Chapter 4: Peace at last, but joy?

Elise stood in the center of the room, facing her parents, who had strained expressions on their faces with her already packed box. For a fleeting moment, it seemed as though they cared, but their words soon betrayed them.

“Look at the situation we’re in. We are so financially unstable that we had to agree to a marriage union just to save our family.

We wouldn’t be in this situation if you hadn’t been so selfish,” Margaret voiced out in disgust.

Elise’s heart clenched. “What are you talking about? How is that my fault?”

Her father joined in, his tone dismissive. “You’ve always been a burden. We had to sacrifice so much to fix the messes you created. All the money we had to spend on Clara’s treatments and medications, all the times Clara needed help, it was because you weren’t capable of doing your part.”

Elise’s hands balled into fists. “So you’re telling me it is my fault that you spend millions on Clara’s luxuries? Her designer clothes, her trips, and even the time she beat up a girl and you had to pay to cover it up?”

Clara, who had been lounging on the sofa and scrolling through her phone, suddenly looked up. Her lips curled into a smirk. “Oh, here we go again. Elise, the jealous little bitch, always against my happiness.”

“This isn’t about jealousy, Clara,” Elise shot back. “You’ve been coddled and spoiled and now, I’m taking the fall for your financial mistakes.”

Clara’s eyes glistened, and she let out a dramatic sniffle. “See, Mom? She’s saying that you have pampered me and didn’t raise me properly. She just hates me and that’s what I’ve been telling you.”

Their mother turned to Elise, her face dark with anger. “How dare you? After all we’ve done for you? You ungrateful girl!” She raised her hand as if to slap Elise, but Elise stepped back, her voice firm.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Elise said coldly. “I’m not just your daughter anymore. I am the wife of Alejandro Mendoza now. You should know better.”

Her mother’s hand froze mid-air, and the room fell silent for a moment. Clara’s stunned expression quickly turned venomous.

“Wife of a cripple,” Clara sneered, breaking the silence. “You’re just taking my leftovers, Elise. Did you know the Mendoza family wanted me first? But I rejected them. You’re like the dog they threw scraps to.”

Elise’s jaw tightened, but her anger was immediately replaced with a smile.“You can say whatever you want, Clara. Alejandro is more of a man than anyone you’ll ever meet. Disabled or not, he’s worth more than all the small ‘boys’ you parade around.”

Clara’s smirk faded, and before she could make a comeback, Elise grabbed her box and walked out of the house without turning back.

It did not take long and she was in Alejandro’s estate, only finding her way as a guard had come to pick her from her house.

Her eyes looked over it, and it was massive. The type of house that Elise only saw in movies. And from the name that she had seen on a post outside, the estate belonged to just Alejandro and it was different from the main Mendoza estate.

It made Elise wonder how wealthy Alejandro was.

A maid helped her settle into her room after she met with Alejandro and as much as she felt a little bit of unease, the luxury she experienced made her temporarily forget all her worries.

It had been a week since Elise moved to join Alejandro and though he seemed cold on some days, his presence was much more tolerable compared to being with her parents who hadn’t even called her to check on her.

One evening, she sat at the desk in her room, her laptop open as she tried to finalize her admission process. Logging into her student portal, her breath caught in her throat. The status of her application had changed to rejected. She stared at the screen, her disbelief turning into panic.

“No, no, no,” she muttered, frantically clicking through the options. She’d been so careful, so meticulous.

Was this a mistake? Maybe it was some glitch.

Elise logged out of the portal and back in again and nothing had changed. It still showed that her admission had been rejected. Her anxiety rose. Elise read the text by the side of the rejection text and it showed that it was rejected because she applied for it. But she didn’t!

Who could have done it?

The only person who’d had access to her login details was Clara. Elise remembered the time her laptop had died, and she’d borrowed Clara’s system to submit some documents.

Tears welled up in her eyes as the realization sank in. Had Clara done this? Did her sister sabotage her dream, and why? Spite? Jealousy? Elise’s chest tightened, and a sob escaped her lips.

At that moment, the door creaked open, and Alejandro wheeled himself into the room. His expression shifted from curiosity to concern when he saw her tears.

“What happened?” he asked, his voice uncharacteristically gentle.

Elise wiped her face hastily, embarrassed to be caught crying. “It’s nothing.”

He frowned. “That doesn’t look like nothing. Tell me.”

She hesitated but then poured out the story, from her rejected admission to her suspicion about Clara and how she wanted the admission from the start which was why they gave her the condition of marriage in the first place. Alejandro listened quietly, his hands resting on his wheelchair.

“I worked so hard,” Elise finished, her voice breaking. “And everything just disappeared. Like it was nothing.”

Alejandro gritted his teeth, he did not know what to say but Elise’s family felt like a chore that needed to be taken care of.

He watched Elise cry, unable to offer any help at the moment. The way she was, melted his heart and it made him want to trample on everybody that caused her pain.

He could not yet, but he swore to himself that any other person who gave her a reason to cry would feel his wrath.