She pushed against my chest with clenched fists and I didn't hesitate to put her down on the ground, waiting for her to balance on her legs before letting go completely.— Nothing. Just carrying you to the car. We're already in Santa Clara.She glared at me with angry eyes and opened her mouth to say something, but seemed to give up, preferring to look away at the floor and remain silent, once again acting like a shy and innocent girl, as if someone like that were capable of pulling off a belly flop on a man.We got into the car driven by the driver and I dropped her off in front of the precarious shack where she lived, on the outskirts, before heading straight to the company headquarters, where thousands of tasks awaited me.***It was late at night when I finally managed to leave work and go home. As I walked through the oversized living room, I dropped my briefcase of documents on a sofa, loosened my tie, took off my jacket, and went straight to the bar to pour myself a shot of whi
ADRIANI couldn't sleep again that night, and when day broke, I felt terrible, my head was pounding with pain, and I was as tired as if I had run a marathon. My plans to send those criminals to jail had changed, but I still needed to scare them so they wouldn't dare refuse to hand over that child to me. So, after reaching a new and difficult agreement with the Federal Police agent, who was already in Santa Clara, I went to the city police station to wait for them .There, the corrupt and useless officer took me to a large room, furnished with only a rectangular table in the center, surrounded by a few chairs and a water cooler in the corner. It looked like an interrogation room.It wasn't long before the door opened and everyone entered, including the three bandits: Ravena, Sandra and Soraya, with their wrists handcuffed behind their backs, escorted by the federal agent and the two local police officers who had helped with the arrest. Daniel was missing, but as far as I knew he had be
RAVENAHuddled in the back seat of the police car on the way home, with my mother and Sandra sitting next to me and the tyrant in his luxury car right behind us, I was shaking from head to toe, overcome by the most intense fear. I couldn't believe that this was really happening, that I would be forced to live under the same roof as that demon, that my son would be taken from me as soon as he was born, to be raised by that man, evil personified.From the beginning, I knew that plan would go wrong, I just didn't imagine that it would fall on me, that I would be the one to pay for those two's damn mistakes.Holy shit! I was really screwed! My life would be ruined, my future destroyed, while they would go home unharmed from all the evil they had plotted. It was really bad luck on my part.Trying to argue would be useless, they both had complete control over me and they knew it. They would never allow me to tell Adrian the truth about how I got pregnant. If I tried, they would destroy me.
RAVENAMinutes later, Adrian and I were sitting in the back of his luxury chauffeur-driven car, cruising through the quiet, sunny streets of Santa Clara, with me perched on one end of the seat and him sprawled out on the other.As seemed to be his custom, he was arguing fiercely with one of his employees on his cell phone. When he ended the call, he focused his attention on me, probing me, making me feel his weight, although I didn't turn my face to look back.“Are you always this quiet?” he asked in a neutral tone of voice.— I have nothing to talk to you about — I said as firmly as I could.— He hardly speaks, but he has a sharp tongue.— Only with people like you.— People like me, how? Who report when they are sexually abused and victims of a scam?Finally, I turned to face him and felt that shock inside me, which hit me every time I came across his icy gaze, fixing me with scrutiny, warning me of how dangerous it was and, at the same time, awakening something else in me that I co
RAVENA— Then call him and tell him you need to authorize it — I asked.— I can't do that either. But you can call. If he authorizes it, you can leave.With my blood boiling with rage, I took my cell phone out of my bag, but soon realized that I didn't have the bastard's number. I asked the security guard, but he refused to give it to me. However, the other man who was further ahead seemed more human and told me the numbers.“Thank you,” I said, and made the call, tense and startled. “What’s this about you not letting me out?” I shouted as soon as Adrian answered the phone, his deep voice echoing on the other end of the line. “Keeping me locked up here wasn’t part of our agreement. I want to leave. Tell your security guard to get away from me right now, or I’m calling the police!”—And where exactly do you want to go? — he asked, surprisingly calm.— Not that it's any of your business, but I have to work. It's almost my shift and I still have to bike to the diner.— You don't have to
Unable to help it, my eyes wandered down his muscular chest, where a thick layer of black hair was concentrated. They continued to slide down, observing his abdomen, which was too toned for a man of almost forty years old, and stopped at the dark trail of hair that started near his navel and disappeared into the fabric of the towel, from where a wider layer of hairs of the same color escaped.When I realized it was his pubic hair, neatly spread over a pelvis so smooth it looked like an athlete's, my heart skipped a beat, an unknown current of heat ran wild through my veins, concentrating somewhere below my navel and making me almost unable to breathe.— What do you want here? — boomed the deep voice, so harsh and altered, that I was startled and immediately turned my gaze to his serious face, trying to remember what I had come there to do.— I-I ... it's... it's W-what the … — I stumbled over my words, as if my mind was numbed by the sight of the man in front of me.— Are you going to
