She stared at him, clearly lost, then glanced at the door before looking back at him again. Was he losing his mind? Could this really be jealousy?
"You mean... the doctor?"
"Who else would I be talking about?" he replied. Something in his expression caught her attention. Beneath the anger, there was something else. It almost looked like unease.
"I don't even get where this is coming from. He checked my ankle, you got upset, and now you're asking if I liked how he looks? Honestly, I feel like I'm starting to think the same way you do, and that's not a good sign."
His grip tightened slightly, pulling at her hair just enough to make her react. A sharp edge appeared in his eyes.
"Don't twist things around. Just answer me. Did you like him?"
Her hand moved to his, and she pinched him. A faint reaction crossed his face, but he didn't release her. She pinched him again. "What are you doing?" he asked.
"Giving you a response that makes just as much sense as your question," she said evenly. The words made him pause. It hit him then. He was accusing her over nothing. Her attention hadn't lingered on the doctor at all.
Slowly, his hand shifted from her hair to her neck, and he let out a breath.
"Sorry. I just... don't like seeing someone else look at what's mine." Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"And me?" she asked. "Am I something you own?"
"Of course you are," he responded without hesitation, reaching for her hand. Then he noticed. There was no ring.
His expression changed instantly. "Where's your ring?"
"What ring?" she asked.
Maximo's eyes dropped to his own hand, then shifted to hers, then back to her face. Color rose across his features, but it wasn't anger this time.
"I don't usually miss things like that... Wait here."
Without another word, he turned and left. She stayed where she was, staring at the space he had just occupied.
Moving fast, he went downstairs and nearly collided with Dolores.
"Sorry."
"It's alright, sir. Do you need anything?"
"No... I just..." He didn't finish. He rushed past her, heading straight for the office. Once inside, he shut the door and went straight to the safe.
He hadn't given the wedding any real thought, and because of that, the rings had slipped his mind entirely. When he opened the safe, the small box wasn't there. Then it came back to him. He had left it in the desk.
"What's wrong with me?" he muttered as he pulled open the top drawer. The box sat there, untouched. He picked it up and opened it, but his expression darkened the moment he saw what was inside.
He had told his assistant in the capital to handle it. Buy the rings, send them over. He hadn't even bothered to check them himself.
"Damn it," he said under his breath. They were plain. Too plain. At the time, he hadn't cared. He didn't want the marriage. He didn't care about her. His father had warned him she had expensive tastes, so he had asked for the simplest set, almost out of spite. Now, standing there with the box in his hand, the thought didn't sit right anymore.
"I can't give her this." He leaned forward, bracing his hands against the desk, his head lowering slightly.
It wasn't about love. Still... giving her something like that felt wrong.
"For heaven's sake, you're already paying her for everything. What difference does a cheap ring make? She's already received enough. She's playing you. Don't fall for it. She lives off this kind of arrangement." He drew in a steady breath, forcing those thoughts into place before heading upstairs with the small box in hand.
If she didn't like it, that wasn't his problem.
Back in the room, he walked straight to her and held the box out. Carolina took one look at it and frowned.
"What is this supposed to be now?" she asked, her tone edged with irritation.
"Those are the rings."
"Oh..." she said. His patience snapped.
Without waiting, he opened the box, took one of the rings, and grabbed her hand. Her fingers were slender as he slid the ring into place.
She lowered her gaze to it.
The design was simple. Plain, even. But it didn't bother her. She had never cared much for expensive things. To her, the meaning mattered more than anything else. The ring wasn't about its value. It was proof that she was married.
"Thank you," she said, offering him a small smile.
His brows pulled together.
"You're not going to say anything about it?"
"Say what?" she asked.
"About me? About you? No. You mean the ring, don't you?"
"If you're just going to be rude, then you can leave," she replied, gesturing toward the door.
"This is my room."
"You're the one who brought me here. And that was your choice."
They held each other's gaze in silence. After a moment, he drew in a slow breath.
"You're really something, you know that? Dealing with you takes more patience than I expected."
A sharp laugh left her.
"You? Patience? I'm the one who needs that. You switch moods faster than anyone I've ever met."
"So now I'm unstable? Is that what you're saying?"
"If that's how you see it," she replied with a shrug.
"What a woman. She doesn't hesitate at all."
Yet something about that didn't bother him. She didn't flinch around him. She didn't pull back the way others did. She never had.
He slipped his own ring onto his finger, then stepped closer to her.
"You belong to me, Carolina. Don't forget that. And remember what you just said... I'm not exactly easy to deal with."
Without waiting for a response, he turned and left.
An hour passed before he came back, intending to clear the tension between them. When he reached the room, he stopped. She sat there with headphones on, completely absorbed in a video call. A smile lit up her face, and for a moment, he couldn't even make out what she was saying. Fragments reached him. "I'll love it..." "You're so kind..." "That sounds perfect..."
Without thinking, he moved forward and took the phone from her hand. The screen revealed who she was talking to. His gaze lifted to her face. Her brows drew together immediately.
"Hey! I'm talking to—"
"What do you think you're doing?" he snapped. In the next second, he threw the phone to the floor.
