Text Copyright © 2025 by Jade Hernández

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No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.

The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, building, and products is intended or should be inferred.

Book cover by: Temptation Creations

Jade Hernández is an imprint of Aleera Anaya Ceres

First Edition 2023

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Contents

Trigger & Content Warnings

Author's Note

Blurb

Ofelia

Fabián

Ofelia

Fabián

Ofelia

Ofelia

Fabián

Ofelia

Fabián

Ofelia

Ofelia

Fabián

Ofelia

Ofelia

Fabián

Ofelia

Fabián

Ofelia

Ofelia

Acknowledgements

About Jade Hernández

Follow Jade

Also by Jade Hernández

Contents

Trigger & Content Warnings

Author's Note

Blurb

Chapter

Chapter

Chapter

1. Ofelia

2. Fabián

3. Ofelia

4. Fabián

5. Ofelia

6. Ofelia

7. Fabián

8. Ofelia

9. Fabián

10. Ofelia

11. Ofelia

12. Fabián

13. Ofelia

14. Ofelia

15. Fabián

16. Ofelia

17. Fabián

18. Ofelia

19. Ofelia

Acknowledgements

About Jade Hernández

Follow Jade

Also by Jade Hernández

Trigger & Content Warnings

Nevermore is a Dark Academia Latinx Romance short story and contains content that may be triggering to some readers. Some of this content includes: Drinking, smoking, the mention of drug usage, colorism, racism, descriptive sex scenes, abusive and controlling parents, corrupt politicians, attempted murder, criminal organizations, sexual assault, faked death, and violence.

Some of the consensual themes and tropes you'll find within are: good girl/bad boy pairing, family rivals, the ballerina and the criminal pairing, forbidden romance/lovers, insta love, insta lust, car sex, light choking, and dirty talk in English and Spanish.

Author's Note

Nevermore is a dark Romeo & Juliet retelling in a modern day Academia setting. This novella depicts the main characters as college-aged adult students living at a private university in Mexico. The story is set in Mexico and features Mexican and Indigenous Mexican characters. This story is meant to be fast-paced and maybe even a little cheesy and romantic. There are dark themes surrounding the main couple however their relationship is 100% consensual and quite sappy. The main female character in this book is a ballerina. I am not, therefore there may be mistakes or inaccuracies surrounding her profession, so please forgive me.

In the event that you read this book and find any representation problematic, please note it is done without intent. I am human and know that I will make mistakes and while it is not the reader’s job to inform me of them, I would appreciate it if you did. If you’d like to contact me, please don’t hesitate to do so, so that I may rectify any mistakes. Thank you.

Blurb

When the ballerina and the gangster fall in love... chaos will follow.

Ofelia Reyes has had two goals in life: to be the best dancer at her academy and to be the politician’s perfect daughter.

A sheltered life is one of the only things she’s ever known, and all the perfectly curated plans change the day she first lays eyes on Fabián Cuervo, an heir to the notorious Raven Brothers gang.

Sucked into a world of drugs, crime, and seduction puts her entire future in jeopardy, but Ofelia is willing to risk it all for love–even a war between families.

Fabián Cuervo has always been his father’s perfect soldier. He’s dedicated his whole life to the Raven Brothers and their criminal empire, but his loyalty wavers the day he sets eyes on Ofelia Reyes.

Their families are enemies, and when his father orders him to use her for their own gain, the two are forced to make a decision that could plunge those around them into a dangerous war that could very well cost them their lives.

Nevermore is a Romeo & Juliet reimagining with dark academia elements and a happily ever after. This novella is an intro into the world of The Raven Brothers and this series interconnects with Los Diablos Motorcycle Club and El Rancho Los Corazones, but can be read as a standalone.

“I was never really insane except upon occasions when my heart was touched.”-Edgar Allan Poe

“My bounty is as boundless as the sea,My love as deep; the more I give to thee,The more I have, for both are infinite.”-Romeo and Juliet

“Quoth the raven, Nevermore.”-Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven

1

Ofelia

“We shouldn’t be here.” My words were tired, soft, and yet could be heard over the thumping reverberations of reggaeton blasting through the speakers.

At my side, my best friend rolled her eyes. “You need to live a little, Ofe.” Her gaze settled on my outfit and she scoffed. “And for the love of God, if you insist on wearing the school uniform, at least make it look sexy.”

It was my turn to roll my eyes. I didn’t bother commenting on the fact that if I was dressed this way, it was entirely her fault. After a long day of school, homework, and grueling rehearsals for the upcoming recital, she'd sprung this outing on me just as I was coming out of the dressing room. There had been no time to think about what a bad idea leaving campus grounds was, let alone finding a suitable outfit.

As it was, I happened to like our school uniform. Forest green, black, and white stripes made up the knee-length skirt, a dark sweater with the academy's logo on the breast, and a white collar shirt completed my ensemble. My oxford shoes clicked on the ground as I walked, and one of my knee length socks had already started sliding down my calf.

“Let your hair down.” Paola reached behind my head, trying to pull my top knot down.

I swatted her away. “Will you leave me alone?”

“Yeah, let her be.” Dani wrapped an arm around my shoulder, pulling me to his side.

He’d just come from rehearsals as well, and yet he’d gotten a change of clothes from the trunk of his car.

Dani was always very well prepared. He was the type to carry several outfit changes for several different occasions. ‘Just in case,’ he always said.

“Let’s just go have some fun.”

Fun.

Their idea of fun was getting drunk at this party, but I didn’t find gratification in it the same way they did. Not when there were rehearsals tomorrow. I didn’t want to twirl on stage with a pounding headache or an upset stomach.

“Fine,” I conceded. “But we should leave early.”

They ignored me as they pulled me through the doors of the party.

Things were overwhelming inside, filled to the brim with bodies, music, and booze. While I enjoyed the occasional party, nerves pricked beneath the skin of my palms, making them sweat. I’d never particularly enjoyed big crowds, though I’d grown up with a spotlight shining on almost every move I made, I could never really find comfort drifting through a sea of bodies.

Maybe I could contribute the lack of wanting to party to my sheltered upbringing. My papá, while lenient, was also very strict. He had to be as he wanted his and our family’s image protected. I understood the importance of this. It was why I never fell out of line; I didn’t want to incur his anger. Not that I’d ever earned it. I was good and I did what I was told. Even though I was off at college and he wasn’t here to spy on me, the rules always remained the same, no exceptions, no matter where I found myself on the map. Old habits died hard.

As it was, my mind was far too preoccupied with thoughts of our current ballet assignment.

Maestra Rosalba had been very clear in her instructions to me.

“This is your one opportunity to shine as the lead dancer, Ofelia. Do not mess it up, and don’t make me regret this.”

I’d been vying after the lead position for years and she’d finally given me that chance. I didn’t plan on wasting it for anything or anybody, which meant I had to be at the top of my game. I had to dance like never before in our academy’s next ballet. I had to be worthy of the Maestra’s attention. I had to be emotional, heartbreaking, and groundbreaking to finally be seen.

Doing so would change the course of my future forever.

Unfortunately, my friends did not see it that way. I was hauled around the party, way past my bedtime, lost in my own thoughts.

At some point, a drink was shoved into my hand, though it remained full, and bodies grinded up against mine, though I remained still. Conversation went on around me, and I didn’t contribute to any of it.

Until Paola’s elbow in my side jolted me back to reality.

“That guy is staring at you,” she whisper-screamed in my ear.

Putting the rim of the cup to my lips, I took the smallest of sips, swallowing down the bitter beer. “I don’t care,” I replied with disinterest.

“You should,” she whispered back excitedly, “because he’s walking this way now.”

No sooner had the words left her lips when I felt a presence at my back that made every single hair on the back of my neck stand on end. A shiver coursed through me when he spoke a single word.

“Hey.” The voice was smooth like silk and deep, rumbly. It was unexpected and surprisingly very pleasant, but it caught me off guard.

Awareness spread through every nerve and every cell inside my body. I’d never heard a voice so deep. Never before heard a voice that could affect me like his did. That voice was a song. It was made to seduce a body like mine into dancing. That much I could tell from listening to it alone. My breath caught in my throat and it felt like time was suspended before me as I slowly turned around to face the man who’d approached.

It was a reality that some people were as bright as the sun and looking at them hurt. Some people emitted sunlight like it lived and breathed through their very veins. Like it was a part of them and radiated out of every single pore.

Then there were men like the one before me.

Men who exuded darkness.

Men who had shadows flicking over their form, crawling around them.

There was a void that surrounded this man, that lived in the darkness of his eyes, and I was sure lived within the very depths of his soul. He was a consuming force. Nothing but obscure danger. I knew innately that this man could possess me. And never before had I so badly wanted to be consumed.

Dark lashes framed even darker eyes. The kind that glowed with malice and bad intentions. His hair was far too long for what was deemed appropriate in my social circles. Long and straight, the ends curled a little bit just past his shoulders. Tiny strips of leather braided through smaller strands, the ends connected to bright beads and dark feathers. His skin was dark, like he spent a lot of time beneath the rays of sun, though his indigenous heritage was obvious. From the slight curve on the ridge of his nose, to the full lips and pretty eyes that crinkled at the corners. He contrasted my more European features of paler skin, brighter eyes, lighter hair.

Colorism was an infection that bled through our society. It lived on tongues and spat vicious words and thoughts.

I knew I was privileged not only because of my last name, not only because of a rich family I'd been born into, but because I had the features of the conquistadores that had bled our beautiful society dry. That had raped and infected us with a racism that still lived strong today.

I never could understand how it was my features that were revered in society when features like his were so much more beautiful.

The strong column of his throat bobbed up-and-down as he swallowed, drawing my attention to the silver necklace that dangled near his neck. It was a feather, and it matched the ones in his hair, only it was silver and the tip was as sharp as a blade.

The leather clad on a body that had a strong scent of smoke, cloves, and tequila. The strong kind. The kind that burned just right on the palette of your tongue. The kind my papá had in a decanter in his office, reserved for his most important guests.

“Hi.” My voice was a breathless whisper. The soft sound made his lips quirk up into a smile.

“May I have your name, preciosa.”

I knew it was a question, but it was spoken more like a command. Soft, low, and mischievous.

Giving my name out to a stranger wasn’t smart. Especially one who reminded me of an unseelie faery. The kind that kept names and trapped you within their fold forever.

But I wanted him to have it almost desperately, and I couldn’t explain why.

“Ofelia Reyes Muñoz,” I offered.

His smile only grew, and he held his hand out in my direction. “Fabián Cuervo.”

I took his hand in mine and a jolt shot straight down my spine. I shivered. He noticed, and I wondered if his own body reflected the sensations that suddenly burned bright within my own. He gave no indication as his fingers tightened against mine, putting pressure as he tugged me closer in his direction.

My body had a will of its own, obeying his silent command and stepping closer. So close, our chests brushed against one another. So close, the sharp tips of my nipples brushed against the insides of the material of my uniform, and I wondered if he could feel them like knives against the rough beating of his heart.

He stared at me like he knew about the goosebumps crawling along my arms. Like he knew about the dampness staining the insides of my thighs or the sudden quick, labored breathing all because his fingers threaded between the spaces of mine.

I loathed to look away from that enchanting gaze. Like a character from a story book, though not a hero. No. He was a villain, and weren’t they always more interesting anyway?

Yet I did look away from that gaze. Only to give the slowest perusal of his body like he’d done to mine. But he was pressing closer, not giving me the opportunity to look, but to feel every hard inch of him against me. Of his heartbeat, thumping against mine in a feral beat, almost like it meant to burst through his chest and twine with my own.

But that was a crazy thought, wasn’t it?

We didn’t know one another.

And yet a single touch, the single press of our bodies together, was like a gate opened between us and everything came flooding out.

Destino, a voice whispered.

Alma gemela, another one said.

And I knew he felt it too.

“Dance with me, Ofelia?” he purred.

“I’d love to.”

Behind us, somewhere far in the distance of my mind, I could hear my friends whistle low, could hear them whispering, could feel their gazes penetrating my back.

I was vaguely aware of his own friends. A flash of them, all clad in black, leather, and beaded and silver feathers just like him, snickering as they looked us over.

No one else mattered in this moment but him. But me.

But us.

He lifted our joined hands and trapped them between our chests. His dark eyes held entire universes, and I wanted to discover each one. Get sucked into the vortex of his soul.

And never come back out again.

2

Fabián

College parties were shit. College parties hosted by the rich and pompous were even shittier.

Unfortunately those same rich and pompous hijos de puta, the ones that looked down on me and my kin, were the same ones that helped line our pockets, keeping them fat with money in exchange for the drugs they used to get high with.

And unfortunately, my father was always making us keep our ears to the ground in order to discover when each and every party would be hosted.

Not like we had to listen too hard or crash them anymore like we had to do years ago. Not when the hosts now invited us as VIP guests because the rich always needed their fix.

And the Raven Brothers were available to provide their poison of choice.

Shitty music bounded off the walls of whatever rich heiress’ house we found ourselves in that night. I forgot her name. Not that I remembered much about our clients unless they refused to pay. Then I noticed.

And I made them pay.

Bodies were packed together at the house. Yet when they saw my brothers and I arrive, they parted, making a clear path for us to swagger through. Though we walked in quietly, our presence was loud, because every little thing about us set us apart from the young elite.

I clicked my tongue as my gaze bounced around, doing a slow perusal of the place, scrunching my nose as I took in a few of their expressions.

Some of them stared at us like we were anomalies. I supposed we were in their circles. With our leather-clad bodies and decorative beads and feathers adorning our longer-than-society-deemed-appropriate hair.

We looked like what they considered us to be.

Criminals.

The small blades at our throats gleamed against the bouncing, colorful lights in the room. A promise. A threat. To anyone who would dare want to fuck with us and ours.

“They look at us like their shit don’t stink,” César, my older brother, said, cutting through the awkward entry.

Eyes pressed heavily on us and we mostly tried to ignore them.

“Ignore it,” our eldest brother, Sebastián, ordered. Of all of us, he looked the most out of place at this party. At thirty-two, he was older than everyone here and it was far too obvious; eyes that were like mine, with a few wrinkles on the corners, and a severe expression that was more intimidating than it could ever be welcoming. “Let’s hurry up, sell the shit, and get the fuck out of here.”

So we did what we came to do. The Raven Brothers: Sebastián, César, myself, and our cousin Santiago. We pushed through the party, swapping packets of powder and weed, aphrodisiacs and gummies for wads of cash until our pants were full.

When we finished, we gathered near a dark couch made of the same expensive leather of César’s car.

“Done?” Sebastián asked. His impatience bled through his tone, and I could understand why.

He was sick of dealing to college kids. He wanted more out of the family business. More responsibility, more action, more everything.

He was too old to be hanging around us, an argument I’d heard him give our papá often enough. But our father was a bastard, and he lived to see us suffer. It was like fucking entertainment for him.

“Chill out, Sebas,” César admonished with a wink. “It’s a party. Have some fun.”

Sebas snorted. “As if I could have fun with a bunch of kids.”

I smirked, knowing these kids, as he called them, were all legal adults. Probably all around my age. However, I knew what he meant. When you’d lived and seen as much as we had, everyone else in the room seemed younger somehow. Especially these people, who probably hadn’t seen a day of darkness their entire lives. Not when they had the pesos to buy lights by the ton.

“Fabián knows how to have fun, right?” César rammed his elbow into my side, the force of it making me stagger. I righted myself, ready to turn that glare in his direction, when my attention caught on someone across the room.

The world stilled for a single fraction at the sight of her.

It tunneled into a single moment, onto a single person that stood across the room. Her back was to me at first, but she turned her body slightly to the side and I caught a glimpse... It was just a glimpse that I needed to know that this woman?

She was going to be mine.

The low lights haloed across her dark hair, casting an almost orange glow around her outline, making her look like some sort of ethereal being. One I knew I had no business approaching, but I couldn’t help myself. My feet carried me in her direction, aware of my brothers and cousin calling me from behind, but I didn’t listen nor did I care. The only person I could focus my full attention on was her, and I hadn’t even caught a full glimpse of her face just yet.

As I approached, her friend shoved an elbow into her side, much like my own brother had done to me, getting her attention, warning her about my approach no doubt.

I stopped shy of her back. Close enough that her scent filled my nostrils, enticing in a way that made me feel primal and needy, a strange combination I’d never truly felt before. I wasn’t sure what her perfume was, but I was addicted as it filled me.

Leaning forward on my boots, I said, “Hey.”

I could see the exact moment she tensed. The exact moment her shoulders moved up and down as she took a breath before slowly turning in my direction.

The impact of seeing her full-on nearly had my fucking head spinning. She was beautiful in the way that angels were supposed to be. It was in the way she exuded brightness, a light that was sure to blind anyone who looked at her hard enough. But I’d gladly live the rest of my life in the dark if it meant having looked at her once, just once.

Her eyes were a mixture of brown and green, framed by long, pretty dark lashes that cast soft shadows against the tops of her cheekbones. Full lips curved into an almost shy smile that threatened to steal the breath from my lungs.

Even in the dim room, I could make out the flush rise from her neck to her cheeks. “Hi,” she responded.

“May I have your name, preciosa.” I didn’t phrase it like a question.

“Ofelia Reyes Muñoz.”

I smiled at the perfectly tragic picture I was sure we were going to make. And the thing was, I didn’t care, even though I knew I should. I should turn around and not tangle my web of darkness and deceit in her perfect little life. But as her hand closed around mine and she smiled shyly back at me, I knew she was already so deeply entangled in it, and she didn’t even know.

“Fabián Cuervo,” I introduced. And by then, my mind had already been made up and there was no going back.

It was fate, seeing her here. And the visceral reaction my body had to hers couldn’t be ignored. Not when I wanted her. Desperately. In a way only fools wanted something that was equally beautiful and dangerous within the same span of breath.

My fingers tightened against hers and I pulled her closer, though she went willingly enough, falling against my chest.

Our hearts beat in tandem against one another, like they were singing a song only we were privy to while the rest of the world fell away around us.

And for some crazy reason I knew right then, and without a single doubt, that this? Me and her? We were meant to be.

“Dance with me, Ofelia?” I asked.

Her smile only grew. “I’d love to.”

There were snickers all around us as I pulled her closer still, trapping our held hands between our chests, the only barrier between us as we swayed back and forth with one another. I wasn’t even sure what music played on the speakers around us then. It didn’t matter, because all I saw was her.

“So, Ofelia...” Her face flushed as I said her name. “Do you come here often?”

A soft snort came out of her, and she looked up at me, a wink of teasing in her bright eyes. “Really?” she asked. “That’s the line you’re going with?”

I twirled her, breaking our conversation momentarily before pulling her back where she belonged. “I haven’t seen you before. That’s why I ask.”

“So you come here often?”

“Often enough.” The wads of cash and bags of weed weighed heavily in my pockets just then. A stark difference in our way of living hidden in the recesses of dark leather. “Which is why I know for a fact, I would have remembered you.”

I liked the way her eyes rolled as she looked up at me, even with her smile still remaining in place. “I’m sure you say that to all the girls.”

Never. Because none of the prissy rich heiresses had ever caught my attention. She didn’t look prissy, though I was positive she was an heiress. Her skin was rich and unblemished, every strand of hair firmly in place in a knot behind her head. Even her clothes looked more expensive than my entire wardrobe. Even then, she didn’t turn her nose up at me like the rest of them. There was something about her aura, something about her that I was drawn to. Even now, as we swayed slowly back and forth to music that was likely far too fast for whatever it was we were doing, she captivated me.

