Rejected by the Alpha, Claimed by his Brother
Chapter 183: _ Where is María José?

Chapter 183: _ Where is María José?

I should probably get down to the main reason I was here; María José.

I let out a sharp sniff, my patience thinning by the second. "Where is María José?"

The moment the name left my lips, Rosa screeched so loudly that I thought my eardrums might rupture. It was the kind of high-pitched, glass-shattering shriek that made birds evacuate trees and probably sent a few nearby maids diving for cover.

"¿¡Por qué demonios estás preguntando por ella?! Huh? Why the hell are you asking about her?!" she shrieked, face purpling with rage.

Oh, could someone tell me why I couldn’t?

I arched a brow, utterly unbothered by her dramatics. "Should it be such a shocker?" I asked dryly. "I’ve made it obvious from the very beginning that I have a particular interest in her well-being."

Rosa sucked in a sharp breath, her body practically vibrating with anger. "¡Mentiroso! You denounced everything the day you came here and expressed your desire for me!"

Dios, I’d forever hate myself for this. For this memory I lost and for the atrocities and mistakes I had made during the course.

I barely stopped myself from rolling my eyes at how shamelessly Rosa was laying her unsolicited claim on me.

"Everyone knows you’re mine now!" She continued, stabbing a manicured finger into my chest. "There’s no going back, Axel. No matter how much you ask for her!"

I tilted my head, considering her words. Then, I let out a short and humorless chuckle. "If I were you, I wouldn’t get too excited over nothing," I said, voice dropping low and biting. "Especially when I don’t remember a single thing that happened that day."

She was silent at my words as though she was considering believing what I had just said or not.

"What do you mean you don’t remember?" She arched a questioning brow.

I shrugged listlessly. "I mean, whatever happened that day, Rosa, was a farce as I have no memories of it."

"W-What... What are you saying right now, Axel? You don’t remember? After everything... The time we had. The special moment, your confession... you claim to have lost your memory?" She gasped, hands above her mouth as if she was on the verge of hyperventilating.

A part of me felt bad about all of this. As much as I didn’t give a batshit about being with Rosa, she was still my friend and I loved her, albeit, platonically.

I always felt so sad to see the kind of unkind woman she had become, but I’d never want to hurt one sister to please the other.

However, considering how things have turned out, I should be willing to hurt anybody for María José. That was the depth of my love for her.

For a split second, Rosa just stared at me, her lips parting slightly, as if her brain was struggling to process what I had just said.

Just then, Camila snorted. "Dios mío, this is priceless," she drawled, shaking her head with a smirk. "The great and mighty Rosa, throwing herself at a man who doesn’t even remember bedding her."

She swerved, eyes gleaming with pure amusement. "Tell me, hermanita, how does it feel? Losing your dignity in one night, only for him to wake up and..."

"¡Cállate!" Rosa yelled, eyes blazing like a crazed dog, and even I got the chills.

Camila shook, jumping startled. Damn. Rosa was one scary woman. She crept even me out for a moment there.

I sighed. "Can someone please just answer my damn question?"

Rosa turned to me, trembling with rage. "María José is none of your concern!" she hissed. "I am!"

I stared at her, bored. "Right." I turned to Camila. "What about you? Can you kindly do me the honors of getting María José for me?"

Before I could even finish, Camila made a show of suddenly remembering a very important appointment in a very distant location.

"I should go," she said quickly, spinning on her heel. "I just remembered I left something... somewhere... that needs my urgent..."

"Run, Camila. Run," Rosa growled.

Camila vanished faster than I’d ever seen her move. Wow, even Camilla was this scared of Rosa. I wondered just how much fear she must have imbued in my poor María José.

I turned back to Rosa. "So..."

"¡Basta!" she exploded, her voice shrill enough to shake the very foundations of the estate. "I SAID SHE’S NONE OF YOUR CONCERN!"

I blinked. What the heck? Was she going crazy or something?

A few meters away, a group of maids peeked out from behind a column, eyes wide. The guards at the entrance exchanged uncomfortable glances at her outburst.

