Raven's POV – Moments Later
The minutes felt like hours as Raven tried to steady her breath, each inhale and exhale shaky as her mind raced. Her hand trembled as she stared at the phone in her palm, the lingering echo of Aurelio's words haunting her. We need to talk. The way he had said it, so cold and final, left her with a hollow pit in her stomach.
She dropped her phone onto the desk, her hand still shaking from the weight of it all.
Six years. Six years of silence. Six years of running from the truth. And now, Aurelio was here, back in her life—and worse, he knew about Luna. He knew everything. Or so it seemed.
She swallowed hard, wiping her eyes quickly. How had everything unraveled so quickly? She thought she could handle this, that she could go through the motions, keep her life together for Luna's sake, and never look back. But now the past had been dragged back into the light, threatening to destroy the fragile peace she had fought so hard to build.
Raven paced the room, her mind a blur of thoughts—mostly guilt and regret. How could she have kept this from him for so long? She knew that once the truth came out, there would be no going back. There would be no undoing the pain she had caused. No way to explain why she had made the choices she did. And what would it do to Luna? Would Aurelio hate her for keeping his daughter from him?
I didn't have a choice, she told herself, but the words felt empty.
She had thought she was protecting Luna. That keeping Aurelio out of their lives was the best thing for their daughter. But now? Now everything felt like it was slipping through her fingers.
What if he hated her for it?
Aurelio's POV – Moments Later
Aurelio's mind wouldn't stop. No matter how much he tried to focus on his work, the nagging thought of Raven and Luna pulled him back. What kind of person was she, really? He had never known her to lie. She had always been honest with him. But this? This was a betrayal he couldn't comprehend.
He stood up abruptly from his desk, unable to sit still any longer. The walls of his office felt like they were closing in on him. He needed space. He needed air. He needed to clear his mind, but every time he closed his eyes, he saw her face—Raven's face—filled with pain, and the image of Luna. His daughter. His daughter, whom he had never known existed.
His thoughts were a mess. Why didn't you tell me, Raven? Why didn't you trust me?
He clenched his fists, his nails biting into his palms. The raw anger that had surged within him during their conversation earlier still simmered. His stomach churned with a mixture of rage and confusion. How could she keep something like this from him? How could she hide their child from him for so long?
But then, a part of him—something deeper—started to question. Maybe there was more to this story. Raven had never been the type to act out of spite. She wasn't a liar. So why had she done this?
The questions swirled, unanswered, each one more painful than the last. His phone buzzed again on the desk, pulling him out of his spiraling thoughts. His sister's name flashed on the screen: Isabella.
He swiped the call to answer it, needing someone to talk to, needing someone who might understand what he was feeling.
"What's going on, Aurelio?" Isabella's voice came through the line, laced with concern. "I heard what Raven said. I know you're angry, but there's something you need to understand. You don't know the whole story."
Aurelio felt his anger rise again, his throat tightening. "I don't want to hear it, Isabella. I don't want to hear why she didn't tell me about Luna. I want to know why she kept my daughter from me. Why she never gave me the chance to be a father."
There was a long pause on the other end of the line, and when Isabella spoke again, her voice was softer, careful.
"Aurelio, you don't understand. Raven… she didn't keep Luna from you out of malice. She did it because she thought it was the only way to protect her. From me. From our family. From the pressures of everything that came with being the child of Santoro."
Aurelio's blood ran cold as he processed his sister's words. "What do you mean? What kind of pressures? What the hell are you talking about?"
Isabella sighed heavily, as if she was trying to find the right words. "It's not just you, Aurelio. Raven had no support. She was isolated, and when she found out she was pregnant, she didn't know what to do. Your family… our family… it wasn't a place for a child like Luna. Raven made the decision to leave to protect her from the legacy of Santoro."
Aurelio's chest tightened, the words sinking in like a stone. He could hear the truth in his sister's voice, but it didn't make the situation any easier to bear. The anger was still there, bubbling beneath the surface, but now it was mixed with something else—a growing sense of confusion and helplessness.
