Abigail Davies

“First order of business: I’m making you a captain.” I opened my mouth to reply, but before I got the chance, he turned to face Romeo.

“You’ll still be doing that.” Lorenzo clasped his hands in front of him. “You’ve been loyal from the start, Mateo. I’ve never doubted what you can do, and now you get rewarded for that.” He paused, his eyes flashing with emotion. “Take the promotion and use it to get you and your brother and sister the hell out of that apartment.” He stood, not saying another word, and all I could do was nod

na do it, then I will.”

“Take one more step,” I warned him, my voice low and deadly. “And I won’t hesitate to end you, even if it means I’ll take a bullet to the head right after.”

You think I’m gonna let you get married without your family there?”

Family don’t let family do shit alone, Mateo. And me and Aida? We’re your family.” My stomach churned for an entirely different reason as I stared at him pouring amber liquid into two crystal tumblers. He handed me one of them, raised his glass, and said, “To family.”

They said it took sixty-six days to create a new habit, but all it took for me was one look from her emerald-green eyes, and the promise her small smile gave me.

Some might’ve called it stalking, but I called it observing. Someone had to watch over her. She was a girl in the midst of a family that had deep secrets running through their veins. Secrets no one knew about but the people involved. Secrets that would never come to light.

She’d only grace me with her eyes and part of her face, but that was all I needed to keep me coming back.

I promised myself I wouldn’t be like them, we all had, but that didn’t mean we’d stuck to that promise. We’d all fractured out into different parts of the country, but as the youngest, I was kept around more of the family. I didn’t deal with the amount they had to deal with, but that didn’t mean their blood didn’t run through my veins.

Evil was evil, no matter how you portrayed it.

I told myself I was being her protector, watching out for her so that she didn’t get hurt by the very people who should love her above all else, but it was a lie.

It was all a lie.

I craved to touch her. To be near her. I was on the precipice, about to fall to my death, but I’d do anything for her, even if it meant protecting her from me.

It’d only be a matter of time until she left for college, and until then, this was what I had to do. I didn’t want to think about what would happen after that, all that mattered was the here and now.

And right now, I had a fight to win, both physical and mental

I was invisible, but not quite. Forty-three fights in three years and I hadn’t lost one of them. Tonight wouldn’t be any different. Sure, I’d let them get ahead in the first round, I’d allow them to get hits on me, to punish me for giving in to the temptation and staring into that window night after night. It wouldn’t make a difference though, because I’d unleash my hell on them. Just like I was going to do tonight.