The sirens never sounded.

Valeria drove so fast that the city blurred into streaks of gray and gold outside the windows. I sat in the passenger seat with both eyes covered by soaked gauze, my wedding dress spread across the leather seat like the remains of a battle.

Every bump in the road sent another sting through my burning eyes.

“Can you see anything?” Valeria asked for what felt like the tenth time.

“No.”

The word came out calm.

Too calm.

The emergency physician had warned me not to rub my eyes. The alkaline powder from the fire extinguisher had embedded itself beneath my eyelids, and every unnecessary movement risked scratching my corneas even further.

Valeria tightened her grip on the steering wheel.

“I’m going to kill them.”

“You’ll go to prison.”

“Worth it.”

Despite everything, the corner of my mouth lifted.

That tiny smile disappeared the moment my phone began vibrating.

Mateo.

Again.

And again.

And again.

By the fifteenth call, Valeria reached over and pressed the speaker button.

“What?” she snapped.

Mateo didn’t even greet her.

“Where’s Lucía?”

“At a hospital.”

“I already called three hospitals.”

“Then call a fourth.”

His patience cracked.

“This has gone too far.”

I almost laughed.

Too far?

Not when Camila sprayed a fire extinguisher into my face.

Not when he told me to wash it off and walk down the aisle.

But now?

Now it had gone too far.

“Lucía,” he said, softening his voice. “Listen to me.”

I remained silent.

“The guests are still here.”

“I know.”

“My father is trying to calm everyone down.”

“Good for him.”

“You embarrassed my family.”

There it was.

Not “Are you okay?”

Not “How are your eyes?”

Not even “I’m sorry.”

His first concern was his family.

His reputation.

His business partners.

I finally spoke.

“Mateo.”

“Yes?”

“Do you know what the ophthalmologist told me?”

Silence.

“He said I might have permanent corneal damage.”

His breathing paused.

For exactly one second.

Then—

“But we don’t know that yet.”

I closed my eyes beneath the bandages.

Even now…

Even now he couldn’t simply say he was sorry.

“We’re done,” I said.

“You don’t mean that.”

“I’ve never meant anything more.”

He let out a cold laugh.

“You’ll calm down in a day or two.”

“No.”

“Lucía, stop acting emotional.”

Click.

I ended the call.

Valeria stared at me.

“I swear,” she muttered, “I’ve never wanted to run someone over more.”

---

The emergency room smelled of antiseptic and fresh gauze.

Within minutes, three ophthalmologists surrounded me.

The wedding dress had been cut open so they could reach my shoulders more easily.

Someone gently flushed my eyes with liters of saline solution.

It felt like liquid fire.

I screamed.

Not because it hurt.

Because every rinse carried the terrifying possibility that my vision might never return.

Hours later…

A senior specialist entered the examination room.

His expression was unreadable.

“I’m going to be honest with you.”

My heartbeat stopped.

“You have chemical burns on both corneas.”

Valeria grabbed my hand.

“The good news,” the doctor continued, “is that the exposure was severe, but not long enough to destroy the deeper layers.”

I exhaled for what felt like the first time all day.

“You should recover.”

“Should?”

He nodded.

“If the healing progresses normally.”

“How long?”

“Several weeks.”

Weeks.

My wedding had ended in less than twenty seconds.

Its consequences would last for weeks.

Perhaps longer.

The doctor hesitated before adding one more sentence.

“Did someone deliberately spray the extinguisher into your face?”

“Yes.”

He sighed.

“I’ll document everything.”

His tone became firmer.

“The injuries are fully consistent with intentional exposure.”

Valeria looked at me.

“So they can’t call it a prank anymore.”

“No,” the doctor replied.

“This is evidence.”

---

Near midnight, my mother arrived.

The moment she saw the bandages covering both my eyes, she burst into tears.

“My baby…”

She wrapped her arms around me carefully.

“I should have protected you.”

“You did.”

“No.”

Her voice shook.

“I should’ve stopped that wedding months ago.”

I frowned.

“What do you mean?”

She hesitated.

Then she confessed.

“Mateo came to borrow money from me six months ago.”

My fingers tightened around the hospital blanket.

“How much?”

“Two million dollars.”

I froze.

“He said it was for expanding the company.”

“And?”

“I refused.”

My mother’s voice turned bitter.

“The next week he suddenly became obsessed with convincing you to sign a prenuptial amendment.”

Pieces that had never fit together…

Suddenly aligned perfectly.

The expensive wedding.

The pressure to merge our assets.

His constant insistence that everything should become “ours.”

It had never been about love.

It had been about access.

About ownership.

About me.

No.

About my money.

A quiet knock interrupted us.

Valeria opened the door.

A nurse stepped inside carrying a sealed evidence bag.

“Miss Lucía?”

“Yes?”

“We recovered something from your dressing room.”

She placed the transparent bag into my mother’s hands.

Inside…

Covered in white chemical dust…

Was the red fire extinguisher.

Still half full.

Attached to it was another small plastic bag.

Containing fingerprints.

The nurse smiled gently.

“The police requested that nothing be cleaned.”

My mother slowly looked up.

“Good.”

The nurse nodded.

“The detective handling your case said something before he left.”

“What?”

“He said this doesn’t look like an accident.”

A long silence settled over the room.

Then the nurse delivered one final sentence.

“He also said your former maid of honor has already tried to leave the country.”

Valeria stood up so abruptly that her chair tipped backward.

“What?”

“The airport police stopped her less than an hour ago.”

The room became completely still.

Camila had tried to run.

Which meant…

She already knew exactly what she had done.