Chapter 29

The hallway outside was cool and dim, the building settling into evening. Innara held Aria's hand as they walked, her grip relaxed but constant. She noted everything out of habit- the flickering light near the stairwell, the sound of a television through one door, laughter behind another. Lucía opened the door almost immediately after Innara knocked.

"Innara, Buenas noches." she said with a warm smile. Even though Innara doesn't know Spanish much, she has learned some basic greetings and common words in these years.

(Translation: Good evening.)

"Buenas noches. I hope it's okay, Aria wanted to play with Sofia." Innara replied. Lucía glanced down at Aria, who waved enthusiastically with her small hands.

"Of course, Sophia is just drawing." she said. Innara smiled faintly at the coincidence.

"I'll be back in a bit, she won't be a bother." she said crouching to Aria's level.

"Behave and don't trouble anuty. Okay baby?" She asked Aria looking into her eyes.

"I will not trouble aunty. Momma. Pinky promise." Aria promised showing her small pinky finger to Innara looking adorable.

Innara smiled at her innocence and tangled her pinky finger with Aria's one. Then she stood up. Lucía stepped aside to let Aria in.

As the door closed gently behind her, Innara felt the familiar tug in her chest. It never fully went away that pull between letting go and holding too tight. But she didn't want to make Aria feel like she isn't a normal child and she always needs her mother's protection unlike other kids of her age. Lucía lingered.

"Would you like some tea?" she offered.

Innara hesitated, then nodded.

"Yes. Just for a few minutes." Innara said not wanting to turn her polite invitation down. Lucía opened the door for her and she entered inside.

"Thank you." Innara said walking with her to the kitchen.

They stood in Lucía's small kitchen, steam rising from mismatched cups. The conversation was light weather, work, and children. Safe topics. Still, Innara listened more than she spoke, her mind half-aware of the laughter drifting from the other room. After a while, she glanced at the clock.

"I should go. I'll have to prepare dinner soon." she said looking back towards the room where Aria was playing. Lucía noticed and nodded.

"She's fine. I'll call you if anything." she assured Innara.

"Thank you." Innara said sincerely.

She stepped back into the hallway alone.

The apartment felt quieter when she returned. Not lonely just still. She moved slowly, straightening a cushion, checking the stove, listening to the muffled sounds of the city. Every so often, she glanced toward the door. Waiting. Not because she feared but because loving meant always listening for footsteps. And when Aria's laughter echoed faintly through the wall, Innara smiled.

For now, everything was still where it belonged. She plugged the earphones in her ear and played soft music to keep the anxiety clawing away from her mind. The silence was too much to handle for her so she didn't let herself live in the silence. She softly started humming to the rhythm of the music and started chopping vegetables for dinner, smiling. Recalling how Aria scrunches her nose as soon as she sees a chunk of vegetable in her food.

On the other side, The apartment smelled faintly of citrus cleaner and warm dust.

Lucía had cleaned earlier than usual that evening. There was no reason no guests expected, no celebration planned but restlessness had followed her all day, settling into her bones like a dull ache. She'd wiped down the shelves twice, rearranged the cushions that didn't need rearranging, and folded laundry that was already folded.

Something felt off. She hadn't been able to name it. Now, she stood in the small kitchen rinsing two glasses, listening to the soft sounds of children playing in the living room. The sound should have comforted her. It usually did. Sofia's laughter- light and carefree had always been a reminder that despite everything else in her life, this one thing had turned out right. Aria's voice joined in, bright and excited..Lucía paused.

Aria. Innara's daughter.

She hadn't expected the child to stay long just an hour, maybe less- but Sofia had insisted, tugging Aria toward her room to show her dolls, and Aria had gone eagerly, curls bouncing, eyes full of wonder. Lucía set the glasses on the counter and leaned against it, closing her eyes briefly. Mateo hadn't come home in three months as far as she remembered.

Sophia always asks about him but what can she say to her daughter that her father gambles and when he doesn't have money he just runs away from them. Many times goons had come to threaten her but what can she do, neither she knows about him nor she had money. All she could say to them was 'please give him some more time'. She was tired of all this and Sophia's future was also at stake. And Matteo's absence, that wasn't unusual anymore.

What was unusual was the silence. No calls. No messages. No excuses shouted from the doorway at midnight. Just absence.

Lucía dried her hands slowly, deliberately. The sound of children's voices drifted through the apartment again- Sofia talking rapidly about something, Aria responding in enthusiastic bursts. Lucía smiled faintly despite herself. Children had a way of filling space. Of making rooms feel lived in, alive.

She stepped into the hallway just as Sofia darted out of her bedroom, nearly colliding with her.

"Mamá! I forgot my dolls in granny's room! I'll be right back!" Sofia said breathlessly.

Before Lucía could respond, Sofia was already running back down the hall, disappearing into Daisy her grandmother's room, searching for her doll which probably she forgot there last night when she was playing there. Lucía turned her attention back to the living room. Aria sat cross-legged on the rug, surrounded by a mess of crayons and paper, drawing with intense focus.

