Raven's POV – Moments Later
The phone call felt like an eternity. Raven's breath was shallow, her hands trembling slightly as she held the phone to her ear. Aurelio's voice still echoed in her head, the words pressing against her skull. We need to talk.
She had tried to prepare herself for this, for the inevitable moment when he would find out about Luna, about everything. But no amount of preparation could have ever prepared her for this.
For him.
The man who had once been her everything, now a stranger in so many ways. How had it come to this? The questions spiraled in her mind, but she forced herself to focus. She had to answer him. She couldn't delay the truth anymore.
Taking a deep breath, Raven pushed herself off the counter and walked to the window. The city below moved in a blur of morning light and traffic, but everything inside her felt still, frozen.
"I'm listening," she said, her voice steady despite the storm in her chest. She didn't want him to hear the tremble in her words, but she couldn't hide the emotion creeping into her voice.
A silence hung between them for a moment before Aurelio spoke, his voice clipped and sharp.
"You know what I'm asking, Raven. About Luna. Who is she? And why did you leave without a word? Without telling me anything?"
Her breath caught at the mention of Luna's name. His voice was tight, like a coiled spring, controlled but clearly on the edge of unraveling. She could feel it. The tension. The waiting.
Raven swallowed hard, trying to steady herself, but the words lodged in her throat, refusing to come out.
"I… I don't know how to explain this to you, Aurelio," she finally said, her voice barely a whisper. "It's complicated."
"Complicated?" His voice rose, the calm breaking as anger laced his words. "You've been hiding things from me for years, Raven. What's complicated about telling me the truth? I have a right to know."
She winced at the intensity of his words, but she knew they were justified. After all, he had a right to know. The man who had once been her closest friend, the man who had meant everything to her, deserved to know what had happened between them.
"I never meant to hurt you, Aurelio," Raven said, her voice cracking slightly. "I never meant to disappear. It was… it was the only way I could protect her."
His words were sharp when he spoke next. "Protect her from what?"
Raven closed her eyes, taking in a shaky breath as she leaned against the window frame, the cold glass pressing against her skin.
"The truth," she whispered. "I left because I was pregnant with your child, Aurelio. And I couldn't keep her in a world that would have torn us apart."
A heavy silence followed, the weight of her confession suffocating in the air between them. Her heart thudded in her chest, the confession she'd kept hidden for six long years now hanging between them like a guillotine.
Finally, Aurelio spoke, his voice low, almost to the point of disbelief. "What?"
Raven's stomach twisted painfully. She could feel the coldness in his words, the shock and the confusion. She hadn't expected anything less, but it didn't make it any easier to bear.
"I didn't know how to tell you," Raven continued, her hands gripping the edge of the counter as though it would ground her. "When I found out I was pregnant, I knew you had your life, your future, your family. You didn't need the complication of a child, especially not with me."
"So you just… left?" Aurelio's voice cracked now, disbelief and hurt mingling in his tone. "You left without a word? Without telling me?"
"I couldn't," she said softly, her eyes welling with tears. "I couldn't risk it. I couldn't risk losing her before I even had a chance to raise her. And if you knew… you would have wanted her in your life. You would have tried to take her from me."
"I would never do that," Aurelio said, his voice low and dangerous. "You think so little of me that you think I'd take my own child from you?"
She flinched at his words. "It's not that, Aurelio. I just… I couldn't imagine you raising her without me. Without us. Without the family we were supposed to have."
A long pause stretched between them, and Raven could hear his breath on the other end of the line. The silence seemed to grow heavier by the second, suffocating her with its weight.
"I'm coming to see you," Aurelio finally said, his voice firm. "We're not doing this over the phone. We need to talk. Face-to-face. Now."
Raven's heart skipped a beat, panic rising in her chest. "No, Aurelio—please don't. I—I can't do this in person. Not yet. I need time to explain."
