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Maricela looked at his hand as if it were something dirty left on the table by mistake.
“No, thank you,” she said.
Ana felt heat flood her face.
Aurelio leaned forward. “And what exactly do you do, sir?”
Héctor answered honestly, because that was how he lived.
“I work in recycling. Scrap collection.”
The reaction was instant.
A cousin laughed openly. Aurelio threw his head back. Maricela shook her head with theatrical disbelief.
“A scrap collector?” she said. “Ana, you never mentioned your father was… that.”
Héctor lowered his hand slowly.
“I came from work,” he said, trying to keep the moment light. “It ran late. I didn’t want to miss her wedding.”
But the Collins family had already decided what he was.
Not a father.
Not a guest.
An embarrassment.
Maricela turned to Daniel with an expression of outrage, as if someone had brought mud into the ballroom on purpose.
Daniel finally stepped in. He didn’t greet Héctor. He didn’t even try to soften the blow.
He stared at Ana and said in a low, hard voice, “You need to handle this. Now.”
“Daniel,” Ana whispered, “he just wants to walk me to the altar.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened. “This wedding is full of important people. Clients. Investors. Family friends. I am not about to let everyone see that the Collins family is connected to…” He glanced at Héctor’s coveralls and finished with a sneer. “That.”
Ana felt something crack inside her.
“He’s my father.”
“And if you want to be part of this family,” Maricela said sharply, “you need to understand sacrifice.”
Aurelio added, “Everyone here has standards. That man does not fit them.”