After decades of swallowing my anger, I finally held the leverage to negotiate. I was ready to end things with Evan and the entire Delgado dynasty.
Mr. Porter stood frozen, unable to process my refusal. Eventually, he turned and left to call Catherine.
Not long after, Catherine Delgado marched in, followed by my daughter, Mandy Delgado.
Different personalities. Same expression: cold indifference.
Catherine wasted no time.
"Alice Henson." She spat my name. "Do not think being pregnant gives you the right to put on airs. You are acting high and mighty, disrespecting your elders."
She stepped closer, her shadow falling over my bed. "Remember who gave you this life. Your identity, your status—who bestowed them upon you?"
Before I could respond, my phone rang.
Evan's voice drawled through the speaker, lazy and unbothered.
"Wife, you've rested long enough to cook, right?" He didn't wait for an answer. "I want chocolate cake. Bake a tray and bring it to Hillside Villa. Remember, no peanut butter—Bonnie hates it."
Static crackled. A faint, unmistakable moan in the background.
Evan laughed darkly. "Oh, and bring a box of condoms. Strawberry. Your favorite."
My hand tightened around the phone until my knuckles turned white.
Before I could breathe, a stinging slap whipped across my face.
"Shameless!"
Catherine Delgado's eyes blazed with undisguised loathing.
"As the eldest daughter-in-law of this family, you are useless. You can't even advise your own husband. Instead, you indulge him—letting him drink and revel all over town, dragging the Delgado name through the mud."
Her voice climbed to a shrill pitch. "You couldn't keep the child. You couldn't keep your husband's heart."
She stepped closer, her presence suffocating. "I kept you by Evan's side for a reason. If you can't fulfill your duty, what use are you?"
Her hand lashed out. The blow landed with a merciless crack, surprising strength behind it.
A metallic tang flooded my mouth. Blood.
She raised her hand again.
This time, I didn't flinch. I caught her wrist mid-swing.
"Grandmother." My voice came out steady despite the adrenaline. "If you have energy to blame me, use it to manage your precious grandson instead."
Her eyes went wide.
"At your age, you can't follow him around forever, cleaning up his messes." I held her gaze. "And neither will I."
In all my years at the Delgado estate, I had never once talked back to Catherine Delgado.