Book 3: Chapter 34

Finally, he released her, letting her stumble back, wiping her tears angrily with the back of her hand.

Marcela looked at him, her face flushed with a mixture of anger and sorrow. “You’re such a fool, Santiago,” she spat, her voice trembling. “You think everyone’s out to get you. You think no one’s capable of loyalty, of caring for you beyond what you can offer them. But maybe it’s not everyone else. Maybe it’s you. Maybe you’ve forgotten how to trust.”

He turned away from her, his fists clenched at his sides. She wasn’t wrong, and that was what angered him most. Years of navigating betrayals and schemes had left him wary, cynical. Trust had become a rare currency, reserved only for those who had proven themselves a hundred times over. And Marcela, for all their history, had never truly gained that privilege.

Marcela took a shaky breath, the frustration evident in her voice. “You don’t get it, do you, Santiago? This scandal is affecting me just as much as it’s affe