“Only to the ones with tragic Shakespearean names like Ofelia.”

Her full little mouth dropped open in obvious shock. I twirled her again, and when I pulled her back, the expression was gone, replaced with a pleased smile. “You like Shakespeare?”

“I’ve read a bit... Don’t look so surprised.”

“Sorry, sorry. I’ve just never met a man who likes the classics before.”

“My papá used to punish us when we were bad and force us to clean my mamá’s library. It was huge and she had an extensive collection.” I smiled at the fondness the memories brought. Back when life was so much simpler. When we were still too young to understand the darkness in the world. “Sometimes I’d slip a book off a shelf and go through it and a lot of it just... stuck.”

“Who’s your favorite poet?”

For some reason this felt like a test. Like maybe too many hijos de puta had lied to her about liking the same things she did, so she was trying to see if I genuinely meant what I was telling her. It made me wonder just how many pendejos had lied to her, just like it made me want to rip their fingers from their hands for daring to do it in the first place.

Her eyes widened as I began to rattle off a list of my favorites. The list mostly consisted of indigenous poets of our generation who were on the rise to fame, but she must’ve known every single one of them, because her brows rose higher with each name.

“That’s an impressive list.” Her cute little face flushed brightly, even in the dim lighting. “And here I was going to say my favorites are Shakespeare and Poe, but that seems lackluster now.”

I twirled her once again, but this time when I pulled her back to me, there was no barrier of our joined hands getting in the way. I pressed her tightly against my chest, splaying my palm along her lower back, teasing the edge of her wool academy uniform. Beneath, I could feel the graze of her warm skin against mine, and I suddenly wanted more of it.

I bent so my breath swept the edge of her ear. “Don’t ever let anyone make you feel bad about the things that you love, preciosa,” I whispered. And when I pulled away, she was staring at me with an expression I couldn’t quite decipher.

“Now,” I continued, “I want you to tell me more.”

“More what?”

“More about yourself.”

Her voice was addicting, and I wanted to drown in it.

“Well, what do you want to know?”

I smiled. “Everything.”

3

Ofelia

We gravitated towards one another and stayed in each other’s arms like that’s exactly where we belonged. And maybe I did. Maybe I belonged just like this. First, dancing slowly to fast music, following our own rhythm while everyone around us watched on like we were crazy. We were, that much I deducted for sure, but I didn’t care. Then, we migrated to a couch near his friends, where he promptly pulled me onto his lap and held me there. He ignored his friends–all of them dressed similarly to him–and focused solely on me. Having that much attention on me made my throat tight throughout the night.

It was one thing to dance on stage in front of hundreds, but when Fabián stared at me, it felt like something else entirely. Something I couldn’t even put a name to, but I craved it and shied away from it in the same measure.

I knew we’d only just met, but he stared at me like I was the only person in the room. Like I was the only person in the world and no one else existed outside of the small bubble we’d only just created.

His fingers often lifted, sliding along the curve of my jaw line, fluttering down against the pulse at my throat. Every time it happened, I swallowed, and he smirked like he knew exactly what his touch did to me.

I’d never known it was possible to be this attracted to someone you’d just met, but beneath my uniform skirt, I was soaking through my panties, and I wondered if he could tell. Maybe a part of me fantasized as he spoke about his favorite foods that his hand currently on my thigh would slip higher beneath the hem of that checkered skirt and finger me for all to see.

The stray thought had my face burning with embarrassment. I’d never had a fantasy that vivid before and was almost ashamed enough to slide off his lap. But the moment I inched away from him a fraction, his grip tightened, holding me right where I was. In doing so, his palm slipped just a little bit higher near the edge of my hem, and I wanted to groan aloud.

“So, Ofelia...” My attention cut from Fabián’s intense stare and over his shoulder at one of his friends. He hadn’t introduced them to me, or if he had, I hadn’t paid much attention. “What does your family do?”

The guy appeared older than Fabián, by a few years at most, but seemed far more laid back in his mannerisms. He leaned over the back of the couch, spreading his arms wide and wearing a smirk like a trickster from a storybook.

At the question, Fabián turned back. “César,” he hissed softly, a low word of warning. “Déjalo, ya.”

Tension flickered between the two of them before the other one, César, laughed it off. “Sorry, it’s just your last name sounds very familiar.”

“Ignore my brother.” Fabián turned to me. “He’s a chismoso with no manners.”

“You’re one to talk,” César parried back. “You haven’t even introduced your friend to us, yet we’re the ones with no manners?”

My face flushed once again–it did a lot of that around him, apparently–and I held out my hand. “I’m so sorry, that was very rude of me. I’m Ofelia.”

“Oh, I know who you are.” But César took my hand and shook it just the same, swaying it lazily side to side. “I’m César, Fabián’s older brother. And the grumpy one babysitting us is Sebastián, our other less fun brother. And this is Santiago, our cousin.”

I gave my hand to each of them. They all shook it politely, save for Sebastián, who had a tight grip and angry expression as he took me in, though I tried not to let that get to me. I had been rude after all. My mamá always told me it was important to remember my manners, to introduce myself properly to people. Fabián and I had been entirely too lost within our own world, and I’d forgotten myself.

“It’s very nice to meet you all.” The sentiment was genuine, even if not all of them seemed to return it. I pointedly ignored Sebastián’s gaze, afraid at what I’d find if I looked too closely.

Almost as if sensing my unease, Fabián’s hand pressed against my hip, giving it a reassuring squeeze. He glared at his older brother, his dark brows pressing into slashing, angry lines above his eyes.

“Weren’t you complaining you wanted to leave?”

Sebastián rolled his eyes and didn’t say another word as he turned and skulked out of the party. I watched him go, observing as everyone seemed to part and let him through, almost as if some invisible force or power that emanated from him cleaved the crowd in half to make room.

It was a strange thing to witness. Almost as if he were dangerous and they feared coming into contact with something so dark.

I wondered what that said about me, clinging onto a man I just met who’s entire aura felt obscure.

“We’re gonna head out, too,” César said, nudging Santiago and nodding in Sebastián’s direction. “Got things to do. You understand, Ofe?”

I blinked at the nickname he suddenly blessed me with. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t endearing or that I didn’t let my gaze bounce back and forth between brothers, searching through their differences and similarities.

I wasn’t sure why I felt so hungry for more about him, about them. About the strange reactions they created in the people around them. How was it that I was so drawn to Fabián? How was it that his family seemed so feared?

There was more to them that I wasn’t completely seeing yet.

César gave us an exaggerated finger wave before something appeared in his other hand which he tossed in Fabián’s direction. I flinched, but Fabián caught it, holding up jangling keys.

“Careful with it.” With a final wave, César turned and left.

“Your family is... interesting.” I was still staring after them.

“I’m not sure that’s the word I’d use to describe those assholes.” Fabián turned his full attention back to me, his brilliantly white smile a dazzling thing. “Sorry if they made you feel uncomfortable.”

Only Sebastián had. I didn’t say that. I smiled and shrugged. I was used to people and strange behavior, even when I didn’t want to be.

His fingers flexed against my thighs, pulling me back to the moment and the way my body perched against his far too comfortably.

I didn’t dare move away, knowing he’d use that excuse to pull me closer still. Maybe that’s what I wanted, but before I could slyly make the move, Paola appeared next to us with Dani at her side.

“Hey, Ofe.” My best friend was staring at the way my body was pressed against Fabián’s, the scandalously limited amount of space that existed between us, and her eyebrows raised, her smile kicking up suggestively. “Dani and I are about to head out,” she said. “You going with us or...” Her voice trailed off, her gaze bouncing back and forth between Fabián and me, leaving little room to anyone’s imagination as to what she was implying.

My face reddened at that. I wondered if the thoughts were written plainly across my face for all to see. How embarrassing would that be?

I wasn’t sure how to even answer her, either. At least not without sounding like I was in need of... that.

This wasn’t a position I normally found myself in, if ever. I wanted to stay. I wanted to spend more time with him, get to know him without the music drowning out our voices. So I could study the pitch in his cadence and memorize his tone as if it were a melody playing across my senses. I knew my thoughts had taken on romantic notions, notions I wasn’t even sure if he echoed. But I couldn’t voice it, because it wasn’t something I was even supposed to say or want.

Where I came from, what I was taught, women were supposed to be demure, shy. I wasn’t supposed to voice my desires or dreams. There were subtleties involved in the art of seduction that I never bothered to learn because they’d never interested me before now.

I wished I’d paid more attention. Right then, I just wanted to say yes, I was staying with Fabián, a needy and greedy part of me wanting every moment of his time without wanting to give voice to it.

“I’ve got her,” Fabián said with a confidence I wished I could muster. “I’ll get her home safely.”

Paola nodded, smiling and flushing before wiggling her eyebrows once again.

Dani, however, stepped forward, drawing my attention to him. He’d seemed so happy earlier. Now, his entire posture was rigid, his jaw tight and almost angry as he took Fabián in.

“If anything happens to her...” The threat underlying his words was clear.

Fabián let out a laugh that even I, with as little as I knew him, figured was without mirth. “You’ll do what, exactly?”

Dani swallowed, fear obvious in his gaze. He looked at me, and I wondered what that pleading in his expression was. If he wanted me to come to his defense. For some reason, my tongue felt heavy in my mouth and I couldn’t find the words even if I wanted to.

Maybe I should have been ashamed to feel so turned on by the danger lacing Fabián’s tone.

There was something to be said about men who were sweet, gentle. But then there were men like Fabián, with a tone and demeanor that spoke of violence. Like they’d kill a man for looking at you wrong.

And yes, Dani was one of my best friend’s who I should have defended. But when Fabián looked like he was ready to rip someone apart for me, well... I wanted to swoon.

“That’s what I thought,” Fabián said. “I’ve got her.” His fingers flicked, almost as if he were shooing Dani away.

Paola linked her arm through Dani’s and tugged. I watched them go, swallowed up by dancing bodies as they made their way out of the party.

And Fabián and I were alone once more.

“Should I be worried that everyone seems...afraid of you?”

I wasn’t, which was a crazy notion. He was practically a stranger. But something in my chest, down to the very fiber of my soul, told me I could trust him. And maybe I was afraid of many things, but he wasn’t one of them.

“I’m not going to hurt you, preciosa.” His lips brushed the top of my cheek. Warm. Sensual.

I shuddered. “That’s not what I asked.”

He smirked.

“Why is everyone afraid of your family?”

He sighed and his fingers slipped up the hem of my skirt, fingering the skin on my thighs and igniting a slow fire across my nerves. It was a good, delicious distraction, and I knew it was done on purpose.

“Because we’re bad people,” he confessed. “And we do bad things.”

His fingers slid higher up the hem, every caress a dangerous suggestion that had me leaning back first and then into his touch.

I wanted more of it. So much so that the words he’d whispered almost couldn’t be processed by my brain. And that was okay. It didn’t matter.

Nothing did.

“Want to get out of here?”

I swore I whimpered in response.

Fabián chuckled.

“Let’s go.”

4

Fabián

Don’t get the seats dirty.

I read the text in the Cuervo brother and cousin group chat and rolled my eyes at César’s antics. I replied with an emoji flipping him the finger then pocketed my phone to give Ofelia my full attention.

She sat snuggly in the passenger seat of my brother’s precious car. A bright spot in a backdrop of black.

I’d taken her away from the party, content to drive in silence, the windows rolled down so the warm night breeze filtered through. Stray strands of hair slipped from her top knot and flew with the wind, the only thing out of place in her perfect demeanor. I was content to watch her in my peripheral vision, one hand thrown lazily behind her seat, one hand on the wheel. I noticed the way she watched my arms from the side, and the fact that she was looking at me while flushed brought me sick satisfaction. We’d gone on for a while in silence until I found the perfect spot to park. We overlooked the city below, high up on a hill on a plot of land that belonged to somebody I knew, surrounded by an expanse of pine trees.

“Did you bring me up here to murder me?” Ofelia asked, a smirk on her lips and in her tone to let me know she was joking, though her voice trembled when she asked it. Not of fear. No, it felt like something else.

My fingers found the back of her neck, toying with the few hairs that slipped loose on the drive over. I wrapped a finger round and round a single chocolate-colored strand, turning it into a soft curl. Her body visibly shivered against my touch and a smile pressed against my own lips at that little gesture.

“I brought you here...” My fingers lifted to the band holding her hair back. I moved gently, pulling it off so her hair tumbled down to her shoulders. “...to learn more about you.”

As if we hadn’t spent most of the party talking about music and poets and books.

I always thought you could tell a lot about a person based on the literature they liked to read. And I knew that Ofelia hid her pain deep in her chest. Like she took the tragedy she was blessed with and held it close, but she didn’t even know she did it. It was like she was waiting for the misfortune of her namesake to happen with bated breath. Like she knew something grand was coming, but she couldn’t tell if it was good or bad just yet.

Ofelia’s breath hitched and my fingers massaged her scalp, rubbing gently before sliding down the strands to smooth them out.

“I dance,” she whispered, her tone bordering on a moan. “Ballet. At the academy.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a ballet before.”

“You should. They’re amazing. We have a... recital coming up.”

Her breath hitched, so I did it again. “Tell me about it.”

So she did. I watched and drank in every word she animatedly gave, her hands gesturing, her lips turning up in a smile that illuminated the dark thing I called a heart.

“I think I impressed Maestra Rosalba last year. She chose me to lead this year. We’ll be doing a rendition of The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe.”

“How bleak.”

“It’s supposed to invoke emotion,” she said. “It was... my idea.”

Her gaze darted downward, almost shyly. I released her hair to press my fingers against her dainty chin, pulling her gaze up to me. “Give me your eyes, preciosa. Don’t look away.”

Warm breath blew against my fingers as she shuddered and moved her head up and down in a slow nod.

“So, why The Raven? When I think of ballet, I think of things like The Nutcracker or something...”

“Because it’s unexpected,” came her reply. “And I know it’s bleak, but it’s also dramatic. It’s amazing how one small poem can tell an entire story from beginning to end. Like a man’s tragic and lost love...”

“Like his descent into madness for losing her.”

She slowly blinked at me. “All artists have a touch of madness in their soul,” she whispered, shifting slightly forward. Her hair fell over her shoulder. I had the urge to touch it again, so I did just that, wrapping my fingers around the ends. “Madness begets greatness.”

I leaned over the middle console of the car. The space was confined, tight, so pressing forward a fraction only brought us closer quicker. With one hand entangled in her hair, the other dropped to her bare knees.

Earlier at the party, I’d noticed her reactions every time my fingers slid up her thighs. So I did it again. I let my fingers roam over the smooth skin at her inner thighs.

“I’m neither an artist nor great,” I told her. “But I do have something dark inside me.” Something that could now understand that maybe it wasn’t really madness inside the man in that poem at all, but a deep rooted obsession for something he could no longer have.

Fucking symbolism.

“I know.” She shifted forward and my hand slipped up further, encased in the warmth of her body. “It’s the first thing I noticed about you.”

That didn’t surprise me. Everyone always noticed that first. I was a malandro. A gangster, through and through. It made people uncomfortable. Not her. She leaned into me like she couldn’t get enough.

“Tell me more.” My fingers reached the edge of her panties.

Her breath hitched. Her voice trembled. “I–I’ve been waiting for this opportunity since I was a kid. The academy has the best dance program in the country. The possibilities for the future are endless.” Passion leaked through her words, making her bright eyes shine even brighter.

I teased the lace, pulling it away and snapping it back into place. Her cunt had a breath of its own, warm and wet against my knuckles. “You’ve been dancing for that long?”

In the dimness, I could make out the flush rising on her cheeks. “My mamá says I could dance before I could properly walk. If I’m honest, I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t dancing.”

I didn’t know shit about ballet, but when she talked, I could picture her on that stage. Body twirling, moving along with dramatic music and a smile that was both bright and blinding.

“That’s cute, preciosa.” My fingers tightened against her hair and her breath hitched.

“What do you do?” she asked, flipping the script on me instead. Like she couldn’t take answering anymore.

“Whatever my dad asks of me.”

I knew it was a vague answer, and for a moment, her eyes went to my pockets and the bulge of money and weed I had stashed there. Almost like she could see through the fabric and to the filthy secrets that lied underneath. Like she could undress me with her eyes and find the blood staining every inch of me and my life. But her eyes didn’t seem to judge me for it, and I was able to breathe a small sigh of relief.

“He approves of what you do?”

I pulled away a fraction, but all she did was chase my touch, so I kept my palm against her thigh, squeezing and kneading the soft muscle. “He created an empire from the ground up. We’re his workers, his soldiers, and his heirs. He would disapprove if we didn’t take on the family business.”

She nodded, almost as if she understood. Her body leaned closer to me, separated by too many inches of space and stopping just shy of touching me. So far she’d kept her hands to herself, content enough to let me lead. Now, she reached for me, pressing her palm against my chest to feel my heart beating a hard, steady rhythm.

“Do you ever just want to run away from it all?” The question came out as a whisper, like she was afraid of saying it at all. Like it was hearsay to even wonder aloud. But I recognized the burning in the words, the need for more.

Saying what I wanted to say would earn me a beating from my papá. The old man wasn’t as lenient as he used to be. Not since mamá died. And my deepest desires were just that; desires and dreams that lived like wisps of air that you couldn’t see or touch. But Ofelia pulled them from me. That desire to share with someone else who felt the same way balanced on the tip of my tongue.

“Yes,” I confessed, my hoarse whisper barely discernible in the dark.

Her eyes sparkled. “Me too.”

I smiled and my hand tightened on her thigh. “Maybe one day we can run away from it all together.”

It was madness, what I was saying, and yet no other words had ever felt so right. They needed to be said, because I needed her to understand that even though it had only been hours, I’d never felt such an uncontrollable madness with anyone other than her. I never felt the twisting in my stomach or the secrets perched on the edge of my tongue ready to slip at any careless moment.

I didn’t do this.

I didn’t drive on hillsides with rich academic princesitas. I didn’t sit and toy with their hair or listen to their secrets. I fucked and I left. It was how it always had to be.

But for the first time in my life, I wanted more. And for the first time in my life I aimed to take it.

Her answering smile was shy. “That would be a dream, wouldn’t it? To run away and never look back.”

I leaned closer, breathing in her sweet scent. She startled at my abrupt proximity. Like she wasn’t quite used to me yet, even with my hands caressing her skin. That was okay. She would be.

“One day, Ofelia Reyes Muñoz, one day I am going to take you away to be free.”

When our lips finally touched, it was like the universe opened and the secret to life and death and the cosmos presented itself to me right then and there. I groaned, a desperation gripping me that I’d never known before. Ofelia echoed the sound back at me, our lips and tongues tangling together in a slow dance that kicked up our heartbeats, the pounding sound of both a deafening cry within our confined space.

I grunted, pulling away, but she only followed after. In a lithe movement, she’d hopped over the middle console to straddle my lap. Displaying a confidence she hadn’t before, Ofelia dug her palms onto the leather just above my shoulders for support. With our lips locked tightly together, her chest met my own and I could feel her heart beating against mine. Every inch of her was tight against every inch of me. Her hips ground down against mine and I jerked up to meet her, my dick tight and aching beneath the confines of my jeans.

I tore my mouth away from hers, our foreheads kissing, our breaths taking each other in with slow precision.

“Fuck, preciosa.” The breath expelled from my chest. A fire ignited in my chest, begging to claw its way out. “I need you.”

