2. Family Betrayal

She didn't know how long she was out, but she knew it was long enough for the people she considered her whole world to disappear.

Her body was aching and her head was throbbing from the fall. But the physical pain was nothing compared to the emotional devastation.

As the memories flood back, something deep inside her moved. The innocent, trusting woman who had been willing to die for her child was gone, replaced by someone harder, colder.

She knew she was breathing but the numbness and stillness in her body told her otherwise.

Hours passed, and no one came to visit her; all she could do was stare at the ceiling with a heart beating for no reason.

She wanted to let her heart cry out but the tears won't come. The pain was too deep that even crying felt like it wasn't worth it.

Everyone she loved and trusted had betrayed her. Carlos, Juliana, and... Another horrifying realisation for which she wasn't prepared. Her own family. The way she was still left alone and no one came to check up on her, she realised everyone in her family knew she was being used as nothing more than a surrogate, a tool to be discarded once her purpose was served.

She spent hours in a numb state, hoping someone from her family would come looking for her, and at least she would have someone to call hers, but once again, disappointment hit her like a storm.

Nobody cared if she lived or died. Everybody got what they wanted.

Finally, with a pale body that threatened to break at any moment, she got dressed and left the hospital without speaking to anyone. During the taxi ride to what she had once called home, she stared out the window feeling like a ghost watching the living world pass by.

She knew what the truth was, but deep inside her heart, she longed to hear that her family wasn't a part of this cruel plan. That they didn't know she was in the hospital.

Her heart once again picked up its pace as she closed the distance to the entrance of her house only leading her to another heartbreak.

The sound of celebration pours from within; laughter, music, and clinking glasses felt like a taunt rather than joy. As if her suffering is a cause for joy.

Esperanza's legs felt heavy, as if rocks were tied to her legs. Her slow steps slowly made their way inside only to find the living room full of people.

As soon as she entered, the laughter, chirping voices, and lively conversations were replaced by utter silence.

In the sudden silence, she asks with eerie calm, "What are we celebrating?"

Her stepsister, Evangelina, approaches with false concern, "Oh, Esperanza, you should be resting-"

"Did you all know?" Esperanza cuts her off. "About Carlos and Juliana? About the baby not being mine?"

The drop-dead silence welcomed her, confirming all that she'd already doubted.

Her father, Don Ricardo, steps forward, "Esperanza, you need to calm down-"

"CALM DOWN?" The words exploded from her as the suppressed rage finally surfaced.

The numbness was all gone, replaced by fury she couldn't take out earlier.

Her hand found the nearest floral vase placed on a beautiful white table and soon it was lying on the ground in pieces that weren't easy to count.

Glasses, picture frames, anything within reach, they all became victims of her rage.

"You all knew! You knew they were using me!"

As her rage continued to surface on every other thing coming to her vision, her father shouted, "Enough! Your mother is dead, and she left everything to you instead of the family that actually cared for this business. We did what we had to do."

'We did what we had to'

These words replayed in her mind one after another.

She felt like she was being punched straight in the gut. The truth robbed her of her breath and threw her into a state of shock.

He was her father. The one who brought her to life and once swore to protect her more than anything in this world. But still, he chose to prioritise the business and his fancy life before her.

How come the love and bond she shared with him fell apart? Or was it for the show only?

She couldn't understand a thing.

"You... you arranged this... You gave me to Carlos knowing what he would do. You... You helped him rip my heart and leave me wounded for my whole life... You helped him... Steal my baby," Trembling whisperes came out of her mouth.

Don Ricardo always knew how much enthusiasm Esperanza carried for her motherhood. Seeing her hurt by the fact that she will never be able to raise her child, his heart stung a little, but not enough to apologise to his daughter.

"The Mendoza family needed your inheritance to expand their business. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement. You were always too naive to understand business. And you don't have to worry about this, you can always marry someone else and make as many babies as you want."

Esperanza stares at her father with wide eyes. Once, a man she considered her pillar turned out to be the root of her betrayal. She meant nothing to him. How could her baby mean something to him?

She was indeed naive to trust the people she had called family. Now, she was seeing them clearly for the first time. None of them denies it. None shows regret.

Tears streamed down her face, but she told herself they didn't matter. The strange change she felt earlier had settled in her heart, shutting off her feelings and making her heart feel like a cold stone.

With a newfound voice that sounded cracked and dangerously quiet, she spoke her last words to the people she once considered family.

"Then we're done. All of us. You are no longer my family, and I have nothing more to do with any of you."