Her tongue peeked out slightly, the way it did when she concentrated. The soft glow of the lamp overhead made her curls shine like dark gold. Lucía watched her for a moment. Something tightened in her chest. She is such a polite and beautiful child but alas she doesn't have a father. She never asked about her father to Innara but still she felt bad for the child. Lucía shook the thought away. She stepped forward.

"Aria. Do you want some juice?" she said gently. Aria looked up, smiling brightly.

"Yes, please!" She said after a slight hesitant contemplating whether she should accept something from her or not.

Innara had always told her to be careful around the people in her surroundings. She shouldn't be comfortable with everyone around her just because they had smile on their faces and kind nature. But then she remembered her momma also had tea with her Aunty Lucía so she agreed to accept a glass of juice from her. Lucía turned toward the kitchen- And the door exploded inward.

The sound was not loud so much as it was violent- wood splintering, metal screaming as the lock gave way. The door slammed against the wall with such force that the frame cracked. Lucía screamed. Aria froze.

Three men stormed inside. They were dressed in plainly dark jackets, jeans, and boots but there was nothing ordinary about the way they moved. They didn't hesitate. Didn't look around in confusion. They moved with purpose, with certainty, eyes scanning the room in sharp, assessing sweeps.

The first man's gaze landed on Aria sitting right in front of them in the bedroom while Lucía stood a little far away from the bedroom. And stayed there. Lucía immediately stepped in front of her instinctively. She already knew something was wrong. The way those men barged inside their apartment and gazed at Aria, she knew they were somehow related to Mateo, her jaw clenched.

"What are you doing? Get out! You can't---" she shouted, her voice shaking.

One of the men shoved her aside without slowing. She hit the wall hard, the breath knocked from her lungs.

"Mamá!" Sofia cried from the hallway.

Aria screamed. Sofia immediately hid inside Daisy's room because she remembered her mother telling her if this kind of situation happens she has to hide.

"Momma!" Aria cried, scrambling backward on the rug, her small hands slipping on paper and crayons as panic seized her.

"Momma! MOMMA!" Aria said trying to crawl under the bed but the men were on her in seconds. One grabbed her arm. Aria fought with everything she had- kicking, twisting, screaming so loud her throat burned.

"No! Let me go! I want my momma! MOMMA!" she sobbed. Lucía scrambled to her feet, terror ripping through her.

"She's not yours! She's not his! She's not-- she's a guest! Please-- she's a child---" Lucía screamed, throwing herself at them.

One of the men struck her across the face.

She fell. Aria screamed. Aria's cries turned shrill, desperate, breaking.

"Momma! Please! MOMMA! I want to go." She cried out. Tears painfully spilling on her chubby cheeks.

The men didn't listen. They didn't ask questions. They had already decided. The resemblance. The timing. Mateo's debt.

This was his daughter. That was all that mattered. Lucía crawled across the floor, grabbing at their legs, clutching at fabric with bleeding fingers.

"She's not his! Please, I swear-- she's my neighbor's child! Innara-- Innara is her mother! Please-- don't take her---" she sobbed. One man hesitated.

Just for a fraction of a second but then he thought that she must be lying to save her daughter. He looked at her for a while. Aria seized the moment, biting down hard on the hand gripping her. The man cursed.

Another struck her- hard enough to stun.

Aria went limp for a second, breath knocked from her lungs. Lucía screamed again. Little Aria felt her head spinning. She clutched her head in her small hands and cried out in pain.

"No! Don't hurt her! Please! Take me instead! Take me! She's just a child!" Lucía begged them. But they were already dragging Aria toward the door. Her small fingers clawed at the frame, nails scraping against wood.

"Momma! MOMMA, HELP ME!" she cried hoarsely. Lucía lunged again, grabbing Aria's ankle.

"She's not his, she's innocent. Please--she doesn't know anything---" Lucía begged, tears blinding her.

A boot came down on her wrist. Lucía screamed in agony as bone cracked. The men didn't look back. They hauled Aria out into the hallway. Her cries echoed, bouncing off the concrete walls, tearing through the building.

"Momma! Momma! I want my momma!" She cried out stretching her small hand towards the door of their apartment.

The sound ripped through Lucía's chest like a blade. Sofia came running out now and sobbed uncontrollably, clinging to her mother's uninjured arm.

"Mamá, they took her. They took Aria." she cried.

Lucía stared at the open doorway. The broken lock. The splintered wood. The silence where a child's laughter had been moments before. She knew. In her bones, in her blood, she knew. Mateo's past had finally come for her and her daughter. But it had taken the wrong child. She was feeling that something was wrong.

Outside, Aria's cries faded as the men dragged her down the stairs, her small body shaking with terror, her voice breaking with every scream. She didn't understand. She didn't know what a debt was. She didn't know names like Zavier. She only knew one thing that she was being taken away from her mother.

And somewhere, just a few walls away, Innara stood in her apartment, unaware that the sound she thought was distant traffic was actually her daughter screaming her name. By the time Lucía found her phone with shaking hands and dialed Innara- The building was already quiet again. Too quiet. And Aria was gone.