Episode 3

...Val...

I dragged myself into my apartment.

The shift in the tower had been torture. Every time a frequency opened, my whole body tensed, waiting to hear that deep voice say, "Cielo 3576, requesting clearance." It didn't happen. His flight wasn't until the next day, according to the schedule board I checked three times. Casually, of course.

I opened the door, and the smell of cold pizza and men's deodorant hit me in the face before I could turn on the light.

No.

"Doll!" Luciano Reyes was lying on my sofa, holding my remote, watching my television, eating pizza off my table as if he still lived here. "I thought you weren't coming home."

"Luciano." My voice came out flat. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to talk to you." He stood with that good-boy smile I used to think was cute and that now turned my stomach. "We haven't talked since... you know. The misunderstanding in the group."

"It wasn't a misunderstanding."

"Of course it was, doll. The guys were joking, and I played along. That's how men are with each other. It didn't mean anything."

I stared at him. Luciano Reyes was handsome. Tall, fair-skinned, brown hair always perfectly combed, expensive clothes. The kind of man magazines would put on a cover. But underneath that, there was nothing. Like opening a huge present and finding the box empty.

And last night another man had touched me as if every inch of my skin was worth the time, and the difference between that memory and the man in front of me was so big I almost wanted to laugh.

"You still have the keys to my apartment?" I asked, folding my arms.

"You never asked for them back." He tried to take my hands. I stepped away. "Val, are you seriously going to throw away three years over a joke in a WhatsApp group?"

"It isn't about the joke, Luciano. It's because you meant it." I held my ground even though everything inside me was shaking. "You called me crazy. You said you were only with me because of my father's contracts."

"That's not true, doll. I love you."

"Oh, really?" I let out a dry laugh. "Is that why you told your friends I'm 'the package deal' that comes with my dad's signature?"

His smile broke apart. For a second, the real Luciano showed through, that cold look of someone always calculating how much every emotion he fakes is going to cost him.

"You're exaggerating. Like always." His tone changed. "This is exactly what I was telling the guys. You turn everything into drama."

"We're done, Luciano."

"Done?" He laughed as if he couldn't believe it. "Val, don't be ridiculous. You can't break up with me."

"I just did."

"And what are you going to do alone?" He crossed his arms. He looked at me with mockery and something uglier. "You don't have anyone. Your father barely speaks to you. Your sister hates you. Your mother has been in a coma for ten years. Your grandma is in a clinic in another city. Who's going to put up with you if I don't?"

Each sentence was a blow. Straight to the places he knew hurt.

Because he was right. On every point, the bastard was right.

My father treated me like an inconvenience. Camila hated me with real enthusiasm. My mother was at Clínica Santa Lucía, asleep since I was seventeen. And Grandma, the only good thing I had left, was far away and getting more fragile by the day.

I was alone.

But I would rather be alone than be with someone who made me feel worthless. Last night, someone had looked at me as if I was worth everything, and even if it had been a one-night mistake, at least now I knew what that felt like.

"Leave the keys on the table and get out," I said. My voice didn't shake. I don't know where I got that from, but it didn't shake.

He watched me for a while. Recalculating. Then he walked to the table, dropped the keys with a metallic clink, and headed for the door.

But before he left, he stopped. And what he said didn't sound like goodbye.

"You'll come back, Valentina. You always come back." His voice was soft, almost sweet. His eyes were cold. "You won't be able to live without me. And when you realize it, I'll be here waiting for you."

The door closed.

I stood in the living room. My heart hammered against my ribs. It wasn't sadness. It was the echo of every time someone told me I wasn't enough, that I was broken, that I should be grateful anyone stayed with me.

My phone vibrated. Camila.

"Little sister, I heard you broke up with Luca. Oh, what a shame. But don't worry, I'll comfort him for you 😘"

I read it three times. Each time, it hurt less. Not because I was getting used to it, but because something inside me was going hard. Like new skin over a wound. Not healed, but at least no longer bleeding.

I deleted the message.

I went to the kitchen. Threw Luciano's pizza in the trash. Poured myself a glass of water and sat on the floor with my back against the refrigerator.

I closed my eyes. I didn't think about Luciano or Camila or my father or the ten years of shit I'd been carrying.

I thought about a dark bar. About a laugh. About a voice saying, "I didn't like you back then, either, and I still couldn't take my eyes off you." About hands that roamed over all of me as if they had all the time in the world. About the way he said my name against my neck, rough, half-choked, right before he finished.

I opened my eyes and mentally slapped myself.

No, Valentina. You are not going to think about Sebastián del Fuego. Not his smile, not his hands, not how it felt to have him over you, not that thing he did with his mouth that still makes your legs tremble when you remember it.

He's a mistake. Luciano is the past. And tomorrow you have to get up at five to guide airplanes.

I took a shower. Got into bed.

Before I fell asleep, I unlocked my phone one last time.

Thirty-seven messages from Luciano. "Forgive me." "I was joking." "You're the most important thing in my life."

I didn't answer any of them.

But what I couldn't ignore was the last message. An unknown number.

"I found your airport ID in my jacket. I'm guessing you need it for work. Do you want me to give it back, or would you rather pay me one hundred thousand pesos to forget it?"

I bit my lip.

Damn Del Fuego.

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