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.