I had not invited him into the ceremony. He had come because Diego, after hearing everything, had told him that if there was any decency left in him, he should be available to confirm the truth if needed. Not to win redemption. Just to stop another lie.
Valentina stared at him as though she might stop his words by force of will alone.
Martín swallowed.
“She told me you were already emotionally done with me,” he said to me first, because he did not deserve the ease of talking around me. “She said the engagement was dead long before I crossed the line. I wanted to believe that because it made me less disgusting. I was a coward. What happened was my fault too.”
He looked at the guests then, and somehow the shame in his face made him more believable than any polished apology could have.
“But when she found out Diego had proposed, she said she would not let her sister have some perfect ending. She said she’d make sure everyone thought she was the victim.”
Valentina took two quick steps toward him.
“You said you loved me.”
Martín’s expression changed in a way I had never seen before.
Not anger.
Not tenderness.
Clarity.