CHAPTER ONE

POLICE!

“ Where the hell are you going, Cloe? " asked her best friend as she saw her crossing the school corridor and running into a hubbub. The friends had arranged to study together later the new score that Professor Oscar had given her at the end of her piano lesson. They were excited and feeling like the teacher's favorite, since it was only for the two of them that he had released the score, not even Alana had received hers and Alana was, without a doubt, the best in the piano class. They promised that nothing would distract them from their study later, and were conspiring in low voices. 

“ I think someone's getting it, Hanna, don't you see? " Cloe continued walking down the few steps to the school exit to see what was going on. Four guys were kicking a boy lying on the ground. From where she was standing you could see that the fallen boy was trying to protect his already bloodied face and the goons were kicking him in the back and stomach. " Let's help him!

Hanna then held her by the arm tightly, before they finished going down the steps and were outside. The well"trimmed living fence of the school made it possible to see the street well.  Cloe, when held by her friend, dropped her books on the floor, with the shock of the abrupt stop, her friend held her arm tightly at the elbow.

" Are you crazy, Cloe? It must be those guys from the compound, you crazy girl! What are you going to do, go up against the four of them because of one of their gang? " Hanna looked at her with clear amazement, and with injected eyes, pulled her along. " Let's go out the other entrance and pretend we didn't see anything! " Letting go of her friend's arm, Hanna bent down and picked up the fallen sheet music.

Cloe knew her friend was right. Who was she to take on four angry men, or for that matter, who was she to take on any man at all? She didn't know anything about fighting, she didn't even know self defense! She wouldn't know how to defend herself if she found herself in a fight. Looking at the guy lying on the ground a few feet away from her, two of the attackers had given up kicking him, but were laughing out loud as they watched the other two still beating him and that's when she couldn't take it and, in the heat of the moment, without thinking, she acted.

Hanna had already picked up the fallen sheet music and turned away, walking back up the steps, imagining, of course, that her friend was following her and they were going to the other entrance to the school, on the street parallel to this one. 

Her footsteps on the tile floor of the stairwell were muffled when Cloe shouted at the top of her lungs:

" Police!!!

She continued down the steps and her shout had the desired effect. One of those kicking the poor fallen man looked not at her, but at the street, his eyes wide, searching for the police car. The others were also instantly startled, their laughing faces immediately turning to panic. To crown the moment, a huge imported car entered the street singing tires. Even Cloe was startled, now on the sidewalk, even though she knew it wasn't a police car, for one measly second even she thought it was and being less than a foot away now from the battered man on the ground, she crouched down beside him. By God, one of his eyes was closed with swelling, She ignored the guys who ran wildly away.

" Hey, are you okay?" she asked the groaning boy on the floor. Cloe didn't want to touch him, for sure there was something broken, but without realizing it, she had put his head on her thighs, the asphalt was hot at that hour.

The blood on his face stained her pleated skirt and soaked her knee quickly. " Cloe!

Hanna's scream brought her back to the present and looked around. There were people far away, curious people from right there on the street, watching with wide eyes. As far as she could tell, no one wanted to get involved, just her, foolish as she was " her brother had called her a soft heart so many times. " had intruded into the situation.

" He's hurt, Hanna, really hurt! Help me get him off the hot asphalt! " She shouted back to her friend, not wanting to leave the boy lying in the middle of the street like a run over animal.

" Hey, lady! " An observer leaning against a tree on the sidewalk opposite the school called out to her. " Leave him there, he is from the Santinis. Get out while you can and don't get involved!

Having said this, the man started to walk away with his head down, as if even talking to her would somehow involve him.

Cloe couldn't believe it. How could they just stare and do nothing? They were as cowardly as those who had assaulted him, one by one those who had stood by and watched disappeared like cockroaches when you turned on the light.

" Help me, Hanna, he's heavy! " Cloe shouted to her friend who was still standing on the steps of the school, scared.