"You've had six years, Raven," he shot back, the bitterness in his voice cutting her to the bone. "You've had six years to explain. I'm done waiting."
The call ended abruptly, leaving Raven standing in the middle of the room, her chest tight, her hands trembling. Her entire body felt like it was on the edge of a cliff, teetering between a past she could never forget and a future she wasn't ready to face.
She stood there for a long moment, staring at the screen of her phone as though the words still lingered there, like a warning she couldn't quite decipher. He was coming. Aurelio was coming to confront her, to demand the truth. The truth about Luna. The truth about everything.
And there was no more running.
Aurelio's POV – Same Time
Aurelio sat back in his chair, the weight of Raven's words still settling over him like a storm cloud. His mind raced, his pulse quickening as the reality of what she had just told him sank in. She was pregnant with my child. The words echoed in his mind, relentless, each syllable cutting through him like a blade.
His chest tightened at the thought of It—the child he didn't know existed, the daughter he had never met. A part of him wanted to lash out, to demand answers, but another part of him, a part he hadn't realized was there, just ached. Ached for the child that had been taken from him, and for the woman who had been hiding her from him all these years.
He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his desk, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose as he tried to calm the storm of emotions inside him. She couldn't have thought I wouldn't care. She couldn't have thought I wouldn't want to know.
But deep down, Aurelio knew why she had left. He understood the fear, the desperation that would drive someone to make such a decision. He had seen it in her eyes when she had left all those years ago. The same fear that had kept her away for so long. But now, there was no avoiding the truth. It was right in front of him, and he couldn't ignore it.
His mind kept coming back to Luna. What had she been through all these years? How much of her life had been a lie because her mother had kept her from him? The questions were endless, and he knew one thing for certain: he wasn't going to let this go.
Raven had lied to him, kept him in the dark for far too long. But now, he had to see his daughter. He had to meet her. He had to know everything. And when he did, he wouldn't let Raven take her away from him. Not again.
Raven's POV – Moments Later
The silence after the call felt suffocating. Raven stood frozen in place, phone still pressed to her ear, the faint buzz of static still lingering. The words Aurelio had spoken seemed to echo in her mind, drowning out everything else.
We need to talk.
You've had six years, Raven.
You think I'd just… leave her like that?
Her mind swirled, fighting against the panic that was rapidly setting in. The weight of what she had just done, what she had just revealed, felt like an anchor pulling her deeper into the ocean of guilt and fear.
She couldn't breathe.
"I should've never come back," she muttered to herself, her voice barely above a whisper as she leaned against the cold, unforgiving glass of the window. Her thoughts were erratic, fragmented. She couldn't think clearly.
He's coming. He's really coming.
Her mind screamed at her to leave, to disappear before he could reach her, but she knew it was pointless. The truth was out now. She had given him everything—the lies, the secrets, the hidden past—and he was coming for answers. For his daughter.
A child. Their child.
She pressed her forehead against the window, closing her eyes, trying to steady herself. She could already feel the weight of his anger, the disbelief. She had always known this day would come, but that didn't make it easier. Nothing could have prepared her for the fire she had just ignited.
Why didn't I tell him?
She couldn't answer herself. There was no excuse, no justification. But back then, it had seemed like the only way. The only way to protect Luna. From Aurelio's family. From the pressure and the expectations. From everything she'd known.
At the time, Raven had been so sure that leaving was the right thing. But now, standing here, facing the consequences, she realized just how much of herself she had sacrificed. She had kept Luna safe—yes—but at the cost of everything else.
And now… Aurelio.
The man who had once meant everything to her, who had held her heart without even realizing it. The same man who had no idea that she had carried their child. The same man who would never look at her the same way again.
Raven exhaled sharply, forcing herself to focus. She wasn't the scared girl she used to be. She couldn't afford to be. Not now. Not when so much was at stake.
She couldn't change the past, but she could control what happened next. Or at least, she hoped she could.
