5. Hostile warning

~Third Person's POV~

Esperanza sat silently, gazing at her lap while Diego drove.

The warm feeling from their date still lingered between them, but they chose silence over any other awkward encounter.

The quiet ride continued until the sudden ring of Esperanza's phone broke the peace.

"Hey, it's me. I'm very sorry for calling you in the middle of an amazing evening, but I'm in the middle of a bloody crisis, and I don't have anything at home to control it, nor can I go outside. It's freaking bad!" Valentina, yelled from the other end.

"Is it that bad?" Esperanza asked, clutching her phone tightly.

"Yeah," Valentina sobbed.

"Don't worry, I'm on my way. I'll get everything," Esperanza comforted her and disconnected the call.

Her gaze went to Diego whose eyes were constantly moving towards her, slightly worrying about her.

"Is everything okay?" Diego politely asked.

"Yeah... It's just... Can you drop me off at the mall? I need to go there urgently," Esperanza asked with nervousness pooling in her eyes.

"Sure. I'll wait for you to get done with whatever grabbed your attention and then drop you off at your place."

Though Carlos faked his love for Esperanza multiple times by waiting for her for hours in a nail salon, she still found something trusting in the words that came out of Diego's mouth.

But she couldn't risk anything after just one evening. Not when trusting men is not even the last thing on her list.

Esperanza shook her head, "No, I'll be fine. Anyway, I have to go to my friend's place from there, so you can just drop me off at the mall."

Diego restrained the unknown emotions that crossed through his heart with a curt nod.

He wanted to be with her a little longer, know her more, see how much more he could affect her just with his presence, but he respected her wishes above all of it.

She already looked fragile to him, he couldn't risk pushing her any further.

He'll find another day, another evening to get to know her in ways that he couldn't tonight.

Dropping her off at the mall, they bid their goodbyes, a small smile playing on their lips.

"I hope I'll see you soon," Diego smiled.

"You bet. After all, I'm your employee," Esperanza politely answered.

His heart felt alien with every stride she took towards the mall, still, he chose to see her disappear in the crowd rather than drive away the moment she got out.

Inside the mall, Esperanza shopped calmly for Valentina's necessities until she heard the voices she thought she would never hear.

Her legs froze. Her heart hammered against her ribs and her hands clutched the shopping bags tightly.

They were there...

Juliana and her stepsister Evangelina laughed loudly as if they owned every single thing in the world.

Seeing them together instantly brought back all the pain and memories; the hospital room, the stabbing betrayal, and the brief memory of the child they took from her.

Her hands instantly started to shake, her heart raced like there was some marathon. She needed to leave. Immediately.

She tried to leave unnoticed, but Evangelina called her.

"Hermana!" She called her with fake sweetness.

Evangelina approaches with her usual false concern, but the evil glimmer in her eyes spilled the whole truth.

"You shouldn't have left home, Esperanza. I tried to warn you about Carlos, but you wouldn't listen."

She spoke loudly enough for nearby shoppers to hear, painting herself as the caring sister and Esperanza as the stubborn one who destroyed the family over a man.

Unapologetic for her cruelty towards a mother, Juliana stepped forward, openly showing her harsh, cruel hatred for Esperanza.

"Look who we have here, the woman who tried to steal my man and my child."

This was it.

Juliana's one statement replaced the anxiety with fury and Esperanza found herself losing the control of the last string she was holding onto.

"Your child? The child I carried for nine months? The one I gave birth to and didn’t get to hold because you snatched him away?" Esperanza's voice rose.

"The one you didn't want to birth because you didn't want to ruin this perfect... Surgery figure!" Esperanza said with a heavy which was barely in her control.

But none of it affected Juliana.

A smirk appeared on her face, "Oh, yes. Thank you so much for being such a perfect little incubator, Esperanza. But the boy belongs with his real family now; with his father and me."

Juliana's voice was laced with venomous satisfaction, a mocking smirk played on her lips that'll never leave its scar fade away from Esperanza's mind.

"Wasn't she the one who abandoned her baby in the hospital?"

"Now she is playing victim..."

The crowd of shoppers begins to whisper, some recognising the scandal, some whispering the false story that Juliana and Carlos spread in front of the world.

Evangelina faked a long sigh, showing sympathy for Esperanza which was never actually there.

"Poor Esperanza, she never got over losing Carlos. She must have been so unstable since then."

Esperanza listened to every cruel word, every lie designed to humiliate her publicly.

Nothing was new for her; she knew how Carlos always covered up his mistakes. And this was a sin that he would never want to come in front of the world.

She knew this would happen, but what hurt her more was that people judged her with a one-sided story, nobody asked her why or what happened; she was declared evil without ever being heard.

Shutting her eyes hard and leaving the whispering judgements behind, Esperanza spoke with deadly calm.

"Stop calling me hermana, Evangelina. I am not your sister. I haven't been since the day you all sold me to your highest bidder."

Seeing her hands shaking with rage and eyes full of fury, Evangelina knew she hit Esperanza right where she wanted.

But she wanted a show for the crowd that they would remember for days.

She reached for Esperanza's arm in a show of concern, but Esperanza stepped back sharply.

Evangelina stumbled and fell dramatically, immediately crying out as if she had been attacked.

"See how violent she's become?" Evangelina wails, while Juliana rushes to help her, "This is what jealousy does to people!"

The crowd turned against Esperanza, murmuring about her cruelty to her own sister, and started calling her names.

Juliana looked up at her with pure hatred and spat, "You deserve nothing good in this life, Esperanza. Nothing but suffering and death. That's why you were never meant to be a mother."

She raised her hand in the air to hit Esperanza, but it was caught in the middle, and instantly with a firm hold, she was taken back by someone.

"Keep your hands to yourself, Ms... Juliana Vasquez," Diego said, looking dead straight in Juliana's eyes. "I'll not remind you of the same thing again."

"Oh, my God. Is it the famous Diego Alejandro Rowland?" Some girl from the crowd screeched.

While Evangelina and Julian's mouths dropped to the floor, Diego paid no attention to them and gazed at Esperanza, "Got what you were looking for?"

Shocked, sad, happy...

Esperanza couldn't bring herself to feel any of the emotion.

Seeing Diego standing up for her when she thought he had left, shook Esperanza to a state where she couldn't bring herself to form any word.

"Esperanza?" Deigo gently called.

"Yea-Yeah," She whispered.

With a quick, careful motion, Diego took the bag from Esperanza's trembling hand.

He turned a cold, piercing stare on Juliana and Evangelina, delivering a clear message of hostile warning, and immediately escorted Esperanza away.

As Diego escorted Esperanza away, the crowd slowly parted.

But just before stepping out of the mall, he turned around, “Since you enjoy public drama so much, Ms. Vasquez… I hope you're prepared for a public ending.”

And that was the moment Juliana's smirk permanently vanished from her face.