" Oh my God, Cloe, didn't you hear what the man said? He is from the Santinis! " But Hanna was beside her in seconds, resigned and trembling. " We're fucked, you know. " Hanna grabbed the boy's disjointed feet and helped Cloe pull him out of the middle of the street. They almost dragged him to the tree the gentleman was standing before and had warned her about. At least there was shade there. " My God, we are completely fucked!

Hanna was desperate, all she could think about was the delicate situation they might be involved in helping one of the Santinis.

Holding the boy under her arms, he seemed to weigh a ton, exhaled loudly as she pulled him up and her friend didn't notice, but she did. Even in the midst of the unusual occurrence and even though he was unconscious, his blond hair soaked with blood and stuck to his forehead, she noticed how beautiful he was. With his eyes swollen shut, his mouth broken, and his nose crooked, most likely broken, she could see the nuance underneath it all. He was handsome. And that's when he opened his eyes and looked directly at her. From his position, with both hands under his arms, of course he could only look at her when he opened his eyes, but he looked at her. It was a different look that seemed to smile with his eyes.

" Okay, let's get him under the tree and get out of here, Cloe! " spoke Hanna, letting go of his feet and already getting ready to retreat. 

Cloe was not paying attention to what her friend was saying. She still looked into the boy's eyes. He looked young, the eyes really must be the window to the soul, for that brief look he had given her, that smile in his eyes, however small, seemed to have told her so much. 

Then remembering the car that had come into the street singing tires and as she settled his head back on her thighs, she looked and before long she found the car, it caught her eye there. Her music school was for people who could afford it and she was not one of those people, she had won a scholarship. The neighborhood there was noble, very different from where she lived, but still, the car drew attention, none of the teachers' cars was similar to the one she had parked there. The dark windows made it impossible to see the interior and occupant, but Cloe seemed to sense that she was being watched and a shiver went through her waist. 

" Jesus, Cloe, it must be the Navarros! We have to get out of here! '' Hanna's voice was now almost delirious with desperation, she had followed Cloe's eyes and also noticed the stopped car. " They will shoot us! You have condemned us!

Hanna was shaking her whole body and tears were falling in profusion now.  The boy's head weighed on her thighs, blood, despair, yes, they were chipped and she was the one who got them into this mess. But as she awaited the execution, resigned, Cloe spoke to her friend:

" Run! Run, Hanna!

 Hanna ran. Dropping the sheet music at the foot of the tree, she ran as if her life depended on it, and she believed it did. She couldn't run from bullets, but she would die trying. Crossing back to the school without being shot, she climbed the steps two by two. The blue pleated skirt of her uniform looked like a flag being raised behind her.

Cloe stayed. She refused to run and let the boy be killed there alone, and thought that there was no point in leaving now, because if the occupant of the car saw her get up, he would kill her. And to her utter despair the car started and came. The car crossed the street and parked beside her. Doors were opened on both sides and it was not one occupant, as she thought. Three brutes boys in sunglasses got down and stood beside her and looked down on her. Cloe felt a pain in her stomach, her heart was beating so hard that she thought they would hear, that the whole block would hear. 

The icing on the cake was when the head on her lap moved. She was still looking at the guys standing there, chin up, she was aiming at each one, since you couldn't see their eyes, but when the wounded guy moved, she turned her eyes away from the men and looked at him. His blue eyes were on her again, and as unbelievable as it could be, his burst mouth gave a smile, more like a grimace, but he was smiling back at her.

“ Leave it to us now, young lady," one of the thugs spoke up, his thick, rasping voice sending another shiver down her spine.

Another one positioned himself to take the wounded man off his lap and Cloe reacted, holding the boy against her.

“ No”  God in heaven did she really want to die? Cloe was perplexed by her own reaction. “ You almost killed him already, you cowards! Get out of here because my friend has already gone to get help for him. I won't tell the police anything.”

She knew that her voice sounded pathetic, but she couldn't let them finish killing the boy. 

“ What?”  The guy farthest away and closest to the car who was looking everywhere, surely afraid that the police would arrive, started to laugh. “ She is tough, huh? That's one of mine. You wouldn't think so, you know? She's weak.” The cursed man laughed more.