Our eyes held, a thousand things passing between us in a single instant. We didn’t know one another well enough to gauge every little thing, but it didn’t matter right then because somehow, we both just knew what we wanted and were willing to take it.

My hips lifted, pressing to her center. The fabric of her checkered skirt bunched up at her waist, revealing the lacey cream-colored panties she wore underneath.

My fingers itched to tear them off her body and dig my face into her center and ravage her like a starving man. That would come, I was sure of it. But for now...

My cock throbbed beneath my pants, begging for her attention.

Chocolate hair tumbled over her shoulders, surrounding us in a curtain of privacy. I reached up, flicking the waves over her shoulder to expose the nape of her neck. Her pupils dilated with every movement I made, and her teeth bruised her bottom lip.

“Sácalo,” I ordered.

Her breath hitched. My hips shot up and the moan she gave me in return traveled down the length of my spine. Pleasure gripped me tight, refusing to let go.

“Sácalo,” I repeated. “Take my dick out, princesita.”

5

Ofelia

I’d never found myself in this position before. Not with a boy–who I knew was completely bad for me–beneath me inside an expensive classic car, his body pressed against mine like he would explode if I didn’t move soon. He was at my mercy somehow, but strangely enough he didn’t realize that I was at his too.

Following his orders, I reached for the button of his dark jeans, my fingers trembling as I flicked them open. It wasn’t fear that pushed me forward. It was excitement, and maybe a little bit of nerves as well.

I knew I’d been the one to climb over the console to hop onto his lap, but I hadn’t expected things to go this far. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t wanted them to, though.

Fabián lifted his hips, helping me slide his jeans down past his thighs. The tight confinement of the car only allowed for a little room and that miniscule space kept us pressed close to one another. I lifted onto my knees, staring down at the tight black boxers that hugged the curve of his hard cock.

The only sound as I reached for the elastic at his waist was our mingled breathing. I slipped my hand inside first, causing Fabián to grunt at the first brush of my hand against the tip of him. He was wet and hard, and my fingers clasped around his length, sliding up and down before I gave him his wish and helped free his cock from his boxers.

For a moment, I stared at it, feeling a small sense of intimidation in my gut at the thick length of him. I tugged at it experimentally and he groaned, fingers tightening around my hair in a rough way that almost felt like a punishment.

I wasn’t sure what I was being punished for, but I accepted it just the same, a cry falling from my lips and my panties dampening in an embarrassing way that made my thighs clench around him.

There was something empowering about holding the most vulnerable part of a man in the palm of my hand. The way his breath hitched as I made a twisting motion with my hand as I slid my palm down further.

“Fuuuuuuck.” The word was a long, drawling growl followed by his head banging against the leather seat.

“I can’t wait, princesita. You’re killing me.”

His hands dove towards my panties, and I finally cried out as he slid his fingers against the wet material, pushing the lace into me. My insides clenched as he fisted the waist of my underwear, yanking them upward hard. I screamed as they dug into every crevice, biting painfully at my clit, but causing ecstasy to flash behind my eyelids at the same time.

“Yes,” Fabián whispered, shoving my hand away from his dick. In seconds, he had both of my arms trapped behind me, his hand locking tightly around my wrists, pinning them against my lower back.

His eyes flashed in the darkness and his grin was a feral thing on his face. “¿Estás segura?” he whispered, the question sliding over my skin like a touch. “Do you really want this?”

I nodded, and his grip on my wrists tightened.

“I need to hear you say the words, Ofelia. Dime.”

“Yes. Yes, I want this.”

Something in his gaze softened and then his grip loosened, giving me free reign of my hands once again.

Fabián leaned back against the leather seat, inhaling deep and expelling it slowly through the mouth. “You deserve better than this.” He gestured between us then around, as if saying I deserved better than to be fucked inside a car. Yet there was an underlying meaning to his words that I picked up right away. Maybe it was the sadness residing in the darkness of his eyes, but I caught it quickly enough.

He thought I deserved more than him.

My hands framed his cheeks, thumbs curving over his sharp cheekbones. “This...” I pressed against him so he could feel the pounding of my heart against my chest. “This is exactly what I want, Fabián.”

It was like the words I’d whispered snapped the last bit of his tethered restraint. His palms slid across my chest, pressing intimately over every little piece of me, stopping a fraction on my small breasts before he pushed my upper body against the steering wheel. His hands made their trek over my body, and I watched with hooded eyes as they curved over my thighs before going under and lifting.

I fell back against the wheel with a gasp. It dug into my back and my hands flailed out, one slapping against the window, the other on the dashboard behind me for purchase. A laugh bubbled out of my mouth at the awkward position and pinch against my spine, but that discomfort was quickly replaced with the soft caress of pleasure as Fabián’s hand smoothed under the curve of my back. His other hand adjusted my thighs on his shoulders, the position forcing me to use my upper body strength to hold myself up, waist level with his face.

He hummed a low and satisfied sound. “It’s a good thing you’re a dancer, princesita.”

Pushing against my palms to keep my balance, I looked down at the top of his dark head. “And why is tha–” I broke off on a gasp as his head miraculously disappeared beneath my checkered skirt and his lips found my damp center. He traced his tongue along the edge of my panties in a sliding, teasing motion.

The noises I made were soft, breathless, and my eyes stayed trained on the roof of the car, body tense with anticipation. I couldn’t predict where he’d go next. One moment his lips were sliding along the creases of lace and the next, his mouth was open against my center, wetting me, but not quite touching where I needed him to.

I canted my hips, blindly searching for the direction of his mouth. Right then I wanted more than anything to see him. Instead, I was stuck staring at the lifted hem of my own skirt.

I whispered his name and his shoulders lifted, reminding me of the burn in my thighs as I held myself up, pistoning my hips just so he’d have another taste and so I’d have bliss.

It came seconds later when I felt how my panties were pulled to the side and suddenly, there were his lips. They closed around my clit and sucked.

“Oh, fu–” My head and entire body bowed back, the movement causing the car’s horn to blare and blare and blare...

It faded into the background. All sound drifted away until I could only focus on one thing. The way his lips devoured every inch of me from the inside out. I was already on the edge of desperation. Dancing with him all night, feeling every bit of him pressed against me. Sitting on his lap, the roving way his hands trailed along exposed skin, teasing, but not quite giving...

It all came down to this moment in time, heightening every sensation.

I came with seemingly no effort at all. It tore through me with vicious abandon, creating a tidal wave of electricity through my entire body. I gave into the spasms, retreating into a space in my mind where the only thing that existed was the feeling of falling.

Slowly, I came back to reality to the horn still blaring, my body convulsing with the slightest pulses of electric shock, and Fabián’s face still pressed between my legs. He took slow sips from my center, using his tongue and his lips in the slowest of movements to bring me back to the height of ecstacy.

I sighed and pushed myself off the horn, the abrupt cut off of the noise was jarring, bringing attention to the sound of his tongue slurping my juices beneath my skirt.

“Fabián.” His name came out as little more than a breathless whimper. “Fabián, wait...” My face was flushed and sweaty, and my head thrashed from side to side, peeking into the darkness outside as if I’d find someone there watching us. But there was nothing except a blur of trees and darkness to be seen beyond the fogged up windows.

Fabián hummed as he pulled away and for a second my body felt empty without him there. A second later he came out from under with a grin wide on his face. It was equal parts mischievous and satisfied. And far too content.

“Come here, princesita.”

It took some tight and uncomfortable maneuvering, but he pulled me back onto his lap. With a pull of a lever, the seat of the car shot back and he leaned with it, settling back and looking up at me through heavy, passion-filled lids.

His hands trailed up my thighs, pushing up my skirt to my waist as he went. The ardent touch sparked desire all over again with the slow, sensual way he did it. He explored my skin like it was a map he meant to memorize and his eyes sparked with a fire that touched the very core of my soul.

“Mierda,” he whispered, his gaze boring into my center.

I looked down to see what he was seeing. A torn scrap of lace skewed sideways and the glistening folds of my swollen pussy greeted me. My face flushed hotter at the sight, but he stared at it like it was a treasure.

“Que bonita,” he praised. And he wasn’t talking to me.

I squirmed above him, the tight space only pushing me closer instead of away.

His thumb slid through the wetness, spreading my folds apart. “Tan mojada que estás, princesa.”

I wasn’t used to that. To the men I’d been with being vocal in anything. All my experiences had always been quick but mostly quiet. They’d get what they wanted within a few thrusts and then we’d go our separate ways. No one had ever praised me like that. No one had ever looked at me like I held the sun in my body to shed light on the universe.

He played with the mess we’d made together, smearing it across my skin, shoving it back inside. His fingers pressed through my channel, scissoring and playing.

“Te vez tan bonita así,” he praised once more. “Pero you’d look so much nicer on my cock.”

He gripped my thighs and pulled me down, staring into my eyes, moving slowly. Almost like he was giving me enough time to stop him before we got that far. But I wanted this, and I didn’t make a sound except a hissed “Yesss...” as he pulled me and speared me onto his dick.

A single, hard thrust and he was inside me. I gasped at the feeling of being so full. It felt like he was further than what he was. Up to my throat, down to my soul. The breath caught and I couldn’t expel it.

“Muévete, princesa,” he ordered, sliding his hand up to my throat. “And breathe.”

I slowly let out the breath, enjoying the warmth of his palm around my throat. He lightly choked me and the pressure around my neck made my hips jolt forward over him.

It was awkward and tight, and we both had on far too many clothes for my liking, but somehow it worked and it was everything I ever needed.

“Muévete,” he said again. “Fuck me as you wish.”

And how could I turn down that offer?

My hips began to move. Slowly, uncertain at first, but when I found a pace I liked, when our bodies connected and I felt a zing of pleasure travel from my clit all the way down to my toes, I moved faster and faster. And Fabián met my thrusts with some of his own. His nails dug into my hips, his fingers tightened around my throat, trapping the breath behind my lips.

After a moment he released me, and the pressure inside felt like too much for even him. His thrusts became uneven, his hips stuttering against mine. He leaned back, his groans becoming pleas and praises on his mouth.

“Oh, fuck, Ofelia...” His palm thrashed out, slapping against the car window as he rose to meet me. Our bodies pressed together, my thighs and knees burning as I straddled him in the tight confines. But he pulled me close so our chests touched. And even through the sweater of my uniform, I felt his heart beating just like I felt the stab of his feathered necklace like a knife.

Unable to hold myself back any more, my fingers tore through his hair, over the long dark strands–though still careful with the pretty beads and feathers–and I inhaled the clove scent of his shampoo.

“No sabes lo que me haces,” he gasped in my ear.

“I think I do know.” Because he did the same thing to me.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck–” He repeated the words like a mantra as he drove me up, higher and higher until the both of us fell into bliss.

Our bodies rode the wave at the same time, shuddering together until we became a tight heap of tangled limbs. Our chests rose and fell together, our breaths ragged as we breathed one another in.

“Fuck, princesa.” He shoved aside my errant strands of hair to press a kiss to my lips. Something about this moment felt sacred in a way. Like we’d connected in the same way when we’d first seen one another. It was a drawing towards each other like moths to flames, and we couldn’t seem to look away. We shared the sentiment, the same breath. And Fabián smiled. “You’re stuck with me now,” he whispered. “Siempre.”

The words were an echoed promise. And one I could only return.

“Por siempre.”

6

Ofelia

The morning light framed the building of my dorm.

While the academy itself looked like an ancient Catholic cathedral, the dorm rooms were more modern in their layout. With plants and small trees sprucing the edges, it was painted white and green, the sight welcoming and melancholy at the same time.

There were rules about leaving academy grounds at certain hours, but because we were all adults and most of us treated the grounds with respect, the rules weren’t enforced as often. I always thought it had to do with the fact that almost everyone at the academy was... well, rich. The people who attended came from prominent, powerful families involved in politics or something similar.

It was no surprise that when Fabián dropped me off the next morning, there was no one there to stop, reprimand, or write me up for arriving at the early hours in the morning.

Hand in hand, Fabián walked me up to the entrance. He whistled low as his dark gaze trailed up the tall building.

“Damn,” he said, sounding impressed. “This is huge.”

“I only live here during the school year,” I explained. “When school’s over I go back home.”

“So this is your home away from home,” he murmured. “That sounds pretty nice.”

“I know it probably sounds stupid, but I like it here at this school.” I shifted my stance, smoothing a sweaty palm down on my thigh. Nerves suddenly welled through my system at what I was about to say, if only because they were words no one else had ever heard before.

As a rule, I tried to keep my deeper feelings to myself, but I wanted to share them with Fabián. Even if I never gave them to anyone else, at least he’d be the bearer of more than just my body. He’d have my secrets as well.

“My parents love me, but... growing up, I always felt alone. Living in a huge house with nothing but nanas to take care of me while my parents were out at meetings or traveling across the country became a lonely existence. When I’m here, I know I’m surrounded by people who’ve lived the same life as me, and sometimes when you’re a lonely bird surrounded by more lonely birds... the world can sometimes be a little less daunting.”

Fabián squeezed my hand, a gesture of support I appreciated. “My parents were only ever in our business,” he shared. “That can get just as exhausting.”

We smiled at each other. Two strangers who somehow understood more than the people I’d known in my whole life. Already, he had pieces of me I hadn’t shared with just anyone. We shared an innate connection, one I didn’t want to ever end.

Almost as if reading my mind, Fabián pulled me close. He smiled, and it pushed the darkness away from his expression, lighting him up like a steady flame. His hair was disheveled, the bright beads and silver feathers gleaming under the early morning light.

I doubted many people saw him like this. I couldn’t be sure, but there was something vulnerable about him as he stood in front of me. Maybe it was what we’d shared the night before, bleeding into the spaces of memory and physical touch. Or maybe it was more.

“I want to see you again,” he stated firmly.

“Yes.”

Something sizzled between our connecting gazes, but after a minute he nudged me lightly. “Go,” he urged. “Before you get in trouble or something.”

One of my brows raised, my lips curling in a teasing manner. “Like you care if I get in trouble or not.”

His expression grew serious, eyes as sharp as the feathered blade he wore around his throat. “I do care,” he said. “I care a lot. Now go and I'll call you later.”

“Promise?” I asked, a sudden vulnerable part of me worried that maybe he was lying. That maybe this wasn’t as real as I thought it was. That it was just a fantasy and he’d gotten what he wanted out of me the night before and he wouldn’t ever be back. Those thoughts made me incredibly sad, and it felt like there was a fist tightening around my chest, squeezing until there was hardly any breath left in me to breathe.

I was being ridiculous, I knew. He’d given no indication that he felt that way at all. But the truth of the matter was, I didn’t know him that well, no matter how my heart screamed that he was mine.

Fabián seemed to read the insecurities I was trying to keep a tight lock on. He pulled me closer, positioning me in front of him so he could bend down. The tips of his dark hair tickled my cheeks, and his decorative beads grazed me like a touch of his fingers.

Our lips came together softly. This time it wasn’t laced with the same passion as they had been last night. This was tame, yet it didn’t feel like a farewell. When he pulled away, there was a darkness in his gaze. The kind that I noticed when I first saw him the night before. The kind that would have made me tremble with fear if I didn’t like it so much. The kind that made someone want to run for the light. And yet for some reason it was a darkness I wanted to burrow myself in and never emerge from if I could help it.

The kind that didn’t scare me at all.

“Trust me,” he whispered. “Nothing in this world could keep me away from you.”

Rehearsals, as always, were grueling. Every single muscle in my body screamed for reprieve, but I pushed myself harder in my determined motivation. Sweat coated every inch of me like a second layer of skin.

My bodysuit and leotard pressed up against every crevice, and I had to fight not to fidget and yank the material away.

I was exhausted.

Staying up all night hadn’t done me any favors when it came to rehearsals, but a huge part of me felt energized and I knew it was because of Fabián. My thighs burned with an ache that I knew was from straddling him in the tight space of that car. I’d covered up the red marks against my neck with makeup, but it was smudging off the more I sweat. I pretended not to notice the stares the other dancers gave me. Particularly the angry pulsing ones I was receiving from Daniel.

We’d been paired together. For the recital, he was to interpret the protagonist of ‘The Raven’. His choreography was erratic, yet there was a certain structure to it that made him incredibly beautiful when he moved. Whereas I was the counterpart. The woman the protagonist had lost... and the very embodiment of his madness.

Our choreography was a back and forth. I taunted him with my body, enticed, and laughed. And he followed like a puppet on a string, everything rising to a crescendo until...

Madness.

Usually, Daniel and I spent most of class smiling and joking when Maestra wasn’t looking, but this class he barely turned his eyes in my direction, and when he did, I could feel the pulsing anger coming off of him waves. He glared at the spots on my neck with his brow furrowed like he was in deep concentration.

When he lifted me, his touch was just a little bit too tight. He didn’t seem to care that it hurt when he dug his fingers into the skin at my waist, and I couldn’t seem to voice my discomfort. But by the time class ended, I was fuming.

I slipped a pair of academy sweatpants over my uniform, pulling on the forest green hoodie to keep away the chill, and gathered my things before I stormed off.

“Ofelia!” He tried to stop me.

I ignored him, stomping down the academy steps.

“Ofelia!” he called out. “Wait!”

I whirled, my dance bag slapping me against my thighs. “What do you want?”

“I’m trying to apologize.” He appeared out of breath before me, and while his expression was appropriately chagrined, I wasn’t sure if he was sincere or not.

Cocking my head to the side, I placed a hand on my hip. “Apologize for what, exactly? For ignoring me the entire class? Or maybe for being a little too rough while we danced and hurting me?”

He looked at me with a sheepish expression. “Yes... For all of that.”

I sighed, gentling my tone. “What’s going on with you? You’re never usually this...” I gestured at him for emphasis. “Is something wrong?”

“I was worried about you, you know,” he blurted. And while he’d looked sheepish just a moment ago, he looked angry all over again now. “When you left with that guy. When you didn’t come back to your dorm, when you didn’t answer your text messages.”

I didn’t particularly like the thought that he’d been spying on me, waiting in the girl’s dorm for me to come back. It didn’t paint a nice picture of him in my head. We were friends, but I never once questioned him when he went out and hooked up with girls. I also never blew up his phone either. Being on the other end of that didn’t quite sit well in my stomach. It felt like he was being an overprotective brother and reminded me enough of my father that it left a sour taste on my tongue.

“I was perfectly fine,” I dismissed, my annoyance growing.

“But you didn’t know if you would be or not. Then you show up this morning with–” He broke off, eyes wandering to my neck.

I slapped a hand over the marks that I knew were there but everyone had already seen them anyway. It was obvious what I’d been up to the night before, but I didn’t like the way he was scrutinizing me. Like he was my father.

I wasn’t a prude, but I was known around campus for not sleeping around. I rarely had relationships, but I wasn’t completely uptight and I wasn’t some angel either.

Frankly, I didn’t understand why he was so scandalized. The way he stared at me made me feel... vulnerable. I didn’t like his gaze on that particular part of me. I didn’t like the way he glared at the evidence of last night. It felt too open and that was something I only wanted Fabián to see.

“You showed up this morning with his marks all over you like they were some sort of trophy,” he said finally.

My face heated with rage and embarrassment.

“So what if I did?” I demanded. “I’m allowed to have fun too, you know. And I don’t say anything when you go out with a bunch of women. Why do you think you have a right to say anything about what I do or don’t do? Or even comment on it for that matter...”

“Jesus Christ, Ofelia.” He ran his hands through his hair. “You have no idea who he is, do you?”

“I have a perfectly good idea of who he is.”

