A Painful Declaration.

I didn't sleep at all that night. I just stayed leaning against the door until the lock clicked open and I jumped to my feet.

I opened the door and stepped out, and the housekeeper moved aside. I practically ran to my son's room and couldn't find him.

I tore through the sheets and he wasn't there. I was about to leave when Rodrigo appeared in the doorway.

I looked at him with tears in my eyes.

"Mati, where is he?"

I said, my voice breaking.

"Did you forget he's my son too, or what?"

"Rodrigo, where is he?"

I raised my voice for the first time and all I felt was his grip on my neck.

"Keep your voice down. Don't you ever yell at me again, you hear me?"

I nodded in panic since we'd never gone that far before.

"Think before you go running to my grandfather with that damn divorce bullshit. If you think that'll make my grandfather force me to even feel sorry for you, that's not gonna happen."

He let me go and I grabbed onto my son's bed to steady myself.

He left the room and I sat there, shaken by the thought that for a moment I'd believed he was going to hit me. Olivia had done it when she found out what happened between Rodrigo and me. Before that, she'd only insulted me, but the day she found out about the wedding, she beat me without touching my belly, since she'd get in trouble if anything happened to Rodrigo's child.

That time I didn't leave the house for fifteen days.

They made up a story that I'd gone on a trip, but they realized that even that wouldn't stop the wedding.

I remembered my mother's beatings over every little thing Olivia made up. She always loved Olivia more.

I looked around as if the answer to where Mati was would just appear.

I left his room and heard the housekeeper running the vacuum.

I went downstairs and she looked at me with pity — you could even call it sympathy.

"Do you know where my son is?"

She kept cleaning and I wiped my tears.

"I know you're a mother, and you'll understand my need to just know where he is."

She looked at me and sighed.

"If I tell you what I know, please don't say I'm the one who told you."

I shook my head and she stopped vacuuming to face me.

"Miss Olivia came by this morning."

She said, and it was like someone punched me in the stomach. Olivia was back.

"She'd just arrived from abroad and asked Mr. Rodrigo if she could see young Matias. So as you can imagine, he ordered the boy to be dressed and sent them both off with the driver."

I nodded and thanked her. I went back to Mati's room and lay down on his bed.

I didn't know what would happen to me if my son rejected me after spending time with Olivia.

She'd left a year ago to go abroad for modeling.

And now she was back to make my life impossible. I knew because she'd told me before she left — she'd take away the only person who made me happy.

My son.

She'd always had Rodrigo's love. Everything would've been so much simpler if she'd told me she was with Rodrigo. Then I wouldn't have done that stupid thing that cursed day. But just thinking that if things hadn't happened the way they did, I wouldn't have my son — that made me doubt everything.

I stayed there. I didn't accept any food. All I could think was that if my son rejected me, I wouldn't have a single reason to stay. It wasn't until the afternoon, when I heard the front door open, that I left the room.

I stopped on the stairs and watched my son arrive. Olivia was holding his hand.

My heart raced, bracing for the worst, but everything changed when my son saw me and...

"Mommy, Mommy!"

He shouted, climbing the stairs while gripping the railing, and I rushed down the steps to reach him. It was the first time we'd been apart.

I sat on one of the steps and hugged him.

I covered him in kisses and checked him over to make sure he was okay.

"I hope you don't mind, but I wanted to see my nephew. He's gotten so big, sister."

"Even if she does mind, he's my son too."

Rodrigo said as he walked in, and she looked at him with a huge smile.

I stood up with my son in my arms since I'd long ago learned how to ignore the rest.

I brought him into my room and took him to the bathroom. I cleaned up and changed clothes, slipping on a dress while never letting go of him. Then I set him on the bed so I could do my hair, since I never liked him seeing me look bad. I wanted him to feel proud of the mother he had.

"Why didn't you come?"

He asked in his sweet voice, and I knelt on the floor to look him in the eyes.

"My aunt said you didn't want to come."

I swallowed hard at what he'd said. It wasn't fair for them to use children like that.

"You know I love you, right?"

He nodded and left a kiss on my forehead.

"I love you too. I just wanted to see you."

I hugged him, feeling his heartbeat.

The door opened and the housekeeper came in.

"Mr. Rodrigo left. Someone's waiting for you downstairs. I'll stay with the young one. It's best if you go down alone."

She told me, and I nodded.

I closed my bedroom door and went downstairs.

Olivia smiled.

She showed me a diamond bracelet.

"Isn't it gorgeous? Rodrigo gave it to me."

"What do you want, Olivia? I've got things to do."

I said, and she laughed, tossing her long hair back.

"I didn't know furniture could do things, because that's what you are — a damn piece of furniture in this house that gets shoved into whatever corner so it's out of the way."

"Why so much hate? I'd love to understand it, because I know it started before the whole thing with Rodrigo."

I said, and she stepped closer until she was right in my face.

"Actually, I didn't even care until I saw you liked him. And once again, I proved that what I want, I get."

I stopped listening to what she was saying when I noticed the red mark on her chest.

She realized what I was looking at because her smile grew even wider.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you — the bracelet wasn't the only thing he gave me when he came to see me abroad. We also fucked till dawn."

That declaration made my head spin. It sounded true, and I'd already imagined what was going on between them, but it was completely different hearing her say it — especially seeing she was telling the truth.

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