Chapter 2: The Wedding Gift
The doctor arrived twenty minutes later.
Carmen was still standing in the hallway when he walked in, carrying a black medical bag. Alexander did not invite her inside. He simply stood between her and the door like a wall built from silence.
The doctor examined Sofia carefully.
Every bruise was photographed.
Every injury documented.
Every mark measured.
Sofia did not cry.
That broke me more than if she had.
She sat still, staring at the floor, while her wedding dress lay torn around her like evidence from a life she no longer recognized.
When the doctor finished, he looked at Alexander.
“This needs to be reported.”
Sofia flinched.
Alexander spoke before she could panic.
“It will be. But not the way they expect.”
Carmen laughed from the doorway.
“You think you can scare me? Sofia is married now. She belongs with her husband.”
Alexander turned slowly.
“No one belongs to you.”
Javier finally spoke.
“Sofia, tell them you’re confused. Tell them you fell. We can fix this.”
Sofia looked at him.
For a moment, I saw the girl who had walked down the aisle believing he loved her.
Then something hardened in her face.
“You heard me screaming,” she said.
Javier swallowed.
“You don’t understand what my family is like.”
“No,” Sofia whispered. “I understand now.”
Carmen stepped forward.
“Enough. Sofia, get up.”
Alexander’s voice cut through the room.
“She doesn’t move unless she wants to.”
Carmen’s eyes narrowed.
“You always were dramatic. Walking away from your family, disappearing for years, pretending to be poor when everyone knew exactly who you were.”
My breath caught.
Sofia looked between them.
“What does she mean?”
Alexander did not answer.
Carmen smiled slowly.
“Oh. She doesn’t know?”
I felt the room shift.
Carmen looked at Sofia with satisfaction.
“Your father didn’t just leave your mother, sweetheart. He left an empire.”
Alexander’s jaw tightened.
Carmen continued.
“Ramirez Construction survived because of him. Because he built half the contracts my late husband stole credit for. And now—”
Alexander interrupted.
“And now your family is broke.”
Carmen froze.
That was the first crack.
Alexander took a folded document from his lawyer, who had just arrived behind him.
“You wanted Sofia’s condo,” he said. “Because the bank is taking your house. Your company accounts are frozen. Javier’s debts are worse than you told your own family.”
Javier stepped back.
Sofia stared at him.
“Debts?”
Alexander looked at her, and his voice softened.
“He married you for the property.”
Carmen snapped, “That’s a lie.”
Alexander held up his phone.
“Then you won’t mind hearing what Javier said outside the bridal suite.”
He pressed play.
Javier’s recorded voice filled the room.
“Just don’t leave bruises where anyone can see them.”
Sofia closed her eyes.
Carmen’s face went pale.
Alexander stopped the recording.
“That,” he said, “was the wedding gift I gave my daughter.”
Sofia looked at him.
May you like
He met her eyes.
“I had security watching from the moment Carmen asked about your deed.”
