Page 181 of Scandalous

“Why don’t you ask your daughter?”

Val looks everywhere but at me and waves her hand in the air. “You know Santi. He’s just being dramatic.”

My tio scoffs. “Santi isn’t dramatic. What did you do now?”

I love that my tio sticks up for me. He always has.

Val makes a noise in the back of her throat and crosses her arms as we crowd her.

“You guys always take his side.”

“Oh fuck off, Valentina, stop acting like a fucking victim. Our parents always take your side. That’s why I ended up in boarding school, isn’t it? That’s why I’m always the one who has to leave,” I yell. “Tell them what you did.”

Her baby cries from somewhere, but I don’t turn to look. I’m afraid that if I take my eyes off her, she will run.

“I don’t know what I did, so why don’t you tell them?” she says, feigning confidence.

“You set up a camera inside of our home here and recorded us having sex without our consent. If that wasn’t enough, you then sold it to some online site who published it for everyone to see.”

I watch as the color leaves her face.

“What do you mean, Santi?” Papi asks, looking at Val with disappointment.

“Your daughter set up a camera and taped the guys and me with Aurora when we were having sex,” I say plainly. “Then she fucking sold it. What more is there to say?”

Mami gasps. “Valentina, you didn’t…”

I laugh. “Trust me, she did. When I first heard it, I wanted to defend her too, until I was told the deposit went to her bank account. Then on the way here, I got a text from Ezra. It was a picture of the email she sent to the tabloid with her email address in the frame. I knew you hated me, but did you have to go this far?”

Val takes a step back. “Y-you wouldn’t understand,” she stutters.

“Damn right we don’t understand.” My tio sneers. “How could you?”

“He has everything!” she yells. “He got to leave this godforsaken island and go to that fancy school. I have to hear you guys brag about him all the time about how well he’s done for himself. How he’s taken his trust fund and grown it. Add in Drake turning me down again, and I fucking snapped.”

“How could you? He’s your brother!” Mami sobs.

I run a hand over my mouth as I shake my head.

“Yeah. I chose to leave for school? You didn’t force their hand by lying about me until they thought I was the problem? That’s the problem with you, Val. You always think everything is about you. For once, I had something that had nothing to do with you. Any of you. You took that from me.”

“If you wanted to go to school off the island, you could have said something. We would have discussed it,” Papi says, voice filled with confusion.

He’s doing what he does best. Ignoring me to cater to her.

“Yes, Papi. Let’s cater to her. I’m so fucking tired of this shit. I come home to see you, and every time, she does something to force me to leave. You sent me to boarding school, for fuck’s sake. Am I glad I went? Fuck yes. I met my best fucking friends there, and yeah, I’ve worked my ass off to get where I am. Don’t act like you would’ve wanted any of this for a second. You want the easy road. That’s all you care about.” I shake my head.

“Could I have, Papi? Do you know how many times I’ve heardSantiago got all the brains in the family?” Val rolls her eyes. “Santiago this, Santiago that. Over and over again. It was fucking exhausting.”

“Clearly he wasn’t wrong,” my tia says dryly before looking at me. “What are you going to do?”

“He’s not going to do anything,” Val presses. “I’m family. You don’t hurt family.”

Everyone laughs at the irony.

“You should have thought about your child before you did this.” I look at her.

I want to throw the book at her. Get her arrested, then make her pay. Would that even do anything though?

---