And then, like a final cherry on top of this absurd mess, heavy footsteps approached.

"¿Qué carajo está pasando aquí?! What the hell is going on here?!"

Argh, for the Moon’s sake, it was Don Diego.

My shoulders tensed at the sound of his voice, and I turned my head just as the bastard strode out from the hallway, all puffed-up arrogance as always.

Then his gaze landed on me. And just like that, his entire expression transformed.

His face split into a wide and pleased smile. "Ah, mi muchacho!" he beamed, throwing his arms wide as if I were his long-lost son returning from war. "When did you arrive? You should have sent for me sooner!"

What the...?

So it really was true. I really came to beg this man and asked to be his minion? Shit.

I swallowed back a wave of nausea. Dios, just looking at him made my skin crawl.

For a brief moment, the world around me faded; the estate, the guards, and the gazes. All I could see was the man who had made María José’s life a living hell. The man who was now looking at me like he owned me.

I hissed under my breath and turned away, walking straight past him without a single glance back.

Let him smile all he wanted. Let him gloat and then, let my arrogance slap him in the face. I was getting out of this place before I did something really regrettable.

I stormed down the stone steps of the De la Vega villa with irritation. The gall of that woman. The absolute, mind-boggling audacity of Rosa to think she could keep María José from me. As if she had any right. As if she owned me.

No. María José wasn’t here, that much was clear. But that didn’t mean I would stop looking.

The guards were my best bet.

The De la Vega estate stretched out before me. The scent of dry earth and manicured hedges filled the air, and the distant sound of horses neighing in their stables was the only thing breaking the quiet.

Two guards stood near the iron gates, dressed in black uniforms, rifles slung across their backs. The one on the left was lean, with sharp cheekbones and a perpetual squint, like he was always trying to figure out whether he was being insulted.

The one on the right was bulkier, with a stiff posture that screamed ’takes himself too seriously.’

I approached them casually, hands in my pockets.

I cut straight to the point. "Where’s María José?"

The lean one stiffened immediately. His squint deepened like I had just spoken in some alien tongue. "Señor, I... I can’t give out that information."

I exhaled sharply through my nose, tapping a foot against the gravel. Right. Of course. These men took their jobs way too seriously when it suited them.

"Not allowed to disclose, huh?" I muttered, tilting my head. "That’s funny. Because the last time I checked, I wasn’t just anybody."

The bulkier guard sighed, shifting uncomfortably. "Lo siento, Beta Axel. Orders are orders."

Orders.

Like I gave a damn.

I reached into my pocket, pulling out a neat stack of cash which was just enough to make a low-level guard reconsider his moral obligations. I held it between my fingers, fanning it slightly, watching as their gazes flicked down for just a second too long.

There it was. The hesitation.

I smirked and extended the cash toward the lean one. "Look, I just need information. No trouble. No harm."

For a second, he hesitated. Then, as if his soul left his body, his fingers twitched and snatched the money from my hand so fast that I almost laughed.

Greed was a universal language.

He cleared his throat and leaned closer to me, eyes darting around before he spoke in a hushed tone.

"I don’t know exactly where she is, Señor. But I can tell you this..." He glanced at his partner, who seemed too busy pretending to inspect the gate hinges to care. "She’s no longer a De la Vega."

A frown lined my forehead. I felt like I had misheard. "What?"

"Her father disowned her."

Disowned.

Why on earth would her father disown her? Why on earth would anyone even want to disown María José? It made no sense at all.

I blinked at the guard, my mind refusing to process what he had just said. María José... disowned? The María José who had once been the De la Vega jewel, the one who had lived under her father’s oppressive rule, enduring every indignity just to keep her place?

That was impossible.

{A/N}

Hi friends!

Happy new month to you all! I wish you an April full of good tidings. We couldn’t meet up with our March goals. We were able to achieve 96 out of 150 GTs and 767 privilege unlocks out of a thousand. Hence, I will only be releasing 5 Chapters each on the first and second of April, and they will be in the privilege pack. Kindly unlock to read ahead of other readers. I promise things are just about to get giddy and tense!

Thank you!💚