Novelas de Ravenska Jo

Renata was still frozen, her eyes locked on the contents of the suitcase lying open on the bed. The stacks of cash felt like something out of a movie, not something real she could actually touch with her own hands. She reached out a finger, hesitant, brushing one of the bundles as if she were afraid it might vanish the moment she touched it, or worse, turn into something far more terrifying.The brown folder was still open beside her. She had already seen enough unfamiliar names, official titles printed on letterheads, a red stamp that looked like it belonged to some high level institution. She didn't understand the details, but she understood enough to know this was not some ordinary document left behind in just anyone's suitcase.Her hands trembled as she closed the folder again, as if shutting it could also shut away the fear starting to creep through her chest.What am I supposed to do?She thought about running straight to the main house, waking Aunt Sofia, showing her everything

The alarm was still blaring when Renata felt a rough hand grab her arm from behind."Quick, this way!" The woman in the black uniform who had greeted her in the VIP room was now pulling her away from the crowd starting to jam up at the main entrance. Her voice was almost swallowed whole by the siren still spinning red across the ceiling."Wait, my suitcase!" Renata grabbed for it before the woman could pull her away in a rush.Renata couldn't think straight. Her head was still full of the man's face, his eyes narrowed with suspicion, his hand holding her shoulder in place, all of it tangled up with the panic of people running in every direction around her.In the middle of the chaos, her eyes caught her black suitcase lying not far from her feet, and without a second thought, she snatched it up.Across the room, in that same chaos, the man was moving fast too, his face tense. One hand grabbed the handle of the nearest case before he moved off in the opposite direction, disappearing be

The door behind Renata opened without any warning at all.She had barely turned her head when the man stepped inside, his body still damp with sweat, his broad chest rising and falling in a rhythm that hadn't fully settled yet. He carried a shiny black case in his left hand, setting it down on the low table by the door without even glancing at it again, as if it meant no more to him than a jacket he'd just taken off.But Renata's attention didn't stay on the case for long. Her whole body froze the moment she realized who had just walked in.The man from the ring. The winner.Up close, he was even bigger than he'd looked through the glass. Broad shoulders still gleaming with sweat, a sharp jaw with a small spot of dried blood at the corner of his mouth, light brown eyes looking at her in a way that made Renata's stomach twist uncomfortably."That was fast," he said, his voice low, rough from breathing that hadn't evened out yet. The corner of his mouth pulled up, a smile that felt more

Renata was still standing frozen at the elevator threshold when the driver gave her a gentle push forward, one hand on her shoulder like he was steering someone who'd lost their bearings. The roar in front of her was so thick it felt like a wall she had to push through, not just air she could simply walk into."This way," the driver said, his voice barely audible over the noise.They walked down a short, dark corridor, its walls lined with thick black soundproofing material that felt damp and cold under Renata's palm when she brushed against it briefly to keep her balance. The closer they got to the end of the corridor, the more the roar broke apart into sounds she could actually pick out. The crowd shouting. Bass music thudding like some giant's heartbeat. And underneath it all, a referee or announcer shouting through a microphone, the words sharp but not fully reaching Renata's ears.The driver opened a glass door at the end of the corridor, and in an instant, Renata's whole world c

Renata Rivas closed her eyes the moment the plane's wheels touched the runway, feeling the faint jolt spread through her body, stiff after almost seven hours of just sitting. New York. Finally.From behind the oval window, the city welcomed her with lights that never truly went out. Renata gazed far below, at the towering buildings lined up like a giant's teeth, gleaming beneath the dark purplish night sky. So far from the Mexican sky she knew, from the sound of the neighbor's rooster in the morning, from the smell of coffee her mother always brewed before dawn.This is it. A new beginning.She repeated the sentence in her heart, like a mantra she had already said a thousand times since the university acceptance letter arrived three months ago. Renata told herself firmly that this wasn't just about studying and graduating with a degree. It was also a promise she'd made to her mother in their small kitchen, their warm hands clasped together over the worn wooden table.Make something of