To Love the Enemy

The first photo hit my desk like a gunshot. Tobias’s mouth was on mine, hands tangled in my hair, pulling me closer. My heart slammed in my chest. The mansion behind us, abandoned and dusty, felt alive somehow—its secrets whispering in the corners. The second photo showed us pressed together on the sheets, our bodies entwined in ways that made my stomach flip. And then came the third… a message in bold: “One week. Disappear, a bloody war breaks out between two families because of you.” I froze. One week.The Montreal and Hawthornes had been enemies for over a century, and now my secret love was at risk of being torn apart—or worse, ended forever. I threw myself onto the bed, hands trembling, trying to make sense of it all. The envelope Cathy, My step mother had tossed carelessly earlier glared at me from the corner of the room, money spilling out like a mockery. Her cold voice echoed in my head: “You’ve been warned. One week. After that, you'll be sorry you were born.” I thought back to how it all started. The Hawthorne boys and their godlike looks. Unlike every other girl, I promised myself I wouldn’t be fazed until the first day of high school. I bumped into Tobias, and that was it. I fell in love. The moment wasn’t magical, not like the meet-cutes in romantic movies. He wasn’t nice or careful just muttered something under his breath and pushed past me. So I’ve always wondered why I fell so stupidly in love with him. I was smart. I knew better than to fall for a nonchalant senior, especially one from the rival clan but I still dove in headfirst. Whenever I was with him, I felt the same rush Eve must have felt when she ate from the forbidden tree. Sometimes, I’d hear my mother’s voice saying, “Avril, a smart girl never loves more. A smart girl never lets her guard down.” But honestly, who listens to advice from a mother who abandoned her five-year-old daughter? *** Two weeks earlier, none of this had mattered. Dalesburry's infamous haunted and abandoned mansion had been our secret world. Tobias, last son of the most feared Hawthorne family, and I, a Montreal, had slipped past the centuries of hate between our families to carve a little corner just for us. No one could touch us there, not even our fathers’ legacies. “We shouldn’t be here,” I murmured one night, brushing a strand of hair from his face. But Tobias just smirked, his dark eyes glinting with mischief. “Then we’d be somewhere else,” he said, tugging me back into the sheets. “Anywhere I can have you.” I dug my fingers into his mass of soft curls and brought his face down for a kiss, slow and filled with many unsaid promises, unlike the one we shared when we walked into the house earlier, which was fast, urgent, raw, and almost animalistic, as we nearly ripped each other's clothes. For a few months now, this has been most of our nights, ever since I drunkenly confessed my feelings to him, Tobias, a senior from school and the son of my family's sworn enemy. The mansion had been our haven. But haven doesn’t last when the world outside is made of enemies, especially when you are laying with one. *** Back in my room, reality hit. Jean, my best friend, had been waiting. “Where have you been?” she asked, concern written across her face. I sighed. I couldn’t keep it from her any longer, even though Tobias made me swear not to tell anyone. Jean wasn't anyone, she was my best friend, the only friend i had that didn't befriend me because of my family's name. The only friend that stood by me when the world found out i was an illegitimate child, a product of my father's secret affair. "You seriously won't say anything?" She asked, frowning. "Are you still mad I ditched you at the party?" She added, her voice shaking. "No, that's not it Jean." I said getting up from the bed and pacing around the room, contemplating if telling her was betraying Tobias. "Then what?" “I’m dating Tobias,” I blurted out, my voice shaking. “But you can’t tell anyone.” Her eyes widened. “Avril… Tobias Hawthorne?” “Are you crazy? Your families have been in a pissing contest for over a hundred years!” “I know. I’m out of my mind. But you can’t tell anyone, we'll both get into so much trouble if any one finds out” I pleaded. “Of course. Cross my heart and hope to die. Now, tell me everything.” So I did. I told her everything. *** Two weeks later, my greatest fears came true. Reggie my step brother and Cathy barged into my room like a storm, throwing photos onto my desk. Photos of Tobias and me—kissing, laughing, alive in ways we weren’t supposed to be. “You have one week,” Cathy said, voice cold as steel. “Leave, or be responsible for the war that would break out between the two families because I know your father would skin that boy alive when he finds out.” I stared at her. Panic coiled in my stomach. “Where am I supposed to go? What do I tell Dad?” “Doesn’t matter,” Reggie sneered. “You knew the risk, when you were fraternising with the enemy, surely you had a plan, or didn't you?.” “One week Avril. That’s all you get,” Cathy repeated, tossing an envelope stuffed with a few hundred dollar bills onto my bed. “A little gift, for helping me achieve a goal I’ve had for over ten years,” she remarked with a smug smile before walking out of the room. “Don’t try to weasel your way out of this by running to daddy princess, you'll only make him hate you,” Reggie added, smirking. “don’t do anything stupid. Just walk away.” The moment they left, I felt sick to my stomach. I barely made it to the bathroom before throwing up my lunch. What was I going to do now? I sank onto the bed, hands trembling. My safe world had been ripped apart. I had one week. One week to save the boy I loved. One week to survive. And that was all I had.