His mind raced. Raven had left to protect their daughter, but it didn't make sense. Why hadn't she told him? Why hadn't she trusted him enough to be a part of their child's life?
He ran a hand through his hair, frustration building inside him.
"I have to go," he said abruptly, cutting off Isabella's response. He didn't want to hear any more. Not now. He had to see Raven. He had to confront her—face-to-face—and demand answers.
Raven's POV – Moments Later
Raven didn't know how long she had been sitting by the window when the sound of footsteps approaching made her heart race. She froze, every nerve in her body on high alert.
He was here. Aurelio was here.
She stood up, panic rising in her chest as she rushed to the door, her mind screaming at her to leave, to run. But there was nowhere to run.
The knock on the door was firm. Unyielding.
With shaking hands, she opened it. Her eyes met Aurelio's, and for a moment, neither of them spoke. The air between them was thick with the weight of everything unspoken.
Raven's heart pounded in her chest, and she wanted to look away from him. To turn and flee. But she couldn't. She had been running from him for too long.
Aurelio's eyes were cold, unreadable, but there was something raw beneath the surface—something she couldn't quite place. The silence hung between them for what felt like an eternity, before he finally spoke, his voice tight, but sharp.
"Why didn't you tell me?" His voice cracked, just a little, the emotion barely contained. "Why didn't you trust me enough to be a part of our daughter's life?"
Raven's breath hitched, her heart aching at the sound of his words. She opened her mouth to respond, but the words wouldn't come. She couldn't explain. She couldn't fix this.
She could only stand there, staring at the man she had once loved, the man who was now the father of her child—and yet, somehow, still a stranger to her.
And as the silence stretched between them once more, Raven realized that nothing would ever be the same again.
Raven's POV – Moments Later
Raven stood frozen, her heart hammering in her chest, every nerve screaming at her to turn away. But she couldn't. The sight of Aurelio, standing there so close, so unforgiving, was like a magnet pulling her in. It had been six long years since they had been this close, and in that time, her body had learned to ignore the pull, to bury the desire to feel his touch, to hear his voice. But now, with him standing before her, the years of silence and distance seemed meaningless. All the raw, painful emotions she'd tried to suppress flooded her in a tidal wave.
His gaze was sharp, but there was something else in it now. The anger had softened, replaced by something more dangerous—an insatiable need for answers, a hunger for the truth that Raven wasn't ready to give.
"You wanted to protect her," he said, his voice low, as if tasting the words before they left his lips. "But you didn't protect yourself. You didn't protect us."
Raven could feel the weight of his stare like a physical force. His words stung, but they were the truth. She hadn't protected anyone. Not herself. Not him. Not Luna.
She swallowed hard, struggling to find the right words. The silence between them felt unbearable, stretching and pulling as she searched for something, anything, to say. But she couldn't.
"You don't understand," she whispered, her voice fragile. "I had no choice. I couldn't… I couldn't drag you into this mess. You didn't deserve that. I didn't want you to be a part of this broken life I had to build."
Aurelio's expression hardened, his jaw clenching. "I don't give a damn about the life you think you had to build, Raven. I care about our daughter. I care about her, and I care about you. You can't just keep running from the past."
Her chest tightened at his words. She felt like the walls were closing in on her, like she was suffocating under the weight of his gaze and the truth she had buried so deep inside herself. But now, there was no hiding anymore. No more lies. No more pretending.
"I didn't know how to fix it," she murmured, her voice barely above a whisper. "I didn't know how to fix us."
Aurelio took a step closer, and the space between them seemed to vanish. His presence was overwhelming, demanding. "We can't fix what we don't face, Raven. You can't hide from me forever."
She didn't know what to say. She didn't know how to make him understand how much she had suffered in silence, how much she had tried to protect Luna from the darkness that still clung to her like a second skin. The guilt, the shame, the fear of his rejection—it was all too much to bear.
And yet, standing here with him now, she realized that there was no more running. No more lies. No more pretending.
