A Marriage of Convenience: A Bruno Madrigal Encanto Fanfic

Chapter 17

He hadn't meant to walk in on her changing. Bruno had actually been checking on her because he was worried how she would react with the Rojas over. He was planning on retreating when he first noticed her shirt was up, but then he saw it. There was horrible scarring up and down her back. They looked deep and were layered on top of one another. He couldn't help the gasp that slipped out over the horrors written on her skin.

As soon as Claudia heard the gasp, she pulled down her shirt and whipped around. Bruno wasn't sure what she had seen in his face, but whatever it was caused her to back up. She had never looked at him with so much fear in her eyes. His heart broke at her reaction.

"Claudia, please tell me…how did you get those scars?"

Bruno hoped she would tell the truth, but at the same time he prayed there was another explanation. He knew otherwise, but he wished she hadn't been through the pain that would have caused such scars.

"They're old, it… it shouldn't matter," she stuttered backing up a step, "Just ignore-" 

Bruno walked closer to her. "Some of them looked fresh. We both know how you got them, so please, for my sake, answer the question. How did you get those marks?" 

Claudia was terrified. Her breathing had sped up and the poor girl looked like she was going to faint. In all reality, she thought she might. She had worked so hard to avoid this. She had done everything right, but she couldn't  lie her way out of this one. She had no clue what she was going to do. It felt like a nightmare. Bruno wanted to try and calm her a bit, so he reached out to grab her hand to ground her. She flinched, but let him carefully take her hand in his.

"Please, little mouse," he was begging now, "I can't help you unless-"

"They don't like it when I mess up. If you knew, why would you ask? Why did you have to ask?" she quickly interrupted before pulling away, backing up, and turning her eyes to the ground. Tears slowly began to move down her face. "I'm such a mess up, that I deserve-"

"You don't deserve that! You could never deserve that," Bruno couldn't believe what he was hearing. He slowly approached her with heavy  steps. "Please look at me."

She shook her head, but turned around, eyes still on the floor. He could see the tears now and it upset him more than he could convey. She seemed so vulnerable and terrified because of him. He hated that he had made her feel that way.

Bruno slowly reached out and hesitated for a second before placing a finger under her chin. She braced herself to see a look of disgust as he slowly tilted her head up, but instead she saw the opposite. 

"Little mouse," he brushed a few tears away, "I swear they will never lay their hands on you again. I promise."

He looked at her with such determination that she almost believed him, but she couldn't possibly. No one had stopped it in the past and she doubted anyone would in the future. It was the way things were. The sky was blue and she was meant to be beaten by the Rojas. It was a sad truth of life. 

"You can't stop it. You have to promise not to tell anyone," he tried to interrupt but Claudia continued. "Please Bruno, can you imagine what they'll think? I'm scarred and hideous because of it. I can just continue working for them and it'll be fine. I'm used to it. Please...please don't tell anyone."

As soon as she said that, she was pulled into an embrace. He couldn't stand seeing her in such pain, and just had to comfort her. She moved in closer at the contact. Her tears came faster and she began to shake. He shouldn't make promises he couldn't keep, but in that moment she felt so safe. She had trusted before and it had always come back to haunt her. She hadn't been really able to trust anyone since she was little, but she wanted to trust him. She was starting to trust him.