Aurelio's POV – Same Time
Aurelio sat in his office, the chair beneath him suddenly feeling too small, too confining. His mind raced, thoughts colliding with each other, each one louder than the last. Pregnant with my child. The words, now etched into his memory, repeated in his head, as if daring him to believe them.
Raven. My child.
Six years. Six years he had spent living in a world where none of this was true. Where Luna didn't exist. Where Raven had simply disappeared. And now, out of nowhere, the truth had been thrust into his face. A child he had never met. A daughter who had grown up without him.
His jaw clenched as he rose from his desk, the anger building inside him like a storm he couldn't outrun. He needed to see her. Raven. He needed to see her face when she told him the rest of the story. He needed to understand why she hadn't come to him.
Why had she hidden his daughter from him? Why had she kept Luna from him?
The questions crashed over him, leaving no room for answers. But there was one thing he was certain of: Raven had lied to him. She had kept Luna—a part of him—hidden for years. For six years, he had been oblivious. For six years, he had lived a lie.
His hands balled into fists, his mind replaying her words, the coldness in her voice. She had been so sure of herself. So sure that leaving was the right thing. She hadn't even considered what it would do to him. To Luna.
Raven's face had been etched into his mind ever since they had crossed paths again. He had tried to push it away, tried to focus on his work, but she was always there—lingering in the back of his thoughts. Her voice. Her eyes. The way she'd looked at him. That look… that look had told him everything. She was hiding something. But this?
This was beyond anything he had ever imagined.
His phone buzzed on the desk, snapping him out of his thoughts. He glanced at the screen—his sister's name. Isabella.
He hesitated before answering, the weight of everything still hanging heavily on his shoulders. The last thing he wanted to do was talk to anyone, but he knew he had to.
"What is it?" he asked, his voice tight.
"Where are you?" Isabella's voice was sharp, concerned. "I heard the news about Raven being in town. And… what she said. Is it true?"
Aurelio gritted his teeth. He didn't have the energy to explain everything to her right now, but he knew she would push until she got the answers she wanted.
"I don't know," he muttered, pacing back and forth across the office. "I don't know what's going on anymore, Isabella. She's been hiding Luna from me for six years. I didn't even know about my own daughter."
Isabella's voice softened. "Aurelio, I know this is a lot to take in, but you need to calm down. Raven… she's not the person you think she is. There's more to this story than she's telling you."
Aurelio stopped pacing, staring at the phone in his hand as he tried to process his sister's words.
"What do you mean? What could she possibly be hiding that's worse than this?" His voice broke, his frustration pouring out in an uncontrollable rush.
Isabella sighed deeply, the silence between them thick with unspoken words. "I don't have all the details, but you have to understand something, Aurelio. Raven was under a lot of pressure when she left. She didn't make the decision lightly. There's a lot more to the story, and you need to give her a chance to explain."
His heart pounded In his chest, the realization dawning on him that maybe there was more to this than just betrayal. He wanted to believe her. He wanted to believe that Raven hadn't just walked away without a second thought. But the hurt was still fresh. And the anger?
The anger was still burning.
"I'll figure it out," he said, his voice low, his thoughts still spiraling. "I need to see her. I need to talk to her face-to-face. I can't do this over the phone, Isabella. Not anymore."
He hung up without another word, his chest tight with the uncertainty of what was to come.
Raven's POV – A Little Later
The rest of the day dragged on in a blur. Raven barely registered the passing hours as she tried to push the worry aside and focus on her work. But the gnawing feeling in her chest wouldn't go away. It wasn't just the fact that Aurelio was coming for answers. It was the fact that she knew deep down that nothing would ever be the same again. No matter how much she tried to convince herself that she was doing the right thing, she couldn't shake the feeling that this was all falling apart.
And when she finally looked at the clock, the minutes ticking away like a countdown, she realized that her time had run out.
Aurelio was coming.
She had no more time to hide.