“He’s a Raven Brother!” he practically screamed.

I cast a cautious glance around. Nobody was watching us, but I didn’t like the way his voice rose either. I didn’t like arguing out in public. My father’s warnings rang through my mind about our family, our image. Sudden dread shivered through me. I’d already risked a lot by showing up at rehearsals with hickeys on my neck. I didn’t want to add to any rumor mill by arguing with one of my best friend’s out in public, where people would be far too happy to hit record and post on a gossip site.

But I couldn’t walk away from this argument, and by the look in Daniel’s eyes, he wasn’t going to let it go either.

“So?” I asked.

“So, him and his family are criminals. They’re drug dealers.”

“Is that supposed to scare me? I happen to know for a fact that you’ve smoked weed and other things.” My brow lifted and red touched the tops of his pale cheeks at the reminder of all the things he liked to do at parties. I’d witnessed so much throughout our years of friendship, and I’d never once judged him for it. Not the way he was judging me now. “Do you want me to shun him for something that you do?”

Daniel shook his head back and forth as if trying to expel his embarrassment. “There’s a difference, you know.” His teeth clenched together. “Between consuming it sometimes at parties and actually making a living off of it.”

I rolled my eyes so hard I nearly saw the back of my skull. I shifted my stance, taking a step away from him. “Don’t try to act like you’re high and mighty.” I didn’t particularly like this version of my friend. A version I’d never seen before. “Don’t act like you’re better than them.”

He gave me the slightest shake of his head. “But we are better than them. You’re better than him, and he doesn’t deserve you.”

“And I am so done with this conversation.” I whirled, giving him my back. I didn’t want to keep talking about this because I knew there would be no winning. I wouldn’t be able to change Daniel’s mind. He was far too obstinate, especially when he thought he was right. I wasn’t going to fight to try and change his mind about Fabián, because Daniel’s was already made up. It was going to be a fruitless battle, and neither of us would budge. It just wasn’t worth it.

I didn’t want to explain myself to him. Hell, I didn’t have to. I was a grown woman and he was my friend, not my keeper, and certainly not my father. I didn’t owe anybody an explanation about what I did or who I did it with.

Because how could I explain something to him when I couldn’t even explain it to myself? He and everyone around me would call me crazy. They probably wouldn’t even begin to understand the attraction I felt for Fabián or the closeness we felt in just a few hours of knowing one another. Love at first sight didn’t exist. Not to them, at least. They wouldn’t understand the pounding of my heart, the deep connection like somehow something in the cosmos was telling me that Fabián and I were meant. Like it was written in the stars for us. And when the stars told you what you are meant to do with your life, well there is no other choice but to listen.

I couldn’t say that out loud to anyone except maybe Fabián, but even then, it was probably best I kept those words to myself.

“Ofelia!” he called for me, but I was already walking away. He jogged behind to keep up with me. When he reached me, he grabbed my shoulder, whirling me around. There was something like anguish on his features. “Look...” He sighed. “I’m sorry. I’m just worried about you. I don’t want anything to happen to you, and I don’t want you getting mixed up in whatever it is they’re doing.”

I tried to be understanding and pushed some of my anger away. However out of line he was, he was still my friend. While I didn’t appreciate his methods, I had to admit he was trying to look out for me. In his own way.

“Nothing is going to happen to me,” I told him. “It’s not like we’re married or anything. We just hung out and had a good time. And we’re gonna keep hanging out and having a good time, so I’d prefer it if you didn’t put on your face because you are my friend and I don’t want to have issues with you over my decisions.”

His expression fell. “You’re asking me to accept him.”

“I’m asking you to trust that I’m an adult and know what I’m doing.”

“Fine,” he seemed to begrudgingly agree. “But if you ever need anything... if you ever need help, you let me know.”

I waved him off. “Sure.”

There were several beats of awkward silence that neither of us knew how to break. Thankfully Paola showed up and broke it for us.

“Hey!” She bounced over, her bag slung over her shoulder and bouncing against her shoulder blades. “What’s got you two so serious?” She paused, turning to look at me and her eyes zeroed in on my neck. “¡No mames, wey!” Gripping me by the shoulders, she pulled me closer. “No mames, wey. Cállate el hocico, wey. You did not!” Her thumb swiped across the mark along my neck like she was trying to prove to herself it was real and not paint. “You totally did, you slut! Ay, pero que puta eres.” Her smile widened to maddening proportions, and her brows wiggled up and down. “How was it?”

I rolled my eyes, shoving her away playfully. “Leave me alone. I’m not going to answer that.”

She gave me a fake pout. “Come on, wey. I tell you everything.”

She did, unfortunately. Even when I didn’t want to know.

“Well, I’m not telling you about this,” I stated firmly.

Her eyes seemed to dawn in understanding. “Ooh... so it’s like that, huh?” Her eyes glittered with mischief. “That’s good to know. You must have a nice little concha on you because your delicious little criminal is at the school’s entrance... waiting for more.”

My heartbeat sped up.

She smiled wide. “El cuervo está adicto.”

I didn’t dare hope that she was speaking the truth. I wanted him to be as addicted to me as I was to him.

Paola nodded quickly. “Yup. He sent me in here to look for you.” She hooked her arm through mine. “Let’s go, shall we?”

And she pulled me away to go see Fabián. I didn’t spare a glance in Daniel’s direction, but I could feel him following close behind us, stoically and surprisingly quiet. But I didn’t think about that right then.

My thoughts were full of Fabián. I’d seen him only hours before, but the thought of seeing him again so soon had my nerves tripping over themselves. And a smile spreading wide over my face.

7

Fabián

“This is a bad idea,” César said, looking at the gates of the school. There was a smile on his face that was almost mischievous. I ignored him, rolling my eyes. If there was anyone who liked trouble and was the king of bad ideas, it was him.

Of my brothers, he was always the one who was getting in trouble the most. He was always the first to talk us into a crazy idea. And always the first to get fucked over for it.

This time I was the one with a bad idea. As far as bad ideas went, nothing had ever felt more right than with Ofelia in my arms the night before.Everything about her was sweet and soft. She was everything I wasn’t, and I was attracted to that. I craved it like an addict craved a drug. That was why, only hours after we’d already seen each other, I was here at the entrance of her school waiting for her to get out. Because I wanted to hold her, kiss her, to touch her once more.

My family didn’t understand that I had to. It was like that fucking poem we were talking about last night. Like if I didn’t have her now... then there might be a future in which I never could.

Fucking Nevermore.

Fucking metaphors.

All I knew was that there was the equivalent to a raven we were named after screeching at me to have her, and it was a call I couldn’t ignore.

“Since when has a bad idea stopped you?” I leaned forward on the toes of my boots, gaze lazily going up the entrance, though anyone who truly knew me knew it was an eager and hungry little thing.

César sighed. “You know it wouldn’t, but... this is different.”

Santiago nodded his agreement, though otherwise remained silent as he leaned against the black chrome of the car. The same car I’d fucked my girl in.

The memory made me hard.

“No, it’s not.” My teeth ground together, and I tried to shake off their words.

“It is and you know it. She’s not just some girl. She’s–”

“Wey,” I interrupted. “Por favor, don’t.” I didn’t want to hear it. I didn’t want to make it real.

César leaned close. “Just because you ignore it doesn’t mean the truth will go away, hermanito. Just–”

“Hermanos Cuervo! Look who I found!” Ofelia’s friend called out, loudly, from where she stood with Ofelia at the top of the academy steps.

César pulled away. “Just be careful.” He gave his final warning before dropping the topic completely. That frown disappeared, replaced by that charming smile that I’d seen many women tripping over themselves for.

Even though the subject had changed as he walked up to greet the girls, his words echoed through the chambers of my mind.

Like that annoying fucking bird squawking and crying.

I knew, I knew that my brother was right. This was a bad idea, but I couldn’t stay away. And I wouldn’t. I promised her after she looked at me with such vulnerability, thinking I was going to leave her, like I was the tragedy she’d awaited her whole life. I wasn’t going to be her tragedy. I’d be her one joy, her greatest adventure, and maybe we’d be a complete and utter catastrophe, but I would never break her heart.

I’d give her anything she asked of me, and if it was something out of my power to give, then I would find a way.

Suddenly all my thoughts were burned away as Ofelia descended and made her way to me.

We’d parked right in front of tall iron gates. The bars twisted to form the Academy’s logo in the center. They creaked as the wind blew.

I smiled at Ofelia. Today she was wearing a dark green sweat suit with the logo on the breast. Her hair was tied in a knot, not a single strand out of place just like yesterday. I smiled as I made out the flush on her cheeks as she approached me and suddenly, I was pushing myself off of the car and holding my arms open wide.

It was like I’d given her permission to let go of that shyness. The bag she carried slid from her shoulder and dropped to the ground right before she rushed towards me.

When her body collided against mine, it was like a puzzle piece asserting its place against its most perfect partner.

My arms wrapped around her waist, lifting her off the ground. She was so thin, she weighed almost nothing, and she easily lifted her legs and wrapped them around my waist as I twirled her.

Her giggle was muffled against the crook of my neck, her lips warm against my skin. The touch sent pure electricity through me, and I swallowed my own groan of desire against her neck. Licking a stripe up her rapid pulse, and then smiling when her body nearly went languid in my arms.

Snickers sounded all around us, but I didn’t give a fuck who was watching. My fingers tangled into the nape of her neck, tearing apart the top knot seconds before I yanked her to me and devoured her lips with my own.

I savored her taste on my tongue, taking sips like I was dying of thirst. Our lips locked together for a long while and the world seemed to fade away.

A throat cleared and I pulled away to admire the rising flush from her neck, over the mark I’d left on her skin the night before, and up to her cheeks.

“You told me you'd call me,” she whispered for my ears only.

“I couldn’t wait. I wanted to see you in person.”

Her answering smile was shy. After a brief moment of staring at one another, she dropped her legs, aware suddenly that we were in a public space and surrounded by an audience. I reluctantly let her down, though I kept my hands placed along the delicate expanse of her waist.

Her eyes strayed over my shoulder towards where my brother and my cousin stood. “Hola,” she greeted, cheeks flushed. “Buenas tardes, chicos.”

They returned her greeting, but their gazes struck her friends like cracks of lightning. My own eyes did the same. They were the two from last night. My posture straightened, hands pulling away from Ofelia and my glare settled over the dude behind Paola.

He was glaring back at me, his long light brown hair hiding the vitriol in his eyes.

But I clocked that shit. I made a mental note of it.

This hijo de puta wanted Ofelia.

I’d clocked it last night when he’d made his pathetic fucking attempt to threaten me. In the daylight it was even easier to catch.

He stared at me with unbridled anger like I wasn’t the type of crazy motherfucker who would gouge his eyes out with the feathered blade that hung from my throat.

I smirked and looked away.

“These are my friends, Paola and Daniel.” Ofelia remembered those perfect little manners I was sure she grew up with and made her introductions.

I wanted to chuckle.

Me and mine didn’t give a single fuck about her friends.

“So, what are you doing here?” She pulled away from me, stepping back to grab her bag from the ground. As soon as she lifted it, I took it from her and slung it over my own shoulder.

“Well... we’ve got some weed and an itch for adventure. We wanted to see if you’d tag along.”

Preferably just her, but the invitation seemed open enough that her friend threw her arm around Ofelia’s shoulders. “That sounds like a good time.” She cast a flirtatious smile in César’s direction, one I knew he returned without having to look.

That bastard fucked anything with a pulse, unlike Sebastián who was all but a monk.

I was somewhere in the middle of that spectrum.

“Trust me,” my brother purred. “It is.”

“I'm down,” the skinny little ferret said. “It's been a long day.”

Ofelia turned to meet his gaze. I didn’t particularly like the way they seemed to be having a conversation with their gazes alone.

My fingers slid along the edge of the feather. Sharp and pointed... if I shoved it into his eye juuuust right...

Pop.

I closed my fist around the feather, digging my palm into the silver until I felt the skin split.

My nostrils flared and I took a deep breath. I had to calm the fuck down. I couldn’t stab or punch or murder her friends.

No matter how badly I wanted to.

I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that her ilk turned their noses up at me.

We came from different worlds. In her world, her people stepped on the backs of mine to get ahead.

People thought that just because we lived in Mexico, that racism wasn’t a thing. The truth was, the Spanish brought that shit over when they conquered us, when they killed and raped my ancestors.

Society put such a value on lighter skinned individuals that there had to be laws in place to protect the Indigenous people of our country.

How many times had I watched my family suffer discrimination and face slurs from rich pricks like him? How many times had I witnessed contempt towards my AfroMexican friends?

It was a fucking infection.

As if we all weren’t born on the same lands, as if we all didn’t have the rivers flowing through our blood or the cries of eagles beating against our hearts. As if the roots of our motherland weren’t tied to our very fucking feet, or threaded into our fucking souls.

They wanted so badly to be superior, but we were all the same.

His family and peers were just as corrupt as I could be, if not more. The difference was, I wasn’t afraid to get my hands dirty. To make deals in the light of day.

They made deals in the dark, wearing their shrouds of shame like nuns wearing a habit, and they bottled up their sins like they’d never been committed at all.

And that’s what burned that little weasel. That Ofelia was openly affectionate with me. Someone he saw as lesser when he wished it could be him.

Too fucking bad.

Ofelia turned away from him and glided over to me, gifting me with that blinding and beautiful smile that chased away the dark pieces from my soul. When she was close enough, I leaned into her, pressing an open kiss to my mark on her neck, though my eyes stayed firmly planted on Daniel. One of my brows stayed raised, the corners of my mouth twisting into a smile.

I stared long enough that the pretty boy’s face flushed. That he shifted uncomfortably. And for now, that was enough to sate my anger.

“Come on, princesita.” I said it loud enough for everyone to hear. “Come have some fun with me.”

She smiled, and it was a tender expression.

I wanted to own that soft part of her, keep it for myself, wrap it up in a blanket of my darkness. I wanted to own the rhythm that every beat her heart took.

And I wanted her to own every piece of me as well.

8

Ofelia

The sun burned down and the wind blew cold on the hillside we all found ourselves on top of. The gentle caresses of air pulled back my loose hair and my head dropped back, letting the sun wash over my face and spirit.

The day was nice. Fabián and the Ravens brought us to a secluded little place none of us had been to before. We all sat in a circle on the grass and my eyes leisurely watched them pass around a joint.

César passed it in Fabián’s direction. He took it in his lithe fingers, flicking off the ash before he brought the joint to his lips. I could only stare in fascination as he took the tip between his full lips and took a deep drag.

There was something sensual about the action. About the way his head lifted back, displaying the perfect curve of his neck and Adam’s apple. About the way his eyes fluttered closed, those long lashes dark against the high frame of his cheekbones. The steady inhalation as he held the smoke in his lungs just before he pursed his lips and blew out the steadiest stream of smoke.

I was near drooling as I watched the display.

“¿Quieres?” His dark eyes were steady on mine. He held the joint lazily in my direction, but I only stared at it, and then him.

“No, thank you. I don’t–I mean–” My face began flaming.

Thankfully, Fabián didn’t ask me to elaborate. He seemed to read me perfectly well. “Come here,” he ordered.

I slid over the grass so we were even closer and he was careful, using one hand to tug me onto his lap so I straddled him.

I held myself up on my knees, palms steady against his beating heart.

“Abre tu boca.”

My mouth dropped open slightly and then he went in for a second puff of the joint. The tip burned as he dragged heavy puffs of smoke into his mouth. He held it there, pulled away the joint, and then leaned up, lips locking against mine, tongue flicking, teasing, as the smoke billowed into my mouth in slow exhales.

“Close your mouth, princesa,” he whispered in my ear, sending a shiver of desire trailing down my spine.

I did as he told me.

“Breathe in deep, hold the smoke in your lungs.”

I took a deep breath, feeling that steady, dizzying haze start to wash over my senses, making my body languid and lazy.

“Exhale, princesa.”

I blew out slowly, mentally applauding myself when I didn’t throw into a coughing fit. The smoke hazed over Fabián’s face, clouding him for a brief moment. When it cleared, he wore a smile on his face.

The deep, aromatic essence of the weed took hold of me almost immediately. The taste of it and of him were heavy on my tongue.

I groaned, feeling my eyes flicker heavily.

Fabián passed the joint back to his brother before he framed my cheeks in his hands and chased me with his lips. Our tongues met, deep and lazy, but everything about the moment was as intense as ever. Smoke swirled between us, battling for a home in our lungs. We pursued it and each other.

The sensation of the high had my mind spinning. Lights danced behind my eyelids, shadows gathered, and then colors burst bright. I could feel his hands roaming my body. Hear the dog whistles. We didn’t care about any of it.

His strong arms came around my waist and we whirled. The breath left me and so did his lips as I suddenly found myself pressed against the grass with Fabián looming over me.

He leaned over and we found ourselves lost in our kisses once again.

I wanted more, and my low inhibitions had me itching to reach for it.

But he pulled away too quickly, moving before I could blink and flipping us all over again. This time, I landed with my back to his chest, snug between his legs in a sitting position. He held me close, arms wrapped tightly around my body. It felt like I was in a cocoon of protection, making something fuzzy and warm bubble inside me.

After a second, I relaxed into him, and we watched our friends in comfortable silence.

Paola was loving the attention she garnered from César and Santiago. She laughed loudly and freely and threw herself at the both of them in a flirtatious way only she could accomplish. Her body swayed and eventually leaned over their laps, her perfectly toned legs lifting in the air, the hem of her skirt slipping to show off her thighs and underwear.

César’s hand smoothed over the skin on her thigh, that wide smile in place as he pressed a soft kiss to her knee. Meanwhile Santiago toyed with the skin on her bare ankle.

The three of them made a sensual picture.

I leaned my head back. It had been a long time since I felt this relaxed, this at ease with any group of people. Actually, I couldn’t remember if I’d ever felt this way at all. Maybe it was the little bit of weed flowing through my system or maybe it was something else.

All I knew was that I was having a good day with Fabián, his family, and my friends.

Here in the privacy of this little clearing, I didn’t feel the need to censor myself or to pretend. I could just be.

It clicked then that that’s what I really liked about Fabián.

When I was with him, I felt free from the restraints I found myself locked tightly in.

“Can we talk privately?” I turned to ask him.

He helped me up and pulled me slightly away from the group. I could feel Daniel’s eyes on us as we walked away, and I brushed off the irritation his glare made me feel. Our conversation from earlier haunted the edges of my mind, but I fought hard to brush it off. I didn’t want to let him ruin it for me. Whatever it was. The truth was, I was having fun, just like he’d had fun many times before. I never ruined it for him. I shouldn’t let him do that to me.

But the words were a haunting echo bursting through the chambers of my mind.

“What’s wrong, princesa?”

We were further away from the group now. I caught a glimpse of César leaning over Paola. Though his long hair curtained them, I took a wild guess at what exactly he was doing. Santiago openly watched, his lids hooded, fingers still grazing over her body.

Daniel turned away, burning through the joint on his own now.

I focused my attention back on Fabián. I was straddling him and my arms went around his shoulders then.The position we found ourselves in was similar to the one we’d been in last night in his car. The very memory of it brought a flush to my cheeks and had every nerve throbbing, electrified.

I dropped my hips a fraction, grinding slowly and softly against his waist, eliciting a groan from the both of us. It was enough to tease, entice.

Fabián dropped his head to my forehead. “Be careful, princesa.” His voice was dark, low, smooth. “Don’t start something if you don’t want me to finish it right here in front of our friends.”

