Isla's POV
The fluorescent lights of the hospital corridor buzzed faintly as I stepped back inside. All I wanted was to collapse beside my children’s beds and stay there until their eyes opened again.
But the moment I turned the corner, I froze.
She was waiting for me.
“You witch!” Javier’s mother spat the word like venom.
Before I could react, her palm cracked across my face. My head snapped sideways, heat blooming across my cheek.
“You tried to kill my grandchildren!” she shrieked, her voice echoing down the sterile hall. “You worthless orphan—how dare you pretend you could raise a Carlucci child?”
I heard the gasps. Nurses stopped what they were doing. Patients in wheelchairs turned their heads. The shame scalded hotter than the fire ever had.
Her nails dug into my arm as she yanked me forward. My blouse tore with a sharp rip, silk splitting at the shoulder. "You don't deserve them," she hissed. "Javier should have married a woman of class. Not some stray from the gutter."
Whispers hissed around me.
“Maybe she really was careless.”
“I heard she left candles burning.”
“She doesn’t even look like a mother.”
And then— Sofia.
She stood just behind Javier's mother, head bowed like a grieving angel. But her lips curved into the faintest smirk.
“Auntie, please,” she murmured,sweetly. “Don’t make a scene. Isla’s been through so much.”
“That’s enough.” Javier’s voice cut through the chaos as he strode toward us. For a second, I thought he might defend me. That he might finally put his mother and cousin in their place.
But he only put an arm around his mother’s shoulders and said, “It was an accident. Isla didn’t mean it. Let’s not let things escalate.”
An accident.
He knew the truth. He knew who the real culprit was.
And still he chose to let me burn.
This wasn't the first time Sofia had tried to hurt my children. Only the first time she'd almost succeeded.
When they finally left, I sank into the chair outside my children's ward, shaking. By dawn, my body ached and my eyes were raw. Sleep never came.
That morning, I forced myself to stand —only to see the door to the twins' room cracked open.
Inside, Sofia sat by my daughter’s bed. Her blood red nails glittered as she held a juice box to her lips.
"Go on, Amanda," she coaxed. "Just a sip. Auntie brought it special for you."
Amanda shook her head weakly. "Mommy says... no sugar."
Because of her diabetic condition, sugar wasn't just forbidden. It was deadly.
"Don't be silly," Sofia crooned, tilting it closer. "One sip won't hurt."
"Step away from her!" My voice ripped through the room as I charged inside.
She flinched, but her hand didn't move. I tore the box from her grip and flung it across the room in rage. Sticky liquid splattered across her silk dress, dripping down her perfect blonde hair.
"How dare you," I hissed. "You know Amanda can't have sugar. Were you trying to kill her?"
Amanda whimpered, clutching my hand.
The door banged open. Javier.
His eyes swept the scene. Sofia drenched, trembling with fake tears, me shaking with fury.
"She attacked me," Sofia gasped, voice breaking. "I was only trying to help... to make peace with the children... and she—she threw it at me—"
"You lying snake!" I snapped. "I caught you forcing her to drink sugar!"
"Isla." Javier's voice was hard. "Calm down. You're overreacting!"
Overreacting? My child's life had been in danger.
"Get her out, Javier," I said, my voice ice. "I don't want her near me. I don't want her near my children. Ever again."
His jaw flexed. After a long pause, he guided her away, her sobs echoing down the corridor.
I pressed Amanda to me, whispering into her hair. "I'll never let her hurt you again."
But later that night, when I stepped outside to breathe, I felt Sofia’s eyes on me.
Waiting in the shadow of the stairwell.
"You ruined everything," she seethed. The sweetness was gone, her face twisted with hate.
"Those brats stole what was mine. They should've never been born."
Before I could reply, she shoved me.
My shoulder slammed the railing, pain hitting my arm. I caught myself, but she shoved again.
Harder.
We both went tumbling.
Concrete blurred past. My body crashed against the steps, agony tearing through my side. Blood filled my mouth.
Sofia screamed louder than a banshee beside me, reaching for the rail.
Then—Javier. His voice. His arms.
But not around me. Around her.
He pulled Sofia up first, holding her trembling body against his chest as if she were the one who had
nearly died.
And me? I lay crumpled on the hard floor, gasping.
Our eyes met for one fleeting second. He looked at me. Then looked away.
The betrayal burned hotter than the pain.
