Chapter 10 - The Proposal Was Part of the Plan
Sofia had believed Javier proposed after eighteen months of dating.
The restaurant had been filled with candles.
A violinist played beside their table.
Javier cried when she said yes.
Now Rachel reviewed his financial records.
Three days before the proposal, Javier had ordered a private property report on Sofia’s condo.
The report estimated the value at more than four million dollars.
Two days later, he created JVC Urban Holdings.
The following evening, he bought the ring.
The sequence was impossible to ignore.
Sofia listened from Elena’s couch while a doctor examined her injuries.
Elena had finally convinced her to allow a private emergency physician into the apartment.
The doctor documented bruising, a split lip, dehydration, and a shoulder injury.
Nothing life-threatening.
But the photographs were devastating.
Javier stood outside the apartment under the watch of building security.
Carmen paced the hallway.
Neither had been formally arrested.
Not yet.
Alexander refused to let them enter.
Rachel arrived before dawn with printed records.
She placed the property search in front of Javier.
“You requested this before proposing.”
Javier stared at the paper.
“My mother asked me to.”
“Why?”
“She said I needed to understand Sofia’s financial position.”
“For marriage?”
“For our future.”
Sofia spoke from the couch.
“You mean your company.”
Javier looked at her.
There were tears in his eyes.
They no longer moved her.
“At first, I didn’t know what Mom planned.”
“When did you know?”
He hesitated.
“When you refused the agreement.”
The truth landed harder than Sofia expected.
He had known for two weeks.
He married her anyway.
He kissed her at the altar.
He danced with her.
He let her mother cry with happiness.
All while knowing Carmen planned to force the transfer that night.
“You could have stopped the wedding,” Sofia said.
“I thought you’d sign after.”
“And when I didn’t?”
Javier lowered his eyes.
“I panicked.”
Alexander looked at him.
“Cowards often rename cruelty as panic.”
Carmen suddenly turned toward the elevator.
“I’m leaving.”
Alexander did not stop her.
He only said, “The hall cameras already captured you arriving.”
Carmen froze.
Rachel added, “And Patricia has begun cooperating.”
That was not yet true.
But Carmen believed it.
Her shoulders collapsed.
Then Javier made his first truly selfish move.
He pointed at his mother.
“She planned everything.”
Carmen slowly turned around.
May you like
The look she gave her son contained pure hatred.
👉 Javier tried to sacrifice Carmen to save himself—but she had secretly recorded every conversation in which he agreed to use Sofia.