I stopped the movement of my hips, reluctantly so.

Fabián took my hands in his and brought my knuckles up to his lips. I did the same to him, but where my hands were soft, his were rough and scarred. Especially along his knuckles. Like he’d gotten into one too many fights and the mark of them would follow him forever.

I should have been afraid of that. The shiver coursing down my spine should have been my warning.

“My life is like a ballet,” I said, fingers smoothing the ridges of his scars.

His brows rose, clearly confused at what I was talking about.

“It’s always been a carefully curated structure,” I explained. “Full of dance and flash and richness. Everything is always so carefully set into place. From the choreography, to the music... But it’s always been nothing but pretty little lies. A life slathered in makeup and costume for appearance’s sake. I’m used to it. I keep going.” My eyes watered. “But even dancers need to rest. There has to be a curtain call at some point.”

He cupped my chin. “Tell me what you really want to say.”

I took a breath. “I live lies almost daily, but I hate liars.”

He blinked but said nothing.

“I’m used to this life, but that doesn’t mean I have to like the way things are set up. And how sad is it that you are the realest thing I’ve had in a long time? I don’t know how to explain it the right way, but what I feel for you, in such a short time? It’s the strongest and realest I’ve ever felt for anyone ever. I guess what I’m trying to say is that with you, I don’t want to live in lies. The universe is telling me that me and you? We’re meant to be. I’m not asking you to return those feelings if it’s too much too soon, but I need to be honest with you about this feeling... because it scares me to want someone this much. But if you do feel the same then...” My thumbs swiped over his scars once again before I lifted his knuckles to my lips and kissed them.

I kissed them like I could kiss away the past hurts that he’d suffered. Like I could wipe away at the darkness, but I knew that deep inside, it was embedded there and probably had been there his entire life. I kissed away whatever pain he had, whatever pain he would have. I even kissed away my own insecurities.

“If you do, then all I ask is that you’re honest with me. All I ask is that you don’t lie.”

His breath hitched in his chest. I felt it against my own.

“And what makes you think...” He pressed his lips tight against my throat, right over where my pulse pounded unsteadily. “...that I would ever lie to you?”

“I know what you do.” My gaze was unwavering on his. “I know what your family does. I know that you do bad things and I’m not going to ask you to stop because I have no right to do that, but I do ask that you never lie to me. If you’re doing something bad, I don’t want to find out about it later from someone else.” I took a breath, readying myself for what I was about to say next. “And if you just want to hang out–mess around–then I want you to let me know now.”

He palmed my bottom and his forehead touched mine.

“I need you to listen to me right now,” he said quietly. There was something in his eyes as he said it, a firmness, a confidence. “I don’t think I made myself clear last night,” he continued. “I want you. I don’t just want you for a short time. I want you for a long time. I wanted you yesterday. I want you today. I want you tomorrow. I wanted you in a past life and I want you in this one and when the next life comes and goes, I’ll want you then, too. I want you. In every lifetime, in every way that you could possibly give me. There’s no changing that or what’s in my heart, and if you think you’re crazy for feeling that then there’s something completely and utterly fucked up about me because I feel it more. So, yes. It is crazy, it’s insanity, yet I do feel this way for you. There’s no changing that, Ofelia Reyes Muñoz. I want you, and on my life, I vow that I will never lie to you.”

And then Fabian took my cheeks and his palms, and he sealed that vow with a kiss I felt deep down in my bones, down in my soul, like an echo of the beating of my own heart.

9

Fabián

What time am I picking you up after rehearsal?

At 8? Daniel and I are staying longer to get extra practice in.

My fingers tightened around my phone until my knuckles went white. That hijo de puta was the bane of my fucking existance, but since I’d vowed to myself that I’d not maim or hurt her friends, I had to force a leash over my anger any time she mentioned that ferret’s name.

It had been months since Ofelia and I had been seeing one another, and with that came unfortunate interactions with him. Every party, he was there. Every time I picked her up from rehearsal, he was there. Whenever I wanted to fuck my girl in my brother’s car, he would find a reason to incessantly text or call.

The only reason I didn’t beat his ass to shit was because the rehearsal was important to Ofelia, the day of the recital looming closer, and I wasn’t about to fucking ruin that for her. After the curtain call, though...

Maybe I’d snap his legs in half.

And then maybe I’d dance over his fucking corpse.

I can hear your jealousy from over here.

I forced myself to relax my grip on my phone.

Not jealous, princesa.

You sure about that?

Fuck no. I scoffed and my fingers flew against my keyboard.

Why would I be jealous of him when I know it’s my cock you beg for?

Oh my god, I’m ignoring you now.

Good luck at rehearsal today, princesa. ♥️

“Seas mamón,” César muttered next to me.

I gave him a glare and pocketed my phone. “Nosey ass,” I retorted. “Maybe don’t look at my phone next time.”

“I can’t help it. You’re being far too fucking gooey.”

“Or maybe you’re just fucking jealous.”

My brother scoffed and pretended to keel over laughing. “No seas pendejo.”

“Fuck you.”

“Fancy academy pussy has got you with heart eyes.”

“Don’t talk about my girl’s pussy, pendejo.” I shoved him and he nearly fell off the couch. When he righted himself, I continued, “Anyway, you could have had fancy academy pussy and heart eyes too.”

“Nah, hermano. Paola was a good time, but we all knew it was just that.”

That day in the clearing, Ofelia’s best friend Paola had cozied up to César and Santiago both. From what I’d seen that day, things hadn’t gone beyond light teasing and a heavy makeout session. If anything else happened, neither César nor Santiago disclosed it to me. I wasn’t sure if Paola told Ofelia anything, either.

“So what does that old bastard want now?” I changed the subject.

We were gathered in our family room, waiting for our papá. He’d called a meeting but still hadn’t shown up yet. Sebastián, who had remained quiet since we’d arrived, stood near the window, staring out like a brooding asshole. He just grunted.

I wasn’t even sure he knew what this was about, and that probably had to burn him.

All thoughts cut away as the man himself finally made it into the room. Sebastián stood straighter at his entrance. Even I fixed my posture, if slightly, while César remained slouched, looking bored.

My father was a cutting figure. He was all height with long limbs and lithe, discreet muscles hidden beneath a dark suit. His dark hair was cut short, as he tried to blend in with society’s most elite, but the infamous emblem of the Raven Brothers was worn at his throat, gleaming silver beneath his open collar.

His appearance only caused a shiver to rise up and down my back. It made goosebumps crawl along my arms, putting my body tense and on edge. I tried to appear relaxed as I possibly could, but in one glance I could already gauge his mood.

We were no strangers to his ire or strict ways. He was a difficult man to please, and he was constantly angry. Nothing we ever did was ever good enough. It was why Sebastián was having a hard time taking over the business. Because how could he take something over when my father refused to give it up?

His eyes slammed straight to mine and my throat dried up.

I refused to meet my brothers’ expressions, knowing that if I did he would consider it a sign of weakness and exploit it somehow. Instead, I stared straight at him, my expression hard and unwavering, even if my heart was beating miles a minute in my chest.

“I hear you have a girlfriend.” He cut straight to the point.

My heart sank, that dread only growing. I should have known this was coming. I should have known I wasn’t going to be able to keep the secret any longer with me disappearing at every hour of the day to go see Ofelia. My father had eyes and ears everywhere. He was bound to have figured it out sooner or later. I was surprised it took this long for him to confront me about it. I’d kept her a secret for a reason, but now it felt like my little bubble was about to burst.

And now that he knew there was no telling what he would do.

I took a breath but didn’t respond. I wasn’t sure if he wanted me to anyway.

He stared at me long enough for my palms to get sweaty. Finally he said, “Ofelis Reyes Muñoz.”

I didn’t like the way he said her name. Slow and calculating like he meant to do something with it, with her.

I clenched my teeth, but he seemed to watch my jaw closely because he smiled, and everything about it was malicious.

“The governor’s daughter...” His voice trailed off and he stroked his chin with his thumb and forefinger. “She’s not someone who I ever pictured you with, but now that you are with her, we can’t let this opportunity go to waste.”

I finally spoke up, “What do you mean?”

He walked back and forth across the floor like he was contemplating his own idea, wearing it into the rug.

“You’re going to use the governor’s daughter,” he declared. “You’re going to use her to find out what her dad is planning for this upcoming election.”

I gritted my teeth. I knew what he meant by use her. The same way he’d used other people to get what he wanted in life. The way he’d climbed on the backs of others, using bodies as a ladder to the top. He’d have me use her viciously, violently, only to discard her when I was done.

But when I tried to imagine that, all I could see were those big, light eyes on my own and something in my chest cracked.

I couldn’t do it.

I wouldn’t.

“No,” I said firmly.

The word made my father pause and turn to look at me. “No?” he echoed back.

I wanted to parry back but held my tongue. The two of us stared at one another, a silent war waged between father and son. I hated it. I hated him. I hated what he was, what he forced me to be.

I hated that, even though I’d promised Ofelia I’d never lie to her, I had. I lied by omitting the truth about who my father was, and about the very fact that our families were enemies.

It was obvious within a week of knowing her that she was in the dark about her father’s life and campaigns. It was the benefit of having attended a private boarding school, I supposed. She was her father’s perfect princess unaware that he was out to destroy my family’s legacy for good.

Governor Reyes was desperate to get rid of rampant crime in the city. Sure, that was something that every fucking politician promised the people before they fell into bed with the crime bosses, but Governor Reyes was succeeding. He was ruthless in his claim to victory, though not entirely clean either. His methods were completely unethical, not to mention illegal. He kept that shit on the down low, though. If the citizens knew he was breaking laws to fight crime, that would have been the end of his career.

And the Raven Brothers had been in his sights for years.

I could recall how many times he’d fucked over drug or gun shipments, nearly catching us and our suppliers in the act of transporting or buying.

My father hated Governor Reyes.

We all did.

He was a pious bastard of an old man.

But he was my girlfriend’s father. She loved him.

And she didn’t know how much he hated us.

I purposefully hadn’t told her. That I’d known who she was the moment she’d given me her name. I hadn’t wanted her to think I was using her, in the same callous way my father was telling me to use her now.

There was no excuse for it. I just hadn’t wanted her to know that her father was after us. She could own every dark part of me, know every bit and piece of my dark past, present, and future... except for that.

“No,” I repeated.

I felt the punch before I even saw it coming. The knuckles cracked along the side of my jaw and cheekbone, making my head spin. I fell back against the couch, tasting blood against my teeth. Another blow came. Followed by another. Then I was being hauled off the couch and tossed onto the ground. My body fell, and I knew from experience if I got up and faced him, it would only piss him off more. So I let it happen, knowing what was coming and bracing for it.

A kick to my ribs came next. My entire body screamed as he kicked me hard enough to shove me to my back so I was looking up at him.

He was a dark and angry figure above me, his eyes laced with an evil I knew all too well. Meanwhile, I struggled to catch my breath.

Slowly, calm and collected, as if he’d never attacked me in the first place, my father bent so he was closer to me. “You are going to use the governor’s daughter,” he repeated the order slowly as if he was talking to someone who couldn’t comprehend his same language. “You’ll fuck her, or beat her, or pull information from her whenever I fucking tell you. That’s a fucking order. Do I make myself clear?”

I wanted to tell him no once again. I wanted to, with every fiber of my being. More importantly, I wanted to reach out and give him the same treatment he’d given me my entire life. Instead, I reduced to a glare and I kept my mouth firmly shut. Let the rebellion shine in my eyes, but let him think my silence was complacency.

In the end, I wouldn’t do what he told me.

My silence was my defiance.

My father, whose eyes mirrored my own, whose hair and everything about him looked just like me, sighed down at my pathetic form lying there bleeding on the ground.

“I’d hoped it wouldn’t come to this.” He stood back up. Another kick with all his strength was sent to my side. I gasped for breath as he stepped away for me, and I knew what was coming after. His punishments were not foreign to us at all.

My eyes flicked up to where my brothers were. I could see the despair in their expressions at not being able to chime in, to intervene. We knew what happened when we did. Sometimes, staying quiet was better. Standing by while one of us was abused was never fucking easy, but sometimes the hardest things were the options we always had to see through for the greater good.

So they watched as my father stepped away from me, and they only moved when he made a flicking motion with his wrist.

I groaned as I pushed myself to a stand. César pushed the couch to the side, giving us more space as both him and Sebastián faced me. My oldest brother’s expression was apologetic, though he quickly masked it with one of indifference.

I nodded once at them and raised my fists.

It didn’t matter anyway.

I scarcely fought back after the first blow.

When my brothers descended on me with all their strength, I held my breath.

This was something that we did often. Punishments were handed out by my brothers’ strong hands, and only because our father willed it so. I wasn’t sure if that was his form of trying to keep control on us or to pit us against one another. But if he thought he could ever make me hate my brothers for doing what he forced them to do, he was mistaken. These beatings only brought us closer together. We all knew it was something done out of survival. Because if we didn’t do it to one another, then what he would dish out would be so much worse.

We’d already seen and lived through what he had under his sleeve in spades.

So I took every fist, every black eye, every bruised rib. Every part of them that struck me, I took it because I couldn’t say yes. I couldn’t bring myself to betray Ofelia. And yet by the time they finished and my father turned and stared at me with expectation in his eyes, I could only sit up and slowly nod my head. Because that was what was expected of me.

And I had no other choice but to obey.

“You shouldn’t have told him no.” Sebastián glared at me through the rear view mirror, knuckles planted firmly on the wheel of the car.

I shrugged, flicking my tongue out across my busted and bleeding lip. My entire body ached like I was on fire. It hurt to move, hurt to fucking breathe, and I was sure they’d fucked up my ribs. Despite all that, I hadn’t been given a moment to compose myself before he was sending the three of us on our way to work.

“Is she even worth it?”

“Just drive,” I snapped.

My brother’s jaw tensed and he stared straight ahead. The quiet was a pounding force. César stared out the window, his reflection against the glass a solemn one.

It seemed that strange sense of foreboding still couldn’t be shaken, even amongst ourselves. The shadow of our old man was sticky, like a ghost of cobwebs we couldn’t see but could feel on our skin.

Even his words, his last instructions before he walked out and left me bleeding, were whispering echoes.

“This job’s yours.”

Eventually, Sebas pulled the car to a stop. I barely waited for them, jumping out and storming up to the house we’d parked in front of.

A rage filled me that was almost unnatural. It breathed through every step I took, willing me forward faster. It took hold of my movements, pushing me harder until I was at the front door, kicking it open, not bothering to knock. My brothers let out soft curses from behind me, but I could barely hear them as I marched into the house. I barely thought things through. I could only feel my rage surmounting to proportions that made me explode the moment I set eyes on the piece of shit who owed our family money.

I didn’t think.

I could only watch the way his eyes widened as three Raven Brothers appeared in his living room, one of them swooping for him immediately.

My fists did the talking for me. I threw punch after punch, mimicking what my father did to me only an hour before. I punched until the skin at my knuckles split open, and I was blinded by the rage with each swing of my arm.

I was the product of his cruelty, the monster he’d created... and I didn’t care. I knew it was wrong and still I did it because he’d ordered me to and I was a fucking soldier. I took orders first and asked questions later. I’d always done what he willed and I always would.

Because I was a Raven Brother. This was our duty. And once you were in the life, were a part of the crew, the only way you could be free from it was death itself.

I didn’t clean up as I drove to go see Ofelia after rehearsal. I should have at least taken a towel to the blood on my hands or put some ice on my throbbing, blacking eye, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I was too desperate to see her.

I had to find her and tell her the truth, even if something in me rebelled at the idea.

The truth just might make me lose her and I wasn’t ready for that possibility.

I needed her to survive. Without her light, I was nothing but darkness. The thought of living the rest of my life in the shadows had never bothered me before now.

I put my foot down on the gas, praying that omitting the truth hadn’t brought on our tragic end.

The lot was empty when I arrived. I ran to the theatre, but slowed my steps once I was inside.

I hid in the back, shrouded by the low illumination of the place. My eyes snagged on stage, immediately mesmerized as I drank Ofelia in.

I hadn’t actually seen her dance before, but seeing her now made my heart thrum faster in the cavity of my chest.

My breath caught as I took her in. Her body was as fluid as it was controlled. The way she stood on the very tips of her toes, to the way she twirled round and round and round...

She pranced across the stage like she was teasing, mocking. For a second, I could picture it. Her as a raven, laughing and tormenting and driving men to fucking madness.

She was doing it to me.

And then she was dancing into Daniel’s arms. He lifted her, hands grasping tightly at her waist.

Jealousy flared through my chest, making me take in a sharp breath. My teeth clamped together and a sharp stabbing pain went up my jaw.

Daniel slid Ofelia down the length of his body and kept her tethered there with his palms splayed across her lower back.

From where I stood, I could hear her soft, breathless laughter.

Then they were moving in tandem. He seemed to chase after her, and she danced away, always there but never quite within his reach.

Their toes pointed at impossible angles, their bodies moving together to silent music only they could hear.

She was captivating. There was no other word for it.

She danced across the stage like she owned it. She moved like she was weaving desires into the world, like she was the fabricator of every dream that was ever wished. Like she was shooting heart-shaped arrows and capturing every single imaginary audience member within her thrall.

Except, she’d captured mine a long time ago.

And she was capturing Daniel’s, too.

I noted the way his eyes followed her, far more intimate than just for show. I watched the way his hands slid across her body like it was something he meant to own.

They slipped across her waist, over her thighs, even across her ass. They moved together like they were a couple who’d known each other forever. Surely only someone who was intimate with another’s body could dance together like that...

I wanted to stomp up that stage and crack his fucking legs in half.

As soon as those thoughts overtook me, it seemed like their dance had ended. They pulled apart slowly, both of them breathing heavily. After a moment of staring at one another, they both burst out into soft laughter.

“We did it.” Her voice was breathless, but the joy was unmistakable.

“That was perfect,” Daniel replied. “We’re going to crush it next week.”

“Don’t jinx it.” She slapped his chest. “But you’re right, I think we did a good job. Now it’s time to get some rest.”

Daniel smiled at her. “You’re right. Wanna head out?”

Ofelia waved him off. “Thanks, but I’m going to wait for Fabián.”

“Okay.”

There was something in the way he said that rubbed me the wrong way–asshole–and it seemed to rub Ofelia wrong too because she shot a glare his way, but he seemed to ignore it in favor of picking up his stuff off the side of the stage. He slung his bag over his shoulder and waved. “Well, see you later.” And he was leaving.

I waited a few minutes after he’d left watching Ofelia in the shadows of the theatre. She let out an audible sigh and went to pick up her things, and it was only then that I made my way to the light.

I must’ve made noise, because she startled up, squinting in my direction. “Who’s there?” she called out.

I chuckled. “You know if you were in a horror movie you’d be dead right now.” I made my way closer to the stage.

Ofelia pressed a palm to her chest as if she was cooling the rapid beating of her heart.

“You scared me!” she exclaimed.

I held my hands up in a gesture of surrender. “I didn’t mean to.”

“Have you been standing there the whole time?” she asked as I walked up the stairs to the stage.

“I have.” My voice dropped low. At my approach, she dropped her bag to the ground and within seconds, I was in front of her, framing her face in my hands and I kissed her.

It was everything I needed right then. A piece of her light to soothe my soul. I forgot my pain. With her, everything else disappeared.

My hands spanned along her body. Everywhere Daniel had touched, I was erasing the memory and replacing it with myself, but when I finally opened my eyes and looked down, I noticed the trail of blood I left across her clothes and my throat tightened.

