All Chapters of CALAVERA: The Mafia’s Caged Bride : Chapter 131 - Chapter 140

THE FIRST BIRTHDAY~ANYA POV~It's funny how your perspective on money changes when you're living in an attic and scrubbing floors for cash.A year and a half ago, a thousand euros was a shopping trip with Isidora that I didn't even think twice about. Today, thirteen euros was a mountain. It took me six weeks of skipping my own lunch and walking an extra two miles to work to save it up.Eight euros for a small, round sponge cake from the padaria on the corner. Three euros for a second-hand wooden toy car I found at the flea market—it had chipped red paint, but I'd spent two nights sanding it down until it was smooth. Two euros for three bright yellow balloons.Thirteen euros to celebrate the fact that my son had survived his first year on this earth."Maria, look! I found a blue ribbon for the car," Dona Beatriz said, hobbling into my room with a wide grin.She helped me tape the balloons to the slanted ceiling. We didn't have streamers or a party guest list. We didn't have a photo

THE TODDLER~ANYA POV~If you had told the twenty-year-old version of me—the one shivering in a silk wedding dress—that I would eventually find peace in a drafty attic smelling of lemon bleach and cheap diapers, I would have called you crazy.But here I am. Fifteen months of hiding. Fifteen months of being "Maria."Marcello isn't a squishy newborn anymore. He's fifteen months old, and he's a tiny whirlwind of dark curls and pure, unfiltered chaos. He doesn't just crawl; he marches. He doesn't just play; he colonizes the entire rug with his wooden blocks and his battered, one-eared rabbit.We were sitting on the floor this morning, the sun hitting the terracotta tiles, when it happened.He was zooming the little red wooden car I'd sanded down for his birthday across the floorboards. Suddenly, he stopped, looked me dead in the eye with those piercing blue depths, and pointed a chubby finger."Carro!" he chirped.I froze. My heart did a slow, painful somersault in my chest. He'd been s

THE SLIP~ANYA POV~They say silence is golden, but they're wrong. Silence is a slow-growing poison. After two years of it—two years of being Maria, two years of whispering in the dark—the silence in my chest finally felt like it was going to shatter my ribs.I couldn't take it anymore. I needed to hear a voice that didn't have an accent. I needed to be Anya for just five minutes, or I was going to disappear into the Lisbon fog forever.I bought the burner phone at a kiosk near the Rossio station. It was cheap, plastic, and smelled like factory chemicals. I walked to a crowded plaza, Marcello strapped to my chest, his little head heavy against my collarbone. I told myself I would just listen. I would just hear the dial tone and hang up.My fingers moved on their own. I didn't even have to think about the numbers.It rang once. Twice."¿Hola?"The voice was deeper than I remembered, rougher, but it was him. Diego. My twin. My other half."Diego," I whispered.The silence on the other

THE EVACUATION~ANYA POV~I haven't slept. Honestly, I don't think I even blinked.I spent the entire night sitting on the floor by the window, the cold terracotta tiles bleeding into my skin. I kept the lights off because I didn't want to be a target. I just sat there, hugging a kitchen knife in one hand and Marcello's favorite wooden car in the other, watching the street below. Every time a cat hissed or a drunk tourist stumbled past, I nearly jumped out of my skin.The sun started to peek over the rooftops, but it didn't feel like a new day. It felt like a countdown."Maria? Why are you sitting in the dark?"I jumped, the knife clattering to the floor. Dona Beatriz was standing in the doorway, her hair in a long grey braid, looking at me with so much pity it actually made my stomach hurt."We have to leave, Beatriz," I said, my voice sounding like I had swallowed sandpaper. "Today. Right now."Beatriz sighed, leaning against the doorframe. "Running again? Menina, you have built a

THE CALL HOME~ANYA POV~The payphone smelled like piss and old cigarettes.I was three districts away from Beatriz's apartment, standing in a sketchy corner near the Santa Apolónia train station. I picked this spot because it was busy. Lots of people coming and going. Lots of noise. Easy to blend in.Marcello was asleep in the stroller, his one-eared rabbit squeezed to his chest. I had the hood pulled up over his face even though it was warm. My hands were shaking so bad I could barely get the coins into the slot.Different phone. Different location. Different burner SIM I bought from a guy who didn't ask questions.I told myself this was smart. Safe. But my gut was screaming that nothing about this was safe anymore.The line rang twice. Then: "Hello?"Diego's voice hit me like a punch to the chest."Dee," I whispered, my throat closing up. "I need you to do something for me."There was a pause. I could hear him breathing, could practically see him sitting up straighter, his face g