EPISODE 1 “Two Days of Silence”
Present Day Los Arcos
I told myself I was done with him.
Done with Mateo Rivera and his six-foot-one confidence that felt earned.
Done with the way he spoke like he owned the walls of any room he stepped into.
Done with the three-year almost-relationship that felt more like a haunting.
But tonight, after a brutal shift at Pacific Gateway Airport, all I wanted was food, silence, and bed.
I kicked my door closed behind me and sighed
then froze.
The apartment wasn’t empty.
The air felt… occupied.
“Close the door, Alana.”
My heart dropped.
Mateo stood up from my couch like a shadow waking.
Broad shoulders, bald head catching the hallway light. Chest straining against a black tee, tattoo ink curling up his collar.
A shot of Don Julio 1942 on my coffee table.
My throat dried instantly.
“What are you doing here?” I whispered.
He rolled his tongue across his bottom lip, a habit he had when he was angry and trying not to show it.
“You don’t answer your phone for two days,” he said softly.
“And you think that’s nothing?”
“We are not together,” I said, forcing my voice steady. “You can’t just”
He stepped closer.
I felt my breath stall.
“You owe me honesty,” he murmured.
“After everything we’ve been? Yeah. You do.”
My phone buzzed in my hand.
Jax.
Jax:
“Have you reached home yet, likkle ting?”
My stomach clenched.
Mateo’s eyes flicked to my phone.
Sharp.
Alert.
Hunter-silent.
“Who that?”
“It’s work,” I lied.
He didn’t believe me, his jaw tightened, but he let the lie float.
For now.
“Alana,” he said, his voice dropping low,
“I’m not here to fight. I’m here because I want my spot back. And because…”
He swallowed.
“I been losing sleep wondering if you good.”
My chest pulled tight.
My phone buzzed again.
Jax:
“Alana… answer me. You safe?”
Mateo stepped closer, towering over me, shadow swallowing mine.
“Say the name,” he whispered.
“Who the hell is that?”
And just like that…
I was standing between two storms.