And somehow some part of me felt like it was a terrible, terrible omen.

10

Ofelia

I tasted the blood before I saw it and when Fabián pulled away, I saw the state of his face and shock rippled through me. He’d been shrouded in darkness before, and then he’d moved so quickly I didn’t get a chance to really see.

His lip was busted open and already starting to swell. His eye was a mess, nearly sealed shut. A cut ran along his eyebrow, dark skin flecked with drying blood.

“Oh my God.” I reached for him, lifting his hands to see the split, bleeding knuckles. “What happened?” The question tumbled out of me, though it was obvious he’d gotten into a fight. He’d seemed fine earlier when we were texting and that was nearly an hour ago. What had happened in between the moment he texted me and now? “Who did this to you?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

He looked too tired, not just because of his injuries, but a tiredness that ran down into his soul as well. A life born of hardships. He usually hid it so well, showing a levity like he wasn’t bothered by anything in the world.

The entire time we’d been dating, I hadn’t once seen him lose his cool. Even though I knew he could be violent–the evidence was in the blood he wore sometimes on his fingertips when he saw me–it had never gotten this bad before. Seeing him like this was almost too much.

Not for the first time, a sliver of fear ran down my spine. Not of him, but for him. The violence tainting his job could hold with it repercussions that I wasn’t sure either of us were ready to face.

But he didn’t need a lecture from me. He didn’t need me telling him how dangerous what he did was. He knew that, we both did. And I had no right to tell him to give it up. The best thing I could do was be there for him.

So I gentled my tone and my touch. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

He was almost docile as I pulled him to the side of the stage and sat him down then rummaged through my backpack looking for a thin linen cloth. I always kept one on hand alongside a first aid kit because there was always the possibility of accidents in ballet. My beat-up toes were a testament to that.

As I got to work cleaning his hands, methodically using rubbing alcohol and cloth, he barely made a noise, barely winced as I swiped the disinfectant over his knuckles, cleaning away the blood in revealing the split flesh beneath.

He was far too quiet and I couldn’t stand it. “Tell me what happened?”

Fabián looked up at me and there was anguish in his gaze. “I fucked up,” he said quietly. There was so much pain in those few words that my heart clenched.

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

His free hand ran through his hair. “My father... he...” He swallowed. “He did this.”

I blinked, sure I’d heard wrong. “What do you mean your father did this to you?”

I hadn’t met the man, and Fabián had been adamant that it remain that way. I hadn’t pressed the issue, nor had I brought up my concerns about meeting him, either way. It wasn’t like I’d rushed to introduce Fabián to my papá either.

It had remained an unspoken agreement between the two of us. Like we’d known what would happen without having to test those waters at all.

If his father had done this sort of brutality to his own son, then I was glad I’d never met the man.

“It was my punishment.”

“But...why? Punishment for what?”

He sighed and leaned back on his palms, putting distance between us. I sat there, my legs curled under me, a sense of dread tight in my gut.

“There’s something I need you to understand, princesa. There’s a reason I didn’t want you to meet him, and it has to do with your father.”

Confusion spread through my system. “What do you mean my father?” I asked.

He looked me in the eyes. While I could still find traces of tenderness there, it was also laced with something hard and ready, waiting. “I mean your father is the governor,” he began. “My father is a criminal. Do the math, princesa.”

My mind whirred as it started to put the pieces together. Even though I was away from home, I was still privy to my papá’s reelection campaign. His determination to take down corruption and criminals to make a ‘better Mexico’.

I sucked in a breath.

“Do you get it now? Our families are enemies. They always have been. Your papá has been trying to take down the Raven Brothers for years. After you told me your name the first time we met, I knew who you were and I didn’t care. I still wanted you. That’s the first thing you have to know, okay? I wanted you despite your name and despite my own. Despite the bad blood between our families.”

He stared and waited almost like he was preparing himself for a tongue-lashing, for my ire at this big of a secret he’d decided to keep from me. But all I felt was confusion.

“I still don’t understand...”

“My father has been evading yours for years, Ofelia. Some of our men have been thrown in jail, sometimes our operations have been busted by the feds. But every single time, we know it’s been your father and his party behind it. He’d see us murdered if he could and my father feels the same.”

Realization dawned on me too late. “Your father found out about me–about us. Didn’t he?”

Fabián nodded.

“And he beat you for it?”

“He beat me because...” He let out a breath and leaned forward. There was a fire in his eyes like he meant to drag the entire world to hell at the expulsion of his rancor. “He beat me because I wouldn’t use you like he suggested.”

Horror gagged me. I couldn’t stop the slow pin-prick of tears pressing behind my eyelids. “Use me,” I repeated slowly, not wanting to believe the obvious malice there. “In what way?”

“In whatever way he sees fit. He wants me to use you to get to your father. I don’t know what his plans are. He just wants me to use you for information so that the Raven Brothers don’t have to worry about any more legal repercussions.”

Silence struck like thunder as I mulled over those words. While I’d known our relationship would face difficult trials, that our parents wouldn’t wholly approve, I didn’t think I could have ever imagined this. I couldn’t even put words to what this was.

“I’m no good for you, Ofelia.”

My gaze snapped to his at those words. That dread in my gut only intensified and spread through the rest of my body, making my hands shake and my heart beat at a rhythm the rest of me couldn’t seem to keep up with.

“What are you saying?”

“We aren’t good for each other, Ofe. We’re too different. We come from different worlds. And there’s nothing in the future for us except fucking tragedy.”

And then he said the words that tore my soul in two.

“We should end things now.”

I struggled to suck in my next breath. I had to force it through my pipes, even though it felt like inhaling glass.

“No,” I stated firmly. The word shook as it left my tongue.

Fabián blinked. That darkness across his gaze intensified, his thick brows slashing into displeasure. “Ofelia–”

“No,” I repeated, jerking back. A fiery rage tore through my whole body, displacing the panic and sadness completely. “No, Fabián. I know what you’re doing and I won’t let you do it.”

“Ofelia, listen to me–”

“No. You listen. I know you. You think I don’t because I didn’t know the full truth of things? Well, now I do and I don’t care. You don’t want to end this anymore than I do, and I’ll be damned if I sit here while you try to let other people dictate our lives and our futures. You are not leaving me, Fabián Cuervo. Fate is real and you are my fated. Mi alma gemela. And I refuse to let you go.” I was breathing hard by the time I finished. Tears had already started streaming down my face and I furiously wiped them away.

Fabián’s expression changed. That hardness replaced with worry. “He’ll try to use you in a war against your own father. How can I look you in the eye and tell you I love you if I can’t stop you from getting caught in the crossfire?”

My breath caught. We’d never said those words to each other, though they’d always been implied. In every kiss, every touch. In every way we spoke and interacted, I poured those feelings into him and he did the same to me. That’s how I knew he wasn’t being sincere when he said he wanted to end things.

Our love was as obvious as the heat of the sun and the shadows of the moon.

We were opposites, he was right about that, but we just fit. One couldn’t thrive without the other. Without him, I’d rotate through the universe without purpose. My light would dim without him. And without me, his darkness would swallow him whole.

“I can take care of myself,” I replied. “And if it wasn’t clear, I have faith in you. Anyway, I don’t know what stupid plan your father has cooked up, but I’m scarcely involved in my papá’s politics. I came here to get away from all that. My focus is dance and not much else.”

“Ofelia... I’m afraid.” His voice shook as much as those words rattled me.

I never imagined Fabián would be scared of anything, but the proof was in his expression, in the way his bleeding hands shook when he lifted them. “I’m afraid I’m not strong enough to protect you.”

“Mi amor...” I crawled towards him on all fours–on the stage I’d dance on in front of hundreds within the week. When I could taste the coppery tang of blood on his lips so near mine, I pressed a gentle kiss to his mouth.

“Protect me by telling him you’ll do it. Tell him you’ll use me.”

Fabián’s hands came to cradle my elbows. His brow rose in a question.

“Lie to him. Tell him you’ll do what he says and we can spin the narrative any way we want when the time comes. We can lie our way through this somehow.” I smiled. “You can’t get rid of me so easily, Fabián. Have more faith in us.”

For a moment, he didn’t say anything. Then, he began to chuckle. “You’re amazing, Ofelia Reyes Muñoz. You know that, right?”

I smiled wider, pressing the tip of my finger to the end of his nose. “And don’t forget it.”

He nipped at my finger, biting the tip gently. I pulled my hand away, lowering it back to the floor. I was still on all fours in front of him and the sudden silence between us was a thundering force. The air charged with something electric. Static cackled through the air and I drew in a slow breath, inhaling his familiar scent of tequila and cloves and now, of blood too.

Fabián leaned forward on his palms, nipping my chin with his lips. The feather-touch of his hair against my cheeks made goosebumps break out along my arms.

“Ofelia.” His breath was warm against my already heated skin. “You’re an amazing dancer.”

“Yeah?”

He kissed the arch of my exposed neck. “Mhm. I never knew a person could move like that.” He licked a stripe over my pulse. “Did you enjoy him touching you, though?”

My body jolted, the words slow to capture. “Who?”

Fabián pulled away and there was something burning in his eyes. “I’m not going to say his fucking name, princesita. You know who.”

Daniel.

My mouth dropped open to reply.

“Don’t fucking say a word.”

And then Fabián kissed me.

It was possessive and demanding, the way his tongue plundered into my mouth to take and consume. I groaned against his lips, my need echoing loud through the theatre. And then he was yanking me up, pulling me into his lap. I straddled him, grinding my hips down against his own. All I needed–wanted–was to feel that hardness against that pulsing part of me that cried for release. Our lips never broke from their lock, but his hands roamed against my body. They slid over my chest, down my arms, over my back, hips, and waist. He touched every piece of me, uncaring about his injuries, about how much it likely hurt. I tried to parry back with slow gentleness, but Fabián wasn’t having it.

He flipped us so I was beneath him and used a hand to pin an arm over my head. Hearts thundering in tandem, drunk on each breath we inhaled from one another, I couldn’t force myself to look away even if I wanted to. Not when that dangerous, piercing gaze ate me up like that’s exactly what he had planned for my body.

There were a thousand worlds and even more words locked in that gaze. He didn’t even need to open that chest for me to know. It was like I was peeking through a keyhole, catching a glimpse of the world inside.

It was beautiful. He was beautiful in the same way the night sky was.

My mouth opened and a low moan escaped me at the very thought of being consumed by him.

Fabián let loose a low chuckle before he bent over me. The moment his mouth closed around my nipple through the material of my leotard, I jerked into him, breathing out hard as his tongue flicked out to tease and writhed when his teeth nipped me into a sharp point.

“Fabián–”

He sat up, releasing my wrist only to bring that hand around my throat. I gasped at the surprise of the action, though his touch was light, gentle. I swallowed, sure he could feel my sudden rapid pulse against his palm.

This was much more than a threat. It was a claiming, a power, and the gentle touch was like he was asking permission to hold it over me.

I’d never been attached to violence more than I was right then.

Every nerve and instinct I possessed wanted to hand that trust over to him. To know that I was at his mercy, but knowing that with me–and only me–he would maintain enough self control to not unleash danger on me fully.

I nodded and that was all he needed. His fingers tightened around my throat a fraction, gradually incrementing in strength.

My mouth opened in a gasp, my heartbeat fluttering like the panicked wings of a flying raven. My airway closed off, and there was a sense of fear that was instinctual, but there was more beyond that. It was the way the pulse of my heart matched the throbbing of my clit, that gripping need that demanded he touch and sate me.

Almost like he understood, he rocked against me, and I swore I could’ve come from that touch alone.

My hands flew out, grasping at his back, slipping up his shirt, raking over tattooed skin I’d spent hours exploring.

And then he released and air came at the same time my body convulsed. I was caught up in the rapture, lost in the sensation of his hips slowly undulating right where I needed him. My head spun in circles, my entire being caught in a wave that was dragging me under.

It took far too long to rise above it, and when I did, my heartbeat couldn’t seem to slow. Every breath was loud and labored. Nothing about me was elegant right then. Covered in sweat, gasping for breaths, but with the comforting weight of Fabián on top of me, and the taste of cloves, tequila, and blood on my tongue.

11

Ofelia

We were walking hand in hand when the sleek black car pulled up next to us, screeching to a halt.

Beside me, Fabián tensed. I felt my own body go stiff as well. Holding my breath, I watched as someone got out of the car, standing on the driver’s side and staring at me from over the hood.

I’d recognize that face anywhere. My entire body went cold at the sight of it.

Fabián angled his body slightly in front of me, as if he meant to protect me from the man glaring at him. For a second, those eyes flicked down to our joined hands only for his lip to curl up with barely concealed disgust.

“Get in the car, Ofelia,” he ordered. “Now.”

I stepped out from behind Fabián, pulling my fingers away one by one until there was space where there shouldn’t be.

I took a step forward. “What are you doing here, papá?”

He hardly ever came to visit me at the academy. Our visits were confined to the holidays.

The timing was suspicious, given what had just happened with Fabián and his own father. I tried not to contemplate it or wonder why he didn’t seem surprised to see me with Fabián at all. More like... disappointed.

I hated to admit how much that cut more than anger ever could.

“I told you to get in the car,” he repeated.

“Papá, this is–” I started to gesture in Fabián’s direction, but my papá cut me off with a fierce growling sound that sent a spike of ice through my chest.

“I told you,” he said from between clenched teeth, “to get in this car right now.”

A part of me wanted to tell him no, that he was being rude, but I couldn’t bring myself to do that.

I turned to Fabián and his face softened a fraction, as soft as it could look with his injuries, and he nodded once.

I offered him a smile, feeling that pinch of relief in my chest.

Of course he understood. If anyone did, it was him.

I’d never considered my relationship with my papá a complicated or dangerous thing. He’d never been a violent man. His voice never raised. But I was familiar with his strict ways, enough so that I slowly walked away from Fabián to obey. It was an automatic response from me. That need to please my parents, to be the good girl they raised me to be, even when every cell wanted to lash out, scream, throw a tantrum. It was hard to put my needs above theirs, when they’d spent the entire span of my life confining me into a box of their making. That anger made anxiety filter my system. It was something I couldn’t shake.

I’d never liked when he was angry at me. It always made me want to curl into myself like a little girl. The very notion was ridiculous. I was grown now, but old habits died hard.

I barely had a chance to get in and close the door before my papá was jumping in after me and speeding away from the academy.

“That was very rude of you,” I said, my voice shaking with the fear of the upcoming confrontation.

“I don’t want to hear a word out of you until we get to the house.”

The ride home is silent and tense. I chewed on the inside of my cheek the entire drive until we arrived.

Our house was a three story structure in a nice neighborhood with a gate that wrapped around the property. Cameras were available at all angles and heights, while my papá’s personal security roamed the grounds. They opened the gate as we drove up and closed it after we went through.

My breathing grew labored the closer we made it to the house, and my fingers twisted along the end of my hoodie.

I’d known when I’d started going out with Fabián that he wouldn’t fit into my world. He wasn’t someone my papá ever envisioned me with. In my world, women married the sons of politicians and powerful political allies. People with different aspirations and dreams. Not Fabián. Fabián wasn’t someone on our radar.

At least that’s what I’d thought until tonight. Until Fabián told me that our fathers knew one another and had made enemies of each other.

It was hard imagining my father with enemies. I wasn’t naive. I knew that because of his position, he wouldn’t be liked by everyone. But he always shielded me from the worst of that part of his life. I was protected from the darkness.

Until I decided to dance with it.

Once we were inside the pristine, clean-scented house, I wasn’t allowed to say hi to my awaiting mamá before my papá whirled on me with a glare that nearly rendered my soul to ashes.

“What on earth are you thinking?” he demanded.

I took a deep breath to try and steady my nerves. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t act stupid, Ofelia Reyes Muñoz. You know what I’m talking about. How could you be entertaining that criminal?!”

“That criminal happens to be my boyfriend.” I found my bravery just then. It was buried deep, but I managed to pull it forward for the occasion. “And he’s a good person.”

My papá blanched at my declaration, my mother gasped, holding tightly to the rosary around her neck.

I wasn’t sure why she even wore the thing. It wasn’t like she prayed. It was for show. Suddenly, I realized how much everything in our lives was for show.

“You’re going to end it,” he said through gritted teeth. “Immediately. I don’t want you near that boy or his family ever again.”

I threw my hands up in exasperation. I wasn’t a little girl anymore. And maybe in the past I would have cowed and bowed to his wishes, but not now. Not now because Fabián was different and I’d meant every word and declaration I said to him. I couldn’t imagine a world without him in it. Not for a month, a week. Not even for a second.

“What’s wrong with his family? What about them do you not like, exactly?” I knew, but I wanted to hear him say it.

My father let out a mirthless laugh. “You really have to ask? You cannot possibly be so stupid.”

The words hit hard in a way I hadn’t truly expected. My father had never called me stupid before. I wasn’t prepared for how hurt the word actually made me feel. Like I was less. Like I didn’t live up to all he’d trained me to be. And when I’d lived my life under his thumb, being told I wasn’t even good at that was eye-opening.

“Enlighten me.”

“They’re criminals,” he stated, crossing his arms over his thick chest. “And that’s all you need to know.”

A sudden realization gripped me. He used that phrase for... everything. Any time I wanted to push back, anytime I found an inkling of courage to voice my own wants or desires, I’d be shot down. As if what I said didn’t matter or held no weight in the grand scheme of things. If I ever dared to ask why, that phrase would come up. That’s all you need to know. And I’d stupidly accepted it. Because sometimes laying down and taking it was easier than putting up a fight. And it had happened enough that I’d become what he’d wanted me to be. His perfect little puppet whose strings he could pull whenever he felt like.

I was tired of living like that.

“That’s not good enough!”

“Ofelia!” My mother reprimanded from the other side of the kitchen. Her fist still clutched tightly to that rosary, and I wondered if that was her way of coping with who she was forced to be, or if she’d always been what she is. “Ya basta. Stop talking back to your father. You’ll do what he says.”

“Immediately,” my father added.

I gritted my teeth together, fearing they’d snap. There was no point in arguing with them. I could tell from the look in their eyes, the way they mirrored one another and glared down at me like I was their adversary. They wouldn’t change their minds. And there was nothing I could say that would convince them otherwise. They hated Fabián. They hated his family.

And they expected me to hate him just as fervently.

I’d never lied to my father before in my life, but like Fabián, I would do so now. And I found I didn’t really care at all.

“Yes,” I whispered. “Papá.”

His tense body seemed to relax a fraction, though his jaw still tightened as he took me in, his gaze grazing over me from head to toe, before he nodded. A dismissal, if I ever saw one.

I turned away from him and my mother, afraid they’d see the tears burning behind my eyelids, but my father’s voice made me pause in my tracks.

“There’s an upcoming gala and my team tells me it will do good for our image to be seen together there. Make sure you clear your schedule for the event.”

I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “Yes, papá.”

12

Fabián

I stared down at Ofelia’s string of texts with a rage punching my chest. Her hijo de puta of a father came for her because of me. And while he hadn’t touched her, not like my father liked to beat the shit out of me, it still pissed me off that he was giving her orders to break things off with me. Not that I had expected anything else.

It would have been easier for everyone if we did that, though. I wouldn’t deny that the thought crossed my mind. I’d very nearly ended things. Luckily, Ofelia was stronger than me and she’d shared that guiding light of hers and shone reality into my chest.

