My sister-in-law shoved me into the table, my mother-in-law hit me in the pregnant belly and mocked my mother for being poor. The maid, who was cleaning the floor, immediately took off her gloves and said, "You're right, I came here looking poor just to see who dared to touch my daughter." / Chapter 17 / 40

Chapter 17 - The Dinner of Damnation

Friday arrived with suffocating tension. Doña Carmen was frantic, forcing Margarita and me to cook a three-course meal and polish the cheap cutlery until my hands were blistered.

Diego came home early, pulling me into the kitchen.

"Valeria, do not cause any scenes tonight. Behave, and tell the maid to stay out of the living room," he warned.

I looked at the father of my child and felt nothing but absolute revulsion.

"Don't worry, Diego. It will be an unforgettable night," I smiled coldly.

The guests arrived at eight—two older men in expensive suits and their wives, who looked at the house with poorly concealed disdain. The dinner was painfully awkward.

Doña Carmen, desperate to impress, turned to her favorite subject: humiliating me.

"And what family does your daughter-in-law come from?" one of the wives asked.

Doña Carmen laughed condescendingly.

"Oh, Diego always loved picking up strays. Valeria is an orphan, from a dirt-poor family in the South. She didn't even know how to use cutlery when she got here."

The table went silent. Diego looked down in shame. Fernanda giggled.