Aurelio's POV – Moments Later
Aurelio could feel the fire burning inside him, the urge to push for answers, to demand the truth that had been kept from him for so long. His mind raced with every possible scenario, every way this could play out. But there was one truth that seemed inescapable: Luna was his daughter. And Raven—Raven had kept that from him.
For six years.
The thought made his blood boil, but as he looked into her eyes, he saw something there that made him hesitate. She was hurting, too. She wasn't the same carefree girl he remembered.
There was no simple answer to this. No easy fix.
"I don't understand," he confessed, his voice quieter now, as the anger simmered down. "I don't understand why you did it, Raven. I don't understand how you could keep her from me."
She met his gaze, her face pale but resolute. "Because I thought I was doing the right thing. Because I thought that if you knew, it would ruin everything. You had enough to deal with. I couldn't let you…" She trailed off, her eyes filling with tears she didn't want to shed.
Aurelio's chest tightened, a surge of emotion he wasn't prepared for washing over him. He had wanted answers, but the weight of them felt like a burden he wasn't sure he could carry.
"You didn't think I deserved the choice?" he asked, his voice a low growl, the hurt creeping into his words.
Raven's hand trembled as she wiped at her eyes. "No, it wasn't about you not deserving the choice," she said, her voice cracking. "It was about protecting you from everything that came with it. The Santoro name… the world you live in. I didn't want her to grow up surrounded by that. I wanted to give her a chance to have a life of her own, away from the mess we created."
Aurelio stared at her, a mix of disbelief and understanding crossing his features. The pieces of the puzzle were slowly coming together, but it didn't make it any easier to accept.
"Do you think that's what she deserves now?" he asked, the words cutting through the air. "To grow up without knowing her father? Without knowing where she comes from?"
Raven's lips trembled. "I thought I was protecting her. I didn't know what else to do."
Aurelio's mind whirled with the enormity of it all. He had a daughter. A six-year-old daughter who had been living a life completely separate from him. And Raven—Raven had kept that from him. But now, standing in front of him, broken and vulnerable, he couldn't ignore the truth.
There was no turning back now.
Luna's POV – In the Hallway
Luna sat on the floor of the hallway just outside her mom's office. She'd heard their voices—their raised voices—through the door, the words blurred, but the emotions were clear. She knew they were talking about something important. Something big. Her small fingers fiddled with the edges of her shirt as she hugged her knees to her chest, staring at the floor.
She had heard bits and pieces of the conversation. "Dad" and "I'm sorry," "truth," and "protecting" were the only words she could make sense of. Luna didn't really understand it all, but she understood that her mom sounded upset. And so did the man on the other side of the door. She didn't know who he was, but his voice had been deep and angry.
Luna bit her lip. She hadn't meant to eavesdrop, but she couldn't help it. Ever since she was little, she'd always been curious. She wanted to know why her mom didn't talk much about her dad. Why she never told Luna about him.
Luna had tried to ask once, but Raven's face had gone pale, her eyes sad. She'd never really gotten an answer.
Now, though, she wondered if this man was her dad. Was this the man her mom had always talked about with that faraway look in her eyes? The one who had never come to visit, even though Luna would sometimes see kids with their dads at the park or school.
Luna shuffled forward a little, peeking through the small gap in the door, trying to catch a glimpse of what was happening. She wasn't sure if she was supposed to be here. She wasn't sure if they even knew she was listening, but she couldn't help it. She needed to know the truth.
The man's voice grew louder. "You didn't think I deserved the choice?" He sounded angry, like he'd been hurt.
Luna's chest tightened, feeling the weight of his words. Was he talking about her?
She pulled her knees tighter, hoping they wouldn't notice her, but knowing, deep down, that the moment the door opened, she'd be found out. Her heart beat faster. Would her mom let her talk to him? Would he like her?
Before she could think any more, the door swung open, and Luna quickly ducked down, her heart pounding as she heard the man's footsteps move away from the door.