She was right, after all. We couldn’t live without one another. When I thought about living one more day, one more fucking hour, without her as mine, something happened to my insides that I didn’t like and couldn’t quite describe.

I came to the conclusion that I would rather die than be without her. I didn’t give a fuck how dramatic that sounded or how stupid everyone thought I was. I’d kill to be with her and die if I couldn’t be.

Yet there was another conflict arising in my chest. One where I felt sad because Ofelia shouldn’t have been forced to choose between me and her father. Despite the problems we had with the corrupt politician, he was her father and I knew she loved him. She hadn’t even fucking known about what he was trying to do to us behind the scenes until I told her.

She truly was an innocent in a dangerous game among powerful men.

But in the end she was right. The only way we could get through this was to pretend, because our lives depended on that.

I pocketed my phone with a sigh and bit the inside of my cheek. The blade at my throat was a sharp reminder of how different our worlds were and forever would be.

My papá was waiting for me and my brothers at one of our shipment sights. My brothers were tense the entire ride there. I could still feel their fists pounding into my skin, and I knew they felt the silence as awkwardly as I did. I wasn’t sure why. We always took beatings from one another for as long as I could remember. It was supposed to harden us, make us angry with one another. Somehow, getting your ass kicked by your siblings only brought us closer together. But this time things felt different. I couldn’t explain it.

“Break up with her.” Sebas had finally broken the silence, his knuckles near-white from his grip on the steering wheel.

I blinked at my older brother, sure I’d heard him wrong. “Excuse you?”

“You fucking heard me, idiota. Ya déjala ir.”

I clenched my teeth together and stared straight ahead. From the back seat, César shifted uncomfortably on the leather seat, silent for once.

Almost as if he agreed.

“No.”

Sebas only tightened his grip further and let out an audible breath in the confined space. “She will ruin you, Iccaāuhtli.”

Little brother.

I bit the inside of my cheek as he used our mother tongue. We hadn’t spoken in our language since our mother had died. Doing so almost felt forbidden, like her ghost was a heavy blanket or looming presence. We hardly ever spoke of her anymore when our father had lost his fucking mind after losing her. Now, her memory was just shrouded in pain. I didn’t like that he was using it to warn me away from Ofelia, either.

It felt like an omen.

Fuck omens.

A retort was at the tip of my tongue. The urge to rip into him and call him every name in the book. Except...

“She’s my salvation, Sebas,” I said. “And if that means I have to take the path to ruin first then so be it. I’ll take it gladly.” I pierced him with a look that he met with one of his own. “And I'll gladly take out anyone who stands in my way.”

I shook off the memory and focused on my father’s red face and brittle anger instead. Our shipment warehouse had been completely cleared because we’d gotten a tip that the feds were going to be moving in on us.

It put us behind on work, and being put behind on work meant we were behind on payments. Which meant my father was pissed.

“You were supposed to get information out of her.”

He didn’t have to shout to convey his displeasure.

“I told you I would.” I crossed my arms over my chest, my bruised ribs smarting with the action. My face gave way of no emotion except perhaps my annoyance at being hauled into an empty warehouse just to get yelled at in front of the entire Raven Brothers gang.

My whole family was here. Uncles, cousins, etc. And they all stared at me like I was some type of a traitor.

“And when were you going to do that, exactly?” He crossed his own arms, mimicking my stance.

“I can’t make it fucking obvious, can I? She’d suspect.” The lies tasted awful on my tongue, but I had to force them out regardless.

My father stepped close, gripping me by the front of my shirt. His hold made the necklace cut into my skin. The symbol of our brotherhood striking at my pulse had me swallowing back the distaste and fear of looming omens.

“Hurry the fuck up.” He bared his teeth at me. “If you can’t fuck her for the information we need, then I’ll get one of your cousins to do it for you. Julián could use a lay. And he’s not as useless as you.”

My eyes strayed to where Julián stood. Julián was a second cousin and not always as involved in the Raven Brothers dealings as we were, but when you were born with the last name Cuervo, you couldn’t escape the legacy.

Julián just stood on the margins, staring with an expression that I couldn’t read. He was older than me but seemed to have had years of practicing that poker face, because he gave nothing–absolutely nothing–away.

I had no way of knowing if that was something he would take joy in or if my father just named him to fuck with my head. It wasn’t like Julián and I were too friendly. I didn’t know shit about him.

I schooled my expression to mirror his, even though my heart was a wild thing behind my chest and my rage wanted to lash out with the same blade that was cutting at my throat. Like a warning from myself to stay silent...

...or maybe some far more sinister hint at a future to come.

13

Ofelia

I chewed my nail as I stared at my phone screen and the slew of messages I’d sent Fabián.

There’s a gala tonight. My papá is making me go.

Are you okay?

I miss you, Fabi.

They all remained unanswered.

I tried not to let the anxiety of that eat me alive, but my nails had already been bitten down to the quick. I forced myself to curl my fingers into my palms to avoid messing with them again. My papá would reprimand me for it.

I wasn’t sure I cared anymore, but if Fabián and I were going to keep up pretenses, we would both have to try hard to trick everyone around us. That meant I’d have to keep smiling. I’d have to keep being the obedient daughter my family knew me to be.

It was why I was decked up in my most extravagant dress. It was all pink tulle and a tight bodice with long, conservative sleeves that were sheer and glittery. I looked at myself in the mirror and felt like a pink swan from a child’s movie. My face was sallow, though no one would notice after I worked magic with a makeup brush. My hair was coiffed, showing off my long slender neck and the string of diamonds I wore around it. A gift from my papá.

“Ofelia! It’s time to leave!”

I sighed and, after glancing one last time at my unanswered texts, placed my cell into a small handbag and hurried downstairs.

My papá and mamá were waiting, both of them elegant in their matching blue suit and ice-blue dress. My mamá smiled and nodded when she saw me, the only approval she’d give of my attire. My papá wasn’t smiling at me. In fact, I could feel the palpable tension in the air as he glared at me.

I couldn’t shake off the hurt of that. How the love I always thought was unconditional wasn’t. One thing they considered a mistake was now my most defining feature. He glared at me like he could never forgive me.

“You took too long. Mario Vicente is likely already waiting for you.”

I blinked at those words. Mario Vicente was the son of one of my papá’s board members. Why he would be waiting for me was a mystery. We’d crossed paths and mingled politely in social circles, but it had never gone beyond that.

“Why would he be waiting for me?” My head titled to the side, genuinely confused.

My papá sighed at the ceiling like I was stupid. “Because, Ofelia, he’s your date tonight. Maybe even a potential suitor for your future.”

The breath felt like it’d been sucked out of my lungs. “Suitor...”

“Yes, now let’s go.”

Fabián’s face flashed in my mind. “Papá... no.” It took everything in me to get the word out. “I don’t want a suitor.”

I could see the moment his patience wore thin enough to snap. “You’ll do as I say, Ofelia. Nothing else. The academy gave you way too much freedom. If you thought I’d let you ruin our reputation by fucking around with some no good piece of shit, you are mistaken. I’ve heard about you and that Raven Brother boy. You’re going to set yourself straight this instant. Starting with going out with Mario and never seeing that criminal ever again. After your recital, I’m pulling you from school so you and Mario can work on planning your wedding.”

Every word peeled off more bits and pieces of me than I could have ever imagined possible. I was hearing his words, but I didn’t want to believe a single one of them.

Tears pricked the backs of my eyelids.

The academy was my life. Dance was my life. It was the only thing I ever cared about, and he was threatening to take that away from me.

“You can’t pull me from school.” My voice sounded weak, even to my own ears. “The ballet is going to open so many doors for me–”

“The only doors you need to be worried about are the doors to reelection. Then after that, presidential elections. Everything else is moot.”

The tears streamed down my cheeks then.

He rolled his eyes at the sight of them. “Por el amor de Dios, Ofelia. Deja de llorar.”

But I couldn’t stop. I didn’t want to.

Dance was like breathing. It was everything to me. And he wanted me to marry Mario of all people? I hated the man on principle alone and if I couldn’t marry Fabián, then I wasn’t marrying anyone.

But I knew he wouldn’t hear me. He wouldn’t listen, because he had already made up his mind. But what other choice did I have? All my life I’d done everything he’d asked and he was expecting that from me now. I had to fight back, because I couldn’t imagine living the rest of my life in misery because I was scared in this second to speak the words I really wanted to say.

“No, I won’t do it. I’m not marrying Mario Vicente and I’m not dropping out of the academy.”

“I’ve had it up to here with your back talk, Ofelia.” He stepped close. “You don’t have a choice.”

“Why? Papá, tell me why you’re doing this to me. Please.”

He stared coldly down at me. “You are my daughter,” he said simply. “I decide your future.”

The archaic words rattled something inside me. “No,” I stated firmly. “I won’t do it! You can’t make me.”

I saw his hand raise, but I didn’t register what was happening until it was too late. The slap came hard against my cheek, cracking against my skin and sending me careening to the side. I teetered on my heels and went down, landing hard on my elbow.

My face burned and the abuse made the tears freeze inside my eyes from the shock. My papá had never, ever, hit me before. No matter how angry he’d been this had never happened. My gaze slowly turned up to him and it was like a stranger had taken his place. I didn’t recognize him anymore just like I didn’t understand how we’d come to this within the lightning strike of an instant.

My cheek throbbed, but I took a breath and wiped my tears with the back of my hand. I clutched my handbag close like an anchor tethering me to the moment and stood on wobbling legs. Other than my cheek and my elbow, my body wasn’t hurt anywhere else.

I took a deep breath.

“Are you finished back talking?” my father asked.

I kept my lips pressed firmly shut. Not to give him the satisfaction, but because I didn’t trust myself to be civil right then.

“You’ve ruined her face.” My mother rounded the kitchen to stand in front of me. She gripped my chin hard in her cold hands, turning my head like a cabbage at a market. “It’s red now.”

“Put makeup on it and let’s go,” he dismissed and turned away.

Like I didn’t matter. Like he hadn’t just struck me, left me quiet and reeling.

Maybe that had been his goal all along.

Maybe I’d been naive my entire life.

Maybe the truth was my papá had never really loved me at all.

14

Ofelia

My smile was fake, the pain on my cheek fierce, and the entire gala was torture.

I remembered very little about Mario except that he was handsome. That was still true, but now knowing what plans my papa had for the both of us, something about him just soured. It was that and the fact that he’d stayed glued to my side all night, giving me very little room to breathe, let alone think.

When I finally got a chance to slip away into the restroom, it was to find Fabián still hadn’t texted me back.

I kept my tears at bay and carefully splashed water on my face, uncaring if it wiped the makeup off and put my papá’s handprint front and center. Though I wasn’t sure it mattered if anyone saw it. He would likely find some way to spin the story and make it my fault, all while making me feel guilty about what he’d done to me.

How had I never noticed that nasty dark side of his? Right, because I was so busy being perfect and trying to please him. I’d forgotten what abuse was, thinking I’d never experienced it at all. Sometimes abuse wasn’t just slaps to the face. It had other, uglier facets too. Emotional, verbal. Sometimes it was more subtle. It had taken him actually striking me for me to see the truth of his facade.

Clutching my purse in my hand, I stormed out of the bathroom, slamming face-first into Mario.

I couldn’t shake this damn man, and it was starting to grate on every nerve I possessed.

“Ofelia.” His smile was wide and slimy. I wondered how much he knew about the arrangement my papa had going on. Probably all of it, if the way he was cozying up was of any indication.

I hated him.

I hated them all.

And I desperately missed Fabián.

I tried not to let the hurt feelings linger that he hadn’t texted me back. I was sure he had his own reasons for doing it. I couldn’t let doubts get to me, not when he was my only ally, the only person I found myself trusting in this suddenly treacherous world.

“Excuse me.” I side-stepped Mario and power walked away as much as my heels would let me, but he only followed. “I need a moment to breathe,” I called back.

Pushing my way through the crush of bodies, I finally found wide, open doors that led out to a balcony and the warm night. My hands slapped down on the railing and I gulped down breaths of air, suddenly feeling like I was drowning and there was no way up.

Then there were hands on my waist, pulling me back to the moment. Hands I didn’t recognize circled me and then began to roam, sliding over and cupping my ass roughly. I gasped my surprise, jerking away from the touch. I twisted, turning to glare over my shoulder, but was shoved roughly over the balcony railing.

“Don’t move.” Mario’s voice held malice, the kind that made paralyzing fear twist through my insides. His fingers wrapped into my hair, pulling it from its neat bun, his grip pinching my scalp. I cried out in pain, but he didn’t seem to care. He shoved me further over the balcony until my upper half dangled over the edge.

My eyes stared down at the fall, hands trying desperately to grab onto something for purchase, but I felt suspended, dangerously close to death.

“Mario, stop it! Let me up!”

“Shut up, Ofelia.” The tulle of my dress slid up my bare thighs, assaulted by the night’s breeze and the press of his tailored pants. “You’re going to be my wife someday. I want a sample beforehand.”

“No!” I lashed out, but all it did was make me slip further... Mario held me up by my hair, and the tears of pain and rage could no longer be held back. I kicked my legs out, sliding further, feeling the rail dig deeper into my stomach. For a single moment, I contemplated using all of my force to get him away, even if I fell. Even if my legs snapped. Even if I died.

“Let go of–”

Mario’s body was suddenly yanked away from mine. Without the pressure of him against me, my fingers frantically pushed away from the railing and I whirled, heart beating fast, and watched the scene unfold before me.

Fabián had pulled Mario away from me, and the look of rage settled over his features was eerie enough that my gut sank. There was an eerie calm around him as he resorted to violence, pounding his fists over and over against Mario like it cost him nothing at all. He barely breathed, didn’t say a single word, as his fury came out in violence until blood burst and Mario stopped moving at all.

I wondered if he would kill him, and for a moment, I couldn’t bring myself to care. Not with the imprint of his hands fresh on my body. Not with what he had planned for me. Not when he’d dangled my life over that stupid ledge like I was so easily replaceable, like he didn’t care if I fell at all.

Maybe a sick part of me wanted Fabián to kill him. But my love for him was greater than my need for revenge.

“Fabián, don’t.”

At the sound of my voice, he pulled back, whipping that dark, calm gaze in my direction. The only evidence of his fury was the vicious flare of his nostrils and the blown pupils.

I took full stock of him, noticing the dark suit he wore and the black dress shirt opened at the neck, revealing that familiar blade there.

I blinked. “What are you wearing?”

He let out a breath. “You told me there was a gala.”

My hands smoothed the tulle over my legs. I could still feel the pressure of Mario’s hands, no matter how much I wanted to forget right then.

Fabián eyed my movements and frowned. “You’re shaking, princesita.” He stepped over an unconscious Mario and reached for my hands. The warmth of him settled the shock that wracked my body with tremors. I didn’t even care that he was covered in blood.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

“Oye, no.” He let my hands go to cup my cheeks, ensuring that I was looking into his eyes. “You have nothing to apologize for.”

“My papá sprung it on me as we left the house,” I rushed to explain. My throat was tight as I got the words out. Would my papá still have made me if he’d known what type of man Mario was? I didn’t know him anymore, so I couldn’t say for certain. “He... he hit me, Fabián. My papá.”

His nostrils flared. “Has he ever done that before?”

I cried, feeling the sob wrench out of me. “No. And tonight he told me he’s going to pull me out of the academy and out of dance. He wants to marry me off to him.” My eyes flicked over Mario’s limp form.

Fabián visibly swallowed. “You can’t quit dance,” he whispered. “That’s your life.”

I closed my eyes, feeling that grief wash over me all over again. “I know. But I don’t think he’s going to change his mind.”

“Then we don’t have any other choice...” His fingers caressed my cheeks, pushing aside the strands of hair that fell from their knot. He was gentle, even with blood staining his hands. “Run away with me, Ofelia.”

15

Fabián

“Run away with me, Ofelia.”

Maybe the words had been born from desperation, but I’d been contemplating them for days, and nothing had ever felt more right.

Being a Raven Brother had been my whole life, but so long as my father was at the helm, I–we–would suffer. Her father wouldn’t let her love me, let alone be with me. If we stayed here, we were doomed. I was willing to give up everything I’d ever known for her.

“Run away? Where?” She sniffled.

“Far away, out of our fathers’ reach.”

I waited with bated breath, unsure of what she’d say. I knew she loved dance and hated giving it up, but we could find her a different dance academy away from everything here. We could start over and more importantly, be together.

I tried to convey that with my gaze, pouring everything I felt in the moment into her. Her entire body shuddered, but when she looked at me, there was steely determination in her eyes.

“Yes,” she said. “Let’s do it.”

Relief was immediate. I truly hadn’t known what she’d say and had prepared a whole slew of arguments and counterarguments to assuage her fears, but she was saying yes with nothing but my word and a promise of safety.

I fucking loved this woman.

I kissed her. Hard.

“But after the recital,” she said, pulling away. “I have to see it through.”

I’d never deny her that. “Yes. Right after you take your bow, we can leave this place forever.”

And never fucking look back.

The truth was, being here had been a prison for so long, I’d felt myself losing my sanity slowly every fucking day. But the day my father threatened Ofelia was the day I knew we couldn’t stay. He would make good on that threat. He would find someone to hurt her if only to get to her father in whatever stupid fucking war they waged against one another.

We would have been caught in the crossfire, and I wouldn’t live in a world where she was hurt because of me. A part of me knew that maybe none of this would have happened if she hadn’t met and gotten involved with me. However, this was bigger than either of us, a conflict that had waged back for years. If she hadn’t met me, my father would have still found a way to use her against her own family.

Tragedy was inevitable, and it was like she’d always known that. Maybe that’s why she didn’t put up a fight. That was why she let me take the reins as we began quietly plotting our escape in whispers.

By the time we’d hashed everything out, I was riding an eager high. I gave her one last kiss, assuring her the scum on the ground wouldn’t tell anyone about my involvement tonight, and I watched as she walked back into the gala, and then I myself faded into the curtains of darkness.

16

Ofelia

The day of the recital arrived.

All week I’d been anxious, waiting for my papá to strike me again; or worse, accuse me of Mario’s sorry state. But, just like he promised, Fabián made sure Mario didn’t say a word. I wasn’t sure if he’d given my papá an excuse for ‘ditching’ me at the gala, but it did put him in a somber mood. Which meant he barely spoke a word to me.

I preferred it that way.

I couldn’t look at him without feeling too many layers of emotions. Love, because he was my papá after all. Betrayal, anger, heartbreak. It all lived and breathed inside me, pushing me forward for days. I didn’t have to fake being sad around him, but I’d only hoped he couldn’t read the slight undertone of excitement that lived through me as well.

I was ready, both for the recital and to leave with Fabián for good.

It was crazy, the idea that I’d be running away with someone I hadn’t known that long. But time was irrelevant. We both knew we couldn’t stay. Not with everything our fathers had planned for us.

So tonight, I would get up on that stage and dance everything I’d been feeling. I would turn my tragedy into art and watch from the margins as it brought tears to people’s eyes.

Then, I would leave it all behind.

Needless to say I was nervous about more than just the recital.

My hands shook as I applied my makeup in my dressing room.

I went for a bold, dark look. It was dramatic, almost an eye mask slathered over painted white skin. The ends of my eyeliner curved like a cat’s, sliding over my temples. I tried to give my makeup a feather-like effect to match my black ensemble; a black leotard and tutu that fanned out around me. When I stood to my full height and turned, I resembled a raven.

Pride swelled in my chest.

Tonight was all about change.

I would dance, and Fabián would watch from the crowd. Afterwards, we would grab the bags we’d secretly stashed here at the theatre and flee.

