Page 86 of Own Me

"It is over between him and you,"ZioArnoldo said tautly. "Can you not also see that whenLa Stregamakes a decision, we can only obey—-"

"Fuck all of you!"

Ynez had always been prone to throwing tantrums, but she had never disrespected their mother andZioArnoldo this way before, and Ysabel could only stare in shock as Ynez shoved past their stepfather before storming out of the apartment and slamming the door shut behind her.

"I'm so sorry, Mama,Zio." Ysabel couldn't think of anything else to say. How could her sister say such words to them?How?

"You do not have to apologize on her behalf," her stepfather said grimly.

"Oh, Ysabel." The older woman looked on the verge of tears. "Your face,bambina...are you alright?"

"I'm fine." To admit anything else wasn't even an option. "Ynez is the one hurting more—-"

"You have always done your best to see your sister in the most positive light,"ZioArnoldo cut her off heavily. "And that is why she is still able to manipulate you."

The unusually harsh words stunned Ysabel, and she could only look at her stepfather in dismay."Zio..."

"Yourmamaand I did not make our decision lightly, Ysabel. But we ultimately agreed to the engagement between you andMassimo...since we knew it was only a matter of time before the Marchettis would find out she was cheating on him."

Ysabel jerked in shock."Y-you know?"

They, too, looked at her in shock."You are also aware of it?"

As soon as she explained how she had discovered Ynez's affair, her stepfather was swift to take action and got rid of all the footage recorded by their security cameras.

"I should warn you thatLa Stregaalso knows about it."

Ysabel paled at her mother's revelation. "Is she going to do something to Ynez?"

"She swore not to...if we were to agree that you become his bride."

"And the only reason we agreed to it," her stepfather clarified, "was because of how she had worded things. She had seemed very confident that you would welcome such an agreement..."

Ysabel hesitated at first, but when she saw how worried her mother and stepfather were about having made the wrong choice—-

"It's becauseLa Stregaalso found out that Massimo and I met first. Before he ever met Ynez..."

By the time she finished telling them what had likely happened five years ago, her mother was truly in tears, and Ysabel found herself crying when her mother pulled her into her arms.

"Oh, Ysa." The older woman's face crumpled anew as she pulled away to look at her. "I can't believe you've suffered all this time without us knowing it. You always put everyone's happinessbefore you. You're always so selfless. Do you think Arnoldo and I are not aware of how hard you tried to get over your Papa's death, to make sure we do not feel guilty about moving on? And with Ynez and Massimo, you have done the same thing again."

Ysabel could only cry harder when her stepfather also took her in his arms.

"No more suffering,bambina," her stepfather said gruffly. "Be happy with Massimo. We will support you in every way we can."

Nine

MASSIMO WAS HAVINGdinner with his family when security alerted them to an unexpected guest. It was Ynez, and she was insisting on seeing him.

He excused himself from his family and was stunned to see his ex-girlfriend in the living room, tears streaking down her cheeks and her lip bleeding.

Ynez gestured for Massimo to stop when he attempted to approach her."No."Her voice was tight and full of pain. The one other time he had heard her speak this way was when she had forced herself to confess to him about someone stalking her in the past, and how it had traumatized her for life.

"I didn't come here to ask you back. But I just want you to tell yourf-fiancée—-"

Massimo's jaw clenched at the way Ynez choked at the word.

"Could you please tell her to stop hurting me? She's already won. She has you! Why does she need to have our mother andZioArnoldo side with her, too?"

---