— 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
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
Being 17 and working is not easy, but that’s my reality.I finish making the bed, carefully pressing the pillows against the mattress to align them perfectly. I step back and look at the scene, trying to find any imperfection. There is none. Everything here seems untouched.I wipe the sweat from my forehead with the sleeve of my shirt and take a deep breath. The room is huge, much larger than any room in my house. The shiny wooden floor reflects the soft light coming through the huge windows, covered by expensive fabric curtains. The walls are a neutral tone, but the finish is so perfect that even the shadows seem organized.Luxurious. Cold. Impeccable.It’s as if this room is more of a set than a space for someone to live in. Even the smell isn’t welcoming. Everything feels freshly cleaned, exhaling that artificial perfume of polished wood and flowers that probably cost more than an entire month’s worth of my wages.I don’t even know who owns this house.I only know that he is a very
For a moment, time seems to freeze.He lifts his head and looks around the room, his eyes scanning the space with almost predatory precision. My heart races, pounding so hard in my chest that I can feel the pulse echoing in my ears.It’s as if he knows. As if he can feel my presence, as if that piercing gaze could pierce through the wood of the door behind which I’m hiding.But he does nothing. He doesn’t approach, doesn’t say anything. He just looks away, almost indifferently, as if he’s decided that whatever is here – me – isn’t worth his attention.With firm steps, he walks to the bedroom door and exits without looking back. Only when I hear the soft click of the door closing does my body finally relax, and air flows back into my lungs. My legs are shaky, and my fingers still grip the towels as if they’re the last thing keeping me grounded in reality.But one thing is certain: as much as he didn’t see me – or chose to ignore me – the feeling that this man exudes danger, power, and
The most common scam was when Sandra pretended to be a prostitute, luring these men to remote places where Daniel would show up armed and take whatever he could get from these idiots. It may not seem like it, but Daniel was very jealous, always showing up at the agreed location before any of the fools had time to lay a hand on Sandra. Sexual acts between her and her victims were strictly forbidden.Sometimes, they just drugged these men with prescription drugs my mother had access to through the friends she made when working at the local hospital. With the victims drugged, everything became easier for them.However, the town was small, and even though they acted in the surrounding municipalities, they were becoming well-known. Even the corrupt police officer, bribed to ignore the reports he received, could no longer control the situation due to the large exposure and attention the cases were getting. So, the option was to stop or at least take a break.But I didn’t believe they would
“You did what?!” my mother yelled, her eyes wide with anger as she slammed something onto the table.“I got it, okay? I found that bastard at the club,” Sandra replied, not hiding her defensive tone. “It was easy. He was with that woman... that blonde he’s always going out with. I approached them, flirted a bit, and it didn’t take long before we ended up in one of the rooms.”“And then? What happened?” my mother pressed, impatience growing in her voice.Sandra sighed. “Inside, I put the medication in his drink. It worked. He was completely out of it, didn’t know what was going on. We did what had to be done, but...”“But what, damn it?”“He insisted on using a condom,” Sandra said, almost spitting the words out. “Even while drugged, he wouldn’t give in. So all I got was his sperm... in the condom.”My mother snorted. “That’s not a problem! We’ve talked about this, Sandra. We have the syringe, we can do the insemination.”“I know, mom, I know! But the problem was after...” Sandra start
As if the space between us, or even the furniture in the room, could protect me from them, I positioned myself on the other side of the room, the panic growing inside me, the certainty that if my mother really wanted to inseminate that sperm into me, there was nothing I could do to stop her.“I wouldn’t be asking if there were another way. Look at our situation. A child from that man could change our lives forever. It could pay for a good college for you. Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted?”“Mom, wake up! I’m not going to get pregnant by a man I don’t even know. I’m not going to be part of this.”“You won’t have to do anything,” my mother’s voice whispered, as if she were sharing a dark secret. She moved even closer, her eyes locked on mine, as if I were prey about to be consumed. “When your belly starts to grow, the school year will be over. You’ll lock yourself in the house and won’t leave until the baby is born.”The coldness in her words was overwhelming, each syllable sounding
— Raven! Raven! Raven! — I heard the voice calling me in the distance and, for a moment, I thought I was dreaming, because I never needed to be woken up to go to school. Since I was a child, I always did it alone.I opened my eyes and felt my head spinning, my body heavy, an unusual sleepiness ordering me to keep sleeping. Then I realized that I was not on the sofa bed in the living room, but in my mother's room, in her bed. The realization invaded me at the same time that I remembered the events and sat up in bed suddenly, the room spinning around me, my mother's face, settled on the edge of the mattress, entering my field of vision.“What happened?” I asked, in a whisper.However, I didn't need her to answer. I knew that she had sedated me and injected me with the man's semen. I could feel the slight burning between my legs from the syringe's invasion. My body felt incredibly different and I was almost certain that I was pregnant, although it was too early to know.Holy shit! I coul
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