BETWEEN HEAVEN AND FORBIDDEN Love

CHAPTER 2

Chapter 2 — Lucio’s Secret

Lucio had always been good at hiding things.

He could smile when he was angry, laugh when he was hurting, and tell their family that everything was fine when nothing was fine.

But there was one secret that had become harder to hide.

His name was Daniel.

Lucio met him on a rainy afternoon when neither of them had planned to stay out late. Daniel had been standing beneath the roof of a small café, his jacket soaked from the rain and his expression unreadable.

There was something about him that Lucio couldn't explain.

Daniel was confident. Reckless. The kind of person who walked into a room as if the rules didn't apply to him.

Lucio knew almost immediately that he was trouble.

He just didn't care.

Weeks passed, and what began as conversations became something more. Something Lucio knew his family would never understand.

Daniel made Lucio feel seen.

But he also made him feel afraid.

Whenever Lucio tried to set boundaries, Daniel would become cold. Whenever Lucio mentioned taking a step back, Daniel reminded him of everything they had shared.

"You said you loved me," Daniel told him one evening.

Lucio looked away.

"I do."

"Then prove it."

Those words stayed with Lucio long after Daniel had left.

He hated how easily Daniel could make him feel guilty. He hated that he sometimes confused fear with love.

And most of all, he hated that a part of him still hoped Daniel would change.

That evening, Lucio returned home quietly.

Anna was sitting in the living room with a book open on her lap. She looked up when he entered.

"You're late."

"I know."

She studied his face.

"Are you okay?"

Lucio forced a smile.

"I'm fine."

Anna didn't believe him.

She knew that smile.

It was the same smile she had been wearing herself lately.

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

Then Anna quietly said, "You don't have to tell me anything you're not ready to say."

Lucio looked at her.

Something inside him almost broke.

Because for the first time, he wondered whether his sister understood him more than anyone else ever could.

"Maybe someday," he whispered.

Anna nodded.

"Someday."

Lucio walked upstairs and closed his bedroom door.

His phone vibrated.

Daniel: Come see me.

Lucio stared at the message.

He knew he shouldn't go.

He knew Daniel was becoming something dangerous in his life.

But his fingers were already moving across the screen.

Lucio: Where?

And somewhere downstairs, Anna was praying for strength without knowing that her brother was fighting a battle of his own.