JAY'S POV
The moment I stepped into the Fernandez house, everything rushed at me at once.
"Jay!"
My mom's voice cracked first.
She ran to me, hands already reaching, panic written all over her face. Tita Gema followed right behind her, and my lola stood up so fast her chair scraped the floor.
"Where were you?" Mom cried. "Do you know how worried we were?"
Her hands touched my arms.
I shoved her away.
Not gently.
The room froze.
"What—Jay?" she whispered, stunned.
I stood there breathing hard, eyes burning, chest tight but upright. I didn't look at anyone else yet. I couldn't. If I did, I might lose the thin thread holding me together.
I looked straight at my mother.
"Am I," I said slowly, every word sharp, "an illegitimate child?"
The air left the room.
Tita Gema stiffened.
My lola's face went pale.
Section E tensed like someone had pulled a pin.
Mom's mouth opened. Closed.
"Jay—"
"Answer me," I snapped. My voice echoed off the walls. "Am I?"
Her silence screamed louder than any confession.
Something in me snapped.
"So it's true," I laughed hoarsely. "All these years. All these lies."
"Jay, please," she reached for me again.
"Don't touch me."
Her hand still brushed my arm.
That's when I screamed.
"You kept me away from my father!" I yelled, the words ripping out of my chest. "You made me grow up thinking I wasn't enough—like I was missing something—because you were ashamed of me!"
"Enough!" she shouted back.
The sound of her slap cracked through the room.
My head turned to the side.
For a second, everything went silent.
Then I slowly looked back at her.
I was shaking now—but not weak.
"You slapped me," I said quietly. "After lying to me my entire life."
Her eyes filled with tears. "I did it to protect you."
I laughed again, broken and loud.
"Protect me? You stole my right to know who I am!"
I turned away from her before she could say another word.
And that's when I faced Section E.
Every single one of them.
"I trusted you," I said, my voice rising again. "I thought—for one fucking second—I had people I could depend on."
No one spoke.
My gaze locked onto Cin.
"And you," I said, pointing at him. "I considered you my own brother."
Cin flinched. "Jay—"
"You went behind my back," I screamed. "All of you did. Every smile, every joke—traitors. Every single one of you!"
Yuri stood stiff beside the couch.
My fiancé.
I barely recognized him.
Then I turned to Aries.
He was already looking at me with open hatred.
"So this is what you wanted?" I demanded. "You hate me because of something I didn't even know?"
"You don't get to play victim," he snapped. "Not when everything you are is built on lies."
I stepped toward him. "I didn't ask to be born! I don't know what I did to you but look me in the eye and tell me that you never even for one second think about me as you sister!?"
"No. You died as my sister the day you..."
He roared and before he could complete,
Kuya Angelo moved then—cold, controlled, ruthless.
"Watch your tone," he warned.
I laughed bitterly. "Oh, now you speak?"
I looked between them. "You both knew. And you watched me drown anyway. Kuya I trusted you,you saw me almost everyday, wanting to find answers about my dad,my brother....
breaking into a thousand pieces,even ignoring my feelings and agreeing into a marriage that could save your company but ruin my happiness for my entire life. "
Angelo didn't flinch.
I stared at him. "You're heartless."
Then—
Keifer.
He hadn't moved once.
Arms crossed. Face blank. Eyes cold.
I walked toward him slowly, like stepping onto broken glass.
"You," I said, my voice shaking now. "You're the worst of them all."
He raised an eyebrow. "Am I?"
"You planned everything," I cried. "You used me. You broke me just to get back at Aries."
His lips curved into something cruel. "You weren't that hard to use."
The room gasped.
My chest tightened painfully.
Tears spilled now—hot, humiliating.
"Did you ever love me?" I sobbed. "Even once?"
He stepped closer, voice icy.
"Love?" he mocked. "Don't flatter yourself Jay, it's pathetic.. "
Something inside me shattered completely.
I turned sharply to Yuri.
Without thinking, I ripped the ring off my finger and hurled it at his face.
It hit his cheek and fell to the floor with a metallic clink.
"It's over," I said, voice breaking. "I won't marry into lies."
That's when my breath stopped working.
My vision tunneled.
I couldn't breathe.
My chest burned like it was collapsing inward.
"Jay?" someone said.
Hands reached for me—Tita Gema, my lola, Cin, Yuri, even Aries—
Everyone except Keifer.
Panic swallowed me whole.
"No—don't—" I gasped.
I shoved past them and ran.
Out the door.
Into the night.
I heard them shouting my name behind me.
"Jay!"
"Jay, stop!"
I didn't.
I couldn't.
The world spun as I crossed the road—
Bright lights.
A horn.
Impact.
Then—
Nothing.