ADRIANIt had been a week since I had seen Ravena. We had both figured out the times the other was around the house – she was going to and from school, I was from work – and we avoided seeing each other. It was better this way, not only because I wanted to stay away from someone who could pull the pregnancy scam on me, but because it was the only way to control the unreasonable attraction I felt for this girl.I still couldn't believe that I had been on the verge of losing my mind and taking her in my arms the moment she had barged into my room. A teenager who was still barely a child! When had I become this kind of man?Despite her age, Ravena had all the traits of a woman, she was beautiful, sexy and she was moving me in a way that I couldn't avoid, no matter how hard I tried. The attraction she exerted on me was there, alive, undeniable. Avoiding meeting each other around the house was the best decision to be made, although it wasn't easy.On the one hand, I didn't want to see her;
— That's not my problem.— The pipeline can be diverted from the house without compromising the project. Let me continue living here. I really don't have much longer to live.— I could, but I don't want to. Get off my property willingly, or you will be forced to leave.I was turning my back on him, in a hurry to leave that heavy environment, laden with bitter memories and his abominable presence, when he spoke again, this time with a much firmer and deeper tone of voice:— I'm not going anywhere.The firmness of his words made me look at him again, when I saw his face much more hardened, his eyes revealing sagacity and that arrogance that I knew well, as if he had finally let his poor little thing mask fall and revealed who he really was.— This pipeline is being built in partnership with the federal government, isn't it? — Without waiting for me to answer, he continued speaking: — What do you think the government people will think when they find out that you got a seventeen-year-old
RAVENA Five years later...It was Sunday and the day was sunny, although a cool, constant breeze was blowing, easing the heat of that time of year.As we used to do on weekends, when we weren't traveling to some paradise destination, Adrian and I would have a barbecue in the backyard of our house in São Paulo. We had three maids who worked with us from Monday to Friday, but on Saturdays and Sundays, I insisted that we prepare everything ourselves.While my handsome husband was busy grilling the meat on the large barbecue in the pool area, the children were playing on the lawn further ahead, running excitedly after a ball, along with Mr. Arnaldo, who could barely keep up with them . Heitor, our firstborn, was the fastest. He scored all the goals, but he didn't let his younger sister, Maria Flor, get left out, making it easier for her to kick the ball a few times, even though it wasn't easy to keep up with her brother at three years old.Watching them, I was filled with affection and p
— Sorry for the interruption, guys, but I had to come up here and make a fool of myself so that the girl I love would believe in my love. — He fell silent for a moment and there was a shower of boos and whispers of admiration, which became audible in equal measure. — Ravena, I love you, more than I've ever been able to love anyone in my life. — When they heard my name being pronounced, the crowd moved away, forming a semicircle, creating space between me and the stage, all eyes turned in my direction, while I remained petrified, with my heart racing, my face burning with shame, for becoming the center of attention. — With you, I learned to forgive, something I never imagined I would be capable of. You taught me to love and, as selfish as it may be, I want to spend the rest of my life by your side. Forgive me for all the stupid things I said before. Come home with me, my love, we'll raise our child together .He fell silent and a deathly silence fell over the place, all attention was f
Burning with fury, I crossed the few meters that separated us, dodging the crazed dancers along the way and closed my hand around his arm, causing him a small fright.—Come with me. We need to talk. — I had to change the tone of my voice so that it would be audible over the sound of the loud music.Raven stared at me in silence for a moment, her eyes filled with disbelief. But then she seemed to come to her senses again, her face contorted with anger, as she jerked her arm out of my grasp.— I have nothing to talk to you about! — she shouted, enraged.— Yes, there is. Come with me right now! — I replied.When I closed my hand around her arm again, determined to get her out of that hell, the idiot who had a crush on her had the nerve to come at me, wanting to fight.— She already said she doesn't want to talk to you, man. Let her go — he said.I slapped my free hand on his chest and it took just one push for him to stagger back. But he had his cousin and other friends who had joined th
