. My gaze fell to the floor as the meaning of her words slowly sank in.

Karla hadn't just joined them in their lie. She had also been sleeping with my fiance.

What a fool I had been.

“Why?” Tears slipped down my cheeks again. I wiped them away quickly, but more followed. “Why would you…”

“Don't be ridiculous, Sophia.” Karla sounded almost bored. “You have everything you've ever wanted. Dad and Mom love you. Guys literally worship the ground you walk on.” She shrugged. “I just took Hector, and you're crying like a baby. It's not bad to share, is it?”

She called it as if Hector had been some dress she had borrowed from me.

I wanted to scream at her. I wanted to slap that smug smile from her face. Instead, nothing happened. I was too tired to even feel angry.

I turned toward Mrs. Ramirez, hoping that she would say something. She was the one who had begged me to save her son's life.

But she only looked away. Then turned around and walked back into the kitchen as if none of this had anything to do with her.

“Where's my money?” I asked stiffly. My voice sounded unfamiliar even to me. Flat. Almost detached.

“Oh, the three hundred grand?” Hector asked casually. “It's outside.”

My eyes drifted toward the doorway. The white SUV. Suddenly, everything clicked. They had taken the money I'd nearly destroyed myself to get and turned it into a car.

“Just go home,” Hector said. “No one wants you here.”

I stared at him for a few seconds, wishing I could just go over to where he was and strangle the life out of him.

But then, an idea came into my mind. A very bad one.