“ They're my friends, Cloe," said the wounded guy on her lap softly, and she almost choked.  “Yes, I heard your name. Thank you, I am fine now.”

Cloe was open"mouthed. So these were her friends? What a surprise in a few minutes. It had all happened so fast that her head was still half in the air.

The driver rolled down his window and this one wasn't wearing glasses, and he wasn't laughing either, he was just looking at her seriously and spoke:

“ Get him off the floor, you jerks!”

In half a minute the boy was inside the car, having been taken off Cloe's lap. The girl stood up, glad that her legs were working, as they felt like Jell"O.

“ Take her to school, where she had left.”  The wounded man ordered, and Cloe wanted to say that there was no need, that she was actually already leaving when it happened, but her voice wouldn't come out, and the next thing she knew she was in the middle of two thugs taking her back to school. Like two security guards, they escorted her through the school entrance and up the steps with her, arriving in her class hallway. At least the wounded man was okay, since he was talking.

Cloe saw Hanna crying and trying to tell details of what had happened to half a dozen teachers, when she saw her friend being escorted by two security guards, all the blood drained from her face. They were close to Professor Oscar's office and he was trying to console and calm Hanna down. The professor fell silent when he saw them.

" Hello," greeted one of them. " Everything is fine, you know? The girl is here and we will bring her to class every day....

" No need," Cloe hurried to warn him. " There are no needs.

" What's that, babe? You helped our man, it's the least we can do. See you tomorrow.

They left and Cloe felt her face blush when she saw the teachers' faces. Oscar, the teacher, asked them to bring her some water and after she stopped trembling he spoke to her:

" My dear Cloe, you know that getting a place for you here was not easy, don't you? You are one of my best students, you shouldn't have meddled with this gang, my darling.

" Are you going to take my bag away? " she asked, her mouth quivering. How could she ruin her chances of being the best pianist in the country in minutes?

Oscar looked at the other teachers, undecided, as they looked down the street and saw the mobsters' car leaving. They knew they couldn't have a disagreement with them.

" Of course not, my dear. Your spot is safe. " Oscar thought it best to speak for everyone.

The week had just begun and so had the girl's torment, since without knowing how they knew her address, a car waited for her every day at the door of her house and dropped her off at the door of the school. She learned that the name of the boy who helped her was Tulio, because they told her that he had asked to be left safe every day. Tulio was supposed to be recovering from his injuries, she did not see him during the days she was picked up from school. Of course, this led to misfortunes at school, but she didn't know what she could do for the time being.

By the fourth day that she was being picked up from school, she was tired of it. Ashamed of being bullied at school, she left class early and decided to take the bus. She wanted to get rid of the escort. She felt freer, and greeted Castro, the nice bus driver, with a smile. It would take about forty minutes to get to his house by bus, but it felt so good to be back to normal. He was talking to Lucinha, one of his neighbors who had taken the same bus, when the bus braked all at once, throwing the passengers from one side to the other, and a little girl of about six years old fell to the ground and began to cry shrilly.

" What happened? " shouted Lucinha to the driver and before they could hear his answer, Cloe saw what had made him brake. In front of the bus was Tulio's damned car. He himself got out from inside and looked at the bus with a closed expression. Perhaps the recognition that the driver, who was beginning to curse as he was stopped abruptly, saw Tulio, caused the man to shut up and open the door for him to get in. Mixed feelings came over her. At first she was enraged. Who the hell was he to intercept her like that? If she wanted to go to school alone, she had the right! At the same time, she felt a shiver of satisfaction.

" Come on, Cloe! " he shouted as he got on the bus with his magnificence. The driver and Castro looked at her with helplessness in their eyes. They couldn't interfere, they had a family to support and there, in person, was Tulio. What idiot would want to mess with the leader of Paco's gang, the powerful boss of the Santinis?

Passing him by with her chin up, she got off the bus and got into the car. Tulio's cohorts greeted her with smiles.