I didn’t have full details. I didn’t know where we were going, but as long as I was with Fabián, I didn’t care.

“Ready?” Daniel’s breath tickled my ear.

I smiled at my friend, gripped with a sudden sadness. I would miss him and Paola most of all when I left. And as much as I wanted to weep and hug him a final time, it was imperative I didn’t give anything away. I didn’t want my papá finding out ahead of time, but I vowed as soon as Fabián and I were safe and settled, I’d call them.

“As I’ll ever be.”

The lights shone down on the stage and the music started, indicating it had begun.

“Quoth the raven, nevermore.” Daniel flashed that smile at me right before he danced out on stage and so it began.

Fabián wasn’t here.

I knew because my gaze strayed to his reserved seat several times only to find it empty.

My papá and mamá were in attendance, both of them staring up at me with stern expressions I ignored.

It wasn’t difficult to lose myself in the dance, to pour my soul into every move. To play the part of the torturer, teasing Daniel with his love lost. He chased after me on stage and I skirted, twirling away, teasing, mocking, and tragic.

It was everything we envisioned it would be. So perfectly sad, a culmination of madness and greatness.

When the first act ended and the curtain closed, Daniel and I were smiling widely, grasping tightly at one another in celebration while we tried to catch our breath.

We didn’t need to define the perfection of the moment. It just was.

Though it would have been better with Fabián there to witness it.

Worry gnawed at my gut as I slipped into my dressing room. A cursory glance at my phone showed no new calls or messages.

I bit down hard on my bottom lip. Why wasn’t Fabián here? He knew how much this moment meant to me. We had a plan. He wouldn’t have missed this for the world, unless...

My thoughts were abruptly cut off as the door to my dressing room swung open and my papá sauntered inside.

I didn’t like the look he wore. It was a mask that was far too content, and deep in his eyes I could just make out the malice. I’d been blind to it before, but it was so clear now.

Slowly, I placed my phone down. “Papá.” I stood up and turned to face him.

“Wonderful work, mija,” he praised. That, at least, sounded genuine. “You dance as beautifully as ever.”

“I–thank you.”

“Your dancing has served me well in my campaign to preserve the arts. This performance only helped our image.”

I swallowed. It was always about his image. It always had been.

“Once you resign from the academy, you can have a more active role. I’m sure your mother can find something for you to do.”

The lump in my throat only grew. Maybe a part of me held out hope that he’d be the same papá I’d always known and loved. The one who supported me in dance, but now I saw the truth. Me being the good girl he’d trained me to be, sending me off to the academy, was to help him. Not me. Knowing the truth didn’t make it any easier to swallow.

“Right.” The word was tight on my tongue.

He stepped forward and pressed his big hands against my slender shoulders. I felt swallowed by his presence and tried to control my expression, my breathing.

“You may not see it now, my princesita–”

My stomach soured at the word leaving his lips.

“–but this has been for the best. That criminal would have brought you nothing but heartbreak and despair. I saved you from that, and now, we won’t have to worry about him at all anymore.” He seemed to dust invisible lint off my shoulders, but I was focused on his words and the sinking feeling they caused my heart.

He stepped away, turning his back like the conversation was done and over with.

“What do you mean by that?” I demanded quietly.

He paused by the door for a small second. And then his next words shattered everything inside me.

“That criminal you were seeing died earlier tonight in an accident.” His head turned, and I could just make out the smirk on his lips. “A blessing, I think,” he said. “We won’t have to worry about him any longer.”

And he left me to pick up the pieces of my shattered soul alone.

17

Fabián

It killed me not to tell my brothers what I had planned. It wasn’t because I thought they would betray me–in fact, I knew they wouldn’t. I wouldn’t risk it. Anyone knowing could put us in danger, and we already had enough of that to last us a lifetime.

In just a few hours, Ofelia and I would be gone from here.

I had to admit, it put me in a strange feeling of disconnect. Like my entire life and history were trying to catch up with what I was going to do. I’d been a Raven Brother the moment I was born. It was as much a part of me as dance was a part of Ofelia, but I’d hit a dead end I never expected and now it felt like shedding skin. It no longer served me, so long as my father remained the head of our gang.

Quickly checking the time, I hurried to César with my hand out. He slapped it away. “Bro, let me borrow the keys.”

He grumbled but dug them out of his pockets, dangling them in front of me. Before I could make a swipe for them, he held them out of my reach. “Tell Ofelia I said hiiiii.”

My heart seemed to constrict in that moment as I realized then who I’d be leaving behind. César, Sebastián, Santiago... Brothers and cousins I loved.

And I couldn’t risk saying a word and giving myself away.

Even if I wanted to wrap my brother in my arms one last time.

“I’ll be sure to let her know.” My throat grew tight and I forced myself to swallow past it. It was hard trying not to fall prey to my emotions, but I had to keep my cool. Pretend as though I wasn’t planning on leaving them forever...

I took a breath and forced my body to move like I was eager to get to Ofelia. I was, but every step felt heavy as I made my way to the car.

“Where are you going?”

Ice slid down my spine at the voice. I stopped, turning to meet my father’s stern expression. There was something about it that didn’t sit right in my gut. The obvious malice in his eyes, more prominent than it usually was.

My father always had secrets hidden behind his eyes. They were locked away like a vault, held back tightly, and he very rarely let them slip through. Everything he portrayed was what he wanted others to see, so I knew he wanted me to see this.

“Out.”

“Hmm.” His fingers slid across his slicked back hair. He dressed as fashionably as the politician’s he hated did, trying to appear to be something he wasn’t.

Viejo odioso.

“Drive safely,” he finally said and turned away, dismissing me.

“Sure.” My brows pinched together in confusion at the words, but I didn’t have time to contemplate them. It was getting late, and Ofelia’s play would be starting soon.

I hopped into César’s car and stepped on the gas. We’d decided to hide the bags we’d take with us in her dressing room before the show. That way when the ballet ended, we’d rush in there, grab what we needed, and then leave for good.

My foot weighed heavily on the gas as I sped through the streets when my cell began to ring.

I saw my cousin’s name flash on the screen and frowned at it before the anger spiked. What the fuck was Juliián doing calling me?

“What the fuck do you want?” I demanded. I hadn’t seen him since the day my father threatened to send him after Ofelia. I hadn’t wanted to get close, because I feared what I’d do to him to defend her. I couldn’t risk anything more dangerous than what we already had planned.

“Get out of the car. Now, Fabián.” His usual deep voice pitched high with a frantic energy that made me frown down at my phone.

“What the fuck are you talking about, Julián?”

“Get out of the car!” he screamed. “It’s going to fucking blow!”

My palms went cold around the steering wheel. My heart began an erratic beat against my rib cage like it was threatening to jump from my chest.

“Blow.” I whispered the word as my mind raced, desperately trying to catch up to what my cousin was saying.

“Fabián, you have to get out now. There’s a bomb. Do you understand me? I heard them conspiring. There’s a bomb in the–”

The explosion came seconds after.

And there was nothing I could do to stop it.

18

Ofelia

I became a bird with broken wings that still somehow managed to fly despite the pain. Or maybe it was because of the pain that I was able to continue the show with tears streaming down my cheeks.

I became a weeping raven on stage for everyone to see. Daniel whispered, “Are you okay?” I couldn’t answer when I was drowning in my own tears.

Suddenly, the show became about something else. Not just the madness of man, but the pain of loss and love. The raven didn’t just become a taunting spector meant to haunt Daniel. I became the embodiment of sadness. A ghost in as much pain as he was.

It only grew stronger the more I danced and whirled. I was whirling in limbo and all I had left was heartbreak. Because what else could I do now that my greatest tragedy had come to pass?

My future had been set in stone the moment I’d been born and my parents decided to name me what they had.

Ofelia.

A woman who drowned in her own despair.

I was drowning then and couldn’t come up for air. Even when the show ended and the lights shone down on Daniel and I. Even when the curtain closed and then opened for us to take our bow. When the crowd gave us a standing ovation and their applause roared through my ears and deafened me.

“Ofelia, what’s wrong?”

I couldn’t speak. I staggered away from him, clutching my stomach as I gasped through the pain.

Fabián.

Mi querido Fabián was gone from the world. He’d left me alone to drown.

I pushed into my dressing room, so distraught I didn’t notice the man standing there at first. And when I did, I couldn’t even scream.

“Are you here to kill me?” For a second, the idea was almost appealing. “Get it over with.”

The man was a Raven Brother. With dark hair down to his shoulders, dark jeans and black leather, and the tattoo of a feather on his neck. He didn’t look like Fabián, but there was something about them that was similar.

“Why would I do that?” He looked genuinely confused.

I sobbed, doubling over, hands tearing at my tights like getting them off would miraculously help me breathe better. “I don’t know! Isn’t that what you Raven Brothers do?”

I was being bitter and mean, but I couldn’t find it in me to care.

Fabián. Fabián. Fabián.

“Ofelia.” The man had a soft tone that had me looking up. His eyes were such a dark brown they were nearly black. “Grab your things. We have to go.”

It was pointless now. There was nowhere to go. There was nowhere in the world I’d be able to find happiness now that Fabián was gone.

The man seemed to read what I was thinking and I didn’t know how. We’d never met. I didn’t know him. We were complete strangers. But he seemed to see, because he stepped forward and took my cold, clammy hands in his warm ones.

“Grab your things, little raven. Please. It’ll all make sense when we get there.”

For a second we just stared at each other. I didn’t have to go with him, I knew that. We didn’t even know one another. He could be trying to lead me to certain death. But it didn’t matter. His eyes spoke of an old, kind soul. And maybe I wasn’t the best at reading people. Maybe this was all a colossal mistake. But there was something in his eyes that reminded me of Fabián.

And it was that reason only that I nodded and whispered, “Okay.”

I was sure I was being searched for. Everyone had seen my tears. Everyone had seen the manner in which I’d staggered away off stage. Sometimes art could be an overwhelming thing. It could consume the soul and swallow you whole if you weren’t careful.

They probably thought that’s what happened to me. That’d I’d immersed myself so deeply into a role that I’d been gasping and crying to get out of it.

It had happened before, and it would continue to happen.

Just like I knew it would earn us several minutes of reprieve to leave the theatre to wherever he had to take me right before the chaos.

Surely they were looking now. Surely my papá and mamá were confused as to my whereabouts.

Good riddance to them.

My thoughts became a torrent of emotions. The tears came, but everything inside me kept piling on.

And the strange Raven Brother, whose name I still didn’t know, let me fill the silence with my sobs and tears as he drew me away, further and further.

Until he finally broke our shared silence. “We’re here.”

Before I could ask where here was, he was hopping out of the car and opening my side for me. I watched with trepidation and a hollow ache as he then grabbed our bags–mine, Fabián’s, and his own–from the back.

“Come on, little raven,” he urged gently. “It’ll be alright.”

I took a breath and slipped outside. The night air was chilly, and I hadn’t bothered to change into something more appropriate. I wore my raven costume and ballet shoes. My feet were sore and my eyes were burning.

Yet I followed this stranger into the dark. Facing his back and the bulking bags that had once marked my future. That sadness came again and gripped me for however many miles we walked. I paid no attention to our surroundings, unaware of where we were.

And then the man walking just... stopped. And he stepped away...

...revealing someone beyond.

My breath caught in my throat and the tears spilled anew.

“Ofelia.”

That voice didn’t belong to a ghost.

It was real.

Fabián was alive.

He was in front of me. And then, he was running towards me. I felt numb until he collided against me and his arms wrapped around my body. I was enveloped in his familiar scent, in arms that had become my very reason for living.

Surrounded by him, I was home.

“Fabián.” His name was a broken wail leaving my mouth. I gripped him, holding tightly, wondering if maybe I was mad, after all. But he was real. He was solid. He was in front of me.

When he pulled away, he revealed a face completely scraped. His clothes were tattered, charred in places. He was bruised. Harmed.

But alive.

“Fabián, what happened?”

He smiled through split lips and winced when he did it. “I’m sorry I couldn’t make it to your ballet, princesita. I had an issue...”

“Fabián, what the hell happened?!”

He winced as my voice rose to hysterics.

“Your father and his father conspired against him and planted a bomb in his car.” The man, who’d been silent, spoke up.

I turned to him, mouth dropping open. “What?!”

The man shrugged, his bulky frame moving up and down as he shifted the bags on his shoulders. “I overheard them. Fabián’s dad bartered Fabián’s life for a deal with the politician that would make the Raven Brother drug empire run smoother and without police involvement. Your father wanted him away from you in exchange.”

My blood went cold.

My papá, who publicly prided himself on not falling into bed with criminals like other corrupt politicians had before him, had committed the most atrocious of acts. Our fathers had tried to kill him.

“Oh, Fabián.” I held him close, my heart breaking for him, for us. For everything. “I’m so sorry.”

He winced. “It’s fine. Have you met Julián Cuervo? My cousin.”

Julián nodded in my direction.

“How did you survive a bomb, Fabián?”

“By being a lucky hijo de puta,” Julián murmured.

Fabián winced again. “I jumped out of the car right before it blew up.”

My fingers curled around his arms. I tried to imagine the pain, the fear. It explained his injuries. The scrapes on his face that could have only been road burn, the charred remnants of his clothes, hanging on by dark threads. The bruises from the impact of the fall...

“I’m so sorry for putting you through that, princesa.” Fabián leaned down and pressed a kiss to my mouth. “It’ll never, ever, happen again. Because we’re leaving. Now. The three of us.”

“Okay.”

“Once my father finds out that Julián helped me, he won’t be safe with the Raven Brothers. Not as long as my father is still the leader. He has to come with us. And there’s not much time. They’ll find out I didn’t die in that explosion. They’ll find out you’re missing. We need to be far away when that happens.”

I tasted the salt of tears on my lips and nodded. “Yes, Fabián.”

He sighed his relief, and I wondered how he’d ever thought I’d change my mind. He was my everything. My greatest tragedy and my one true happiness. And once we were far enough away from this mess and our families, well...

Our lives could finally begin.

19

Ofelia

Several years later...

“Did you hear, Ofe? Solo Baila is doing a competition around the U.S. to find talented dancers. The winner gets a million dollars.”

I looked at one of my dancers in the floor-to-wall length mirror and smiled in the middle of my stretch.

“Who knows if they’ll even come here.”

Solo Baila was a TV show that had taken the world by storm with its running two seasons. It discovered dancers from all walks of life in all genres. Each season brought with it new surprises and I found it vastly entertaining, but not something I’d be interested in trying out for personally.

I enjoyed my life as it was.

As messy as it had been, those days were behind Fabián and I. We’d fled to the U.S. together and started our lives from scratch. My final performance in Mexico had earned me a name for myself, one that had miraculously expanded to the states. Now, I ran a ballet studio and had found incredible joy in being a teacher.

When class ended, Fabián came sauntering in.

I smiled at him through the mirror, watching as he came up behind me and wrapped me tightly in his arms.

These past few years away from the Raven Brothers gang had changed him in so many ways. He was still that same dark and mischievous man I’d met with reggaeton pulsing in the background at someone’s party. Now that he dedicated his life to other things besides drug running, he seemed to breathe easier, happier.

Of course our years here had come with trials of their own. And even though we were far away from home, news still reached our ears.

Things had gotten far more dangerous since we’d left. The streets had been plagued with war. Criminals and gangs fought one another as well as the police and politicians that tried to crack down with stricter laws.

After my sudden disappearance, my papá had lost his reelection. He was still in politics, but my mamá had divorced him and he’d fallen off the wagon in the political world. I tried not to keep up with his life. The hurt he’d put us through was fresh, and sometimes it felt easier to forget the papá I knew, even with all the fond memories I had of my childhood.

Fabián seemed to feel the same way.

His own disappearance–as well as Julián’s–hadn’t gone unnoticed by the Raven Brothers. His family had been trying to find him, but we’d stayed hidden until they’d stopped. Even then, he hadn’t contacted his brothers.

The memories of our loved ones was an ache we both felt dearly, but we’d vowed not to let it get in the way of our happiness.

That happiness seemed diminished in Fabián’s expression just then, though.

He pressed a kiss to my neck and sighed. There was a haunted expression on his face that I wanted to wipe off with a kiss.

“I received news from home,” he said, his words solemn. Sad.

My body tensed. “Is everything okay?”

His fingers rubbed circles on my upper arms. “My father is dead.”

There was a pinch in my chest.

“Sebastián killed him.”

“Oh, Sebas...”

I hadn’t known his stoic brother well. In fact, he’d seemed to hate me on sight. But I knew, from the stories Fabián told me, that it was because he cared and feared for his younger brother. It hadn’t been personal.

Fabián admired him deeply, and therefore I cared about him as well. And I couldn’t imagine the trauma of murdering your own father. What had led him to that, and what he was feeling now that he had to live with that decision.

“He’s taken over the Raven Brothers. My father is dead and Sebas said we... we can go home if we want.”

He stared at me through the mirror, silence passing between us but so much said between those spaces.

Home.

We could go home.

I let out a breath and turned in his arms. Standing on the tips of my toes was an effortless movement. When we were the same height, I pressed a kiss to his mouth. “We are home.”

Fabián dropped his forehead to mine. “I was hoping you would say that, princesa. Because I like it here and I really don’t want to leave.”

Laughter bubbled in my chest. “Maybe just to visit, when it’s safe.”

He nodded his agreement. “Besides, I don’t think Julián will want to leave when he just got a new job.”

I bounced up and down on my toes with giddy excitement. “Really?”

He nodded. “He found himself a job on a rancho. One of those fancy ones. It’s called Los Corazones, or something like that. He’ll be moving onto the property in a few months.”

“That means we should have a goodbye dinner.” My mind started whirling with so many ideas and plans.

Fabián squeezed my waist. “He’s not going to want you to make a huge deal of it.”

“Psh, he’s family. He gets a goodbye dinner, and he’s going to like it.”

Fabián chuckled. “Whatever you say, princesa.” He pressed another kiss against my skin, and it said much more than words ever could. That single press of lips held our love and tragedies and happiness. It was our understanding, our past, present, and future. It was everything we were and everything we’d become. “Whatever you say.”

And Fabián took my hand in his and his darkness and my light merged like it had the very first time we touched and just like then, my heart swelled with the wonder that was love.

*The End*

*The Raven Brothers continues with Sebastián’s book.*

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Acknowledgements

I hate writing acknowledgements because I always have the same group of people to thank for every book BUT, this time around I have a few more additions. So thanks to the usual suspects Lisa, for editing and working with me on my tight deadlines and schedule changes. Thank you to my cover designer over at Temptation Creations. I love working with you! Thank you to my momma and my siblings for helping me with my demon children while I pushed through this book to get it done in time. Huge thanks to Roman, for being the best big brother, son, and helper ever. Thank you Tati for being so annoying but also for being the best friend ever. Thank you Carla for helping beta read. Thank you to my sensitivity consultants and to ALL my readers for being the most amazing support and hype team a woman could ask for.

About Jade Hernández

Jade Hernández is a proud Mexican-American woman who strives to bring more Latinx stories to life within the contemporary romance genre. You may know her as Aleera Anaya Ceres, the USA Today Bestselling Author of diverse fantasy and paranormal works. Under this new penname, she aims to represent her culture by writing sweet, dark, gritty, and fun stories for all. As an introvert, Jade prefers to stay inside with a good book, collect tarot cards, and she’s recently found a love for book boxes! She currently lives in Tlaxcala, Mexico with her husband and children.

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