ADRIANI was in the middle of one of the most important meetings about that project, the last one I would hold with the engineers and shareholders before my return to São Paulo, and yet I couldn't concentrate on anything the men and women seated around the large rectangular table were saying.As had been the case for the past few weeks, all I could think about was Raven. I was about to go crazy with her new habits, with that new mania of always leaving the house, going back and forth to Belize, having fun as if there was no tomorrow.I really wanted to be happy for her, for the fact that she was managing to move on without me, after all that was how things had to be. She was just living her life as she should. However, I was on the verge of madness, I couldn't stop thinking about her, about what she did with those idiots out there. Because of such thoughts, I had reached the height of absurdity by ordering my security guards to keep that Fernando guy as far away from her as possible,
The next day, I had lunch in my room again, to avoid meeting him around the house. In the afternoon, at a time when Adrian was never home, I went downstairs with Marina to sunbathe near the pool, as I had been doing for the last few days.She and I were lying side by side, stretched out on lounge chairs, wearing only our bikinis, when unexpectedly Adrian approached, coming from the direction of the house, looking like a mirage with his athletic and elegant build, inside the blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows and gray dress pants.“Marina, could you leave us alone for a moment?” he asked, his voice much calmer than the day before, his large body blocking my sun.— Of course. — Cowardly as always, Marina got up and left the garden almost running.Adrian sat sideways in her seat, facing me, while I lay there, motionless, my eyes half-closed against the sun, unable to keep every tiny part of my body from becoming aware of his proximity. The unwanted heat of lust welled up
According to Marina, we were celebrating my birthday, so I could choose anywhere we wanted to go. There weren’t many entertainment options in Belize, so I ended up choosing the amusement park, which I had only heard of from photos that people from Santa Clara posted on social media when they were there. It seemed childish for my age, but it was a place I had always wanted to visit, so I decided to take advantage of the opportunity.That's where we spent the whole afternoon, having fun on the rides, playing games, dancing, talking nonsense and relaxing, like normal people did. It was this kind of happiness that Adrian was talking about when he said that I needed to live my youth before tying myself down to marriage and children.I agreed with him that that kind of pastime, that being carefree was really fun, but it didn't even come close to what existed between us, or at least what I believed existed.My choice would always have been to stay with him, but unfortunately he didn't want m
The week that followed was one of the worst of my life. In order to avoid seeing Adrian, I spent practically the entire day in my room, ate my meals there, only left when I was sure he wasn't home, and only went out to the back garden to get some sun.All the time I felt dominated by blind hatred, no longer able to cry, but only regret having once trusted that man, having loved him and opened my heart to him. He was like my mother, a scoundrel and without scruples, the only difference was that we didn't have the same blood running through our veins.To my salvation, Marina was my constant companion, she was always with me, cheering me up, encouraging me to leave that room and go out and live life. Every day, she invited me to go shopping in Belize, as before, but I was afraid of harming the baby, since the doctor had recommended that I rest.After a week, I was tired of being cooped up, so I used some of the money I had been saving to bring one of Belize's most renowned doctors to the
RAVENAI woke up feeling my throat extremely dry, my body slightly aching. For a moment, I was dazed, not knowing where I was, or what had happened. I blinked a few times, focusing on the ceiling above me. It was white, unfamiliar. I looked around and discovered that I was in a hospital room, with an IV hooked up to my arm.Adrian was sitting in an armchair next to me, his attention focused on the screen of a laptop, and it was only when I looked at him that I remembered everything that had happened, his contemptuous words, the fall down the stairs.As I was overcome by an agonizing anguish, my hands went to my belly, almost by reflex, looking for my baby, without being able to distinguish if he was still there.— My baby… — I stammered, but my voice barely came out. — My baby — I said again and, this time, I managed to get Adrian’s attention, who immediately put down the computer and stood up, standing next to me.— Raven, thank God you're awake. How are you feeling?The sound of his
Ravena still tried to resist, placing her hands on my chest and pushing me away, but in the end she let her desire get the better of her and allowed me to strip her of her robe and take her to bed.There was so much to say, but there was no space for words. All I could do was take her to myself, overcome by the certainty that this would be the last time I would taste her, that I would kiss my son while he was still in her belly. The last time she would be mine, because after we talked, she would never look at me again.Overcome by a whirlwind of heightened emotions, I loved her with all my intensity, giving and receiving pleasure, kissing every tiny part of her body, saving her taste and her smell, experiencing for the last time the sensation of being inside her. Until, finally, we lay motionless in bed, naked, sweaty, cuddled up to each other, enveloped by a silence filled with a restlessness whose reasons were different for both of us.“Raven, I love you,” I whispered. Before she ha