Punished (Calavera Hotels #1)

Chapter One Mireya

Six years ago

We are halfway through the movie when I look down at his cell to see a new text message.

Diana: I’ll be there to pick you up.

I want to ask who Diana is, but immediately know better. He gets up from my bed