Fabián
What time am I picking you up after rehearsal?
A t 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 Munoz.”
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 .”
“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.