FAZER LOGINIt was a little after eight when I walked Rowan toward the gate.Dinner had finally ended after Mama managed to give him dessert that she claimed was only “a little” and turned out to be one enormous slice of tres leches, Papá made Rowan save the direct number for the head of our family security, and Max spent the last fifteen minutes of his evening demonstrating Kevin’s new capabilities, which, upon closer investigation, turned out to be two pieces of translucent red Lego taped to his horns.Gabriella had already taken Max upstairs because he’d started yawning while continuing to deny he was tired, which was usually the final stage before he fell asleep somewhere completely unreasonable.The night air was cooler now. The ocean below was almost invisible except for the thin white lines where the waves broke, while the lights of Belladonna glowed softly through the trees on the hillside.Rowan walked beside me with both hands in his pants pockets, the tablet he’d brought earlier alread
I stopped chewing.“Sasha’s house already has security,” Gamma said.“Mm.”“From us.”“I know.”Gamma frowned harder. “Our team already has perimeter coverage, gate control, patrol rotation, cameras, and response.”Papá lifted one shoulder. “Now she can have two.”I stared at him. “Is this how rich people say anxiety?”“Redundancy.” Papá said.Gamma put down his fork. “Two systems can overlap.”“They can,” Rowan said.Gamma looked at him.“If they’re installed badly,” Rowan added.I held back a laugh.Gamma narrowed his eyes. “And if you install it?”“It won’t be bad.”Papá nodded. “I don’t want to replace Sasha’s security. I want an additional layer specifically for the slope, low airspace, and the blind approach from the lower road. Your system saw something ours didn’t.”Gamma looked at Papá. “We also only found out there was something after Blackwood came over.”“Exactly.”Gamma opened his mouth.Then closed it again.Papá went back to eating.Argument over.Rowan shifted his atte
Twenty minutes later, Rowan Blackwood was sitting in the chair my son had apparently designated the special chair.I still had no idea what made it special.It was a perfectly normal dining chair on the left side of the table, identical to the other seven, except maybe because Max had stood on it that morning trying to reach the honey in the cabinet, and I’d threatened to sell the entire dining set if he didn’t get down.But after his shower, Max came downstairs with his black hair still damp, the bangs Gabriella had carefully combed into place already falling over his forehead again five minutes later, wearing a clean white T-shirt and navy shorts, and immediately pointed Rowan toward the chair.“You sit here.”Rowan pulled it out. “Any particular reason?”“Special chair.”“What makes it special?”Max paused. “Because I said so.”Rowan nodded like he’d just been given a perfectly reasonable structural explanation. “Fair enough.”Papá pulled out the chair at the head of the table whil
Gamma looked at Papá like logic had personally betrayed him. “That’s a weird defense.”“It’s not a defense.” Papá handed the tablet back to Rowan. “It’s a reason not to accuse someone before we have anything more than a black car and family trauma.”“I like that family trauma is officially an evidence category now,” I said.Gamma looked at me. “You’re the one who said Moretti was your first thought too.”“Yes, but I have self-awareness. Very expensive. I bought it after the divorce.”“ROWAN!”We all turned.My son was charging up from the lower steps at a speed that did not belong to four-year-old legs that were still wet and sandy. His shorts were still rolled much too high, his white T-shirt was damp all the way to his stomach, and his black bangs were stuck randomly across his forehead.His cheeks were red from the sun and running, his chubby little body bouncing with every step, while one sandal was in his hand and, for reasons known only to God, the other was still on his foot.G
By late afternoon, I was already home with my hair twisted into a messy bun, barefoot, and halfway through my third empanada at the kitchen island because Mama had a very Latin approach to family crises: cook enough food to make everyone in the house physically incapable of moving.Reagan and Noah had gone back to their respective caves that morning, which in Rivera-family language meant work, wives, kids, meetings, and all the other adult responsibilities they unfortunately couldn’t keep abandoning just because their little sister had a problematic ex-husband.Gamma was still here because, according to him, he was “working remotely.”According to me, he was using his laptop as decoration on the coffee table while watching something about motorcycles with the volume turned low.Papá sat outside on the terrace with his feet up on the ottoman, reading something on his tablet, while Gamma was half sprawled across the outdoor sofa wearing sunglasses even though the sun had dropped low eno
The door closed behind Noelle with a soft click.I stayed exactly where I was for a few seconds, staring at the handle like it might change its mind, open again, and return the woman who had just walked out of my office with her personal life in slightly worse condition than when she came in.It didn’t.Good.Or bad.I hadn’t decided yet and I had barely taken a breath when my laptop chimed from the desk. I turned.New email.COUNSEL — PRIVILEGED & CONFIDENTIALRE: DRAFT TERMS — VOLUNTARY PARENTAGE CONFIRMATIONBecause apparently the universe had watched me finish telling my ex-husband’s girlfriend that I used to be his wife and thought, You know what she needs? DNA paperwork.I walked back to my desk, sat down, and opened the email before my body had time to develop an emotional response requiring therapy or tequila.There was an eleven-page attachment. I opened it and immediately saw that Rafael’s counsel had already sent back a redline.First draft.My eyes moved over the first pag
Max pressed his lips together, then slowly pulled out the chair. He tried to climb up by himself, his chubby knee pushing into the seat cushion, one hand gripping the edge of the table. His face was so serious, as if he were scaling the Pottery Barn version of Everest. Once he managed to sit, he im
My house sat inside a gated community far too expensive for people who still had real-life problems, but Los Angeles had always possessed a slightly cruel sense of humor.At the front gate, the security guard gave a small nod when he saw my car. I lowered the window and offered the minimum required
We went downstairs together. The house was still full of clean morning light, the large glass windows in the living room catching the color of the ocean in the distance. In the kitchen, Max’s breakfast was almost gone: small pieces of pancake, strawberries, scrambled eggs he had eaten while complain
Today, Maxime Rivera decided that uniform shorts were a form of oppression.I knew this before he said it, because he was already lying flat on his back on the bedroom rug with one leg in the air, his black hair sticking out in every direction, his bangs covering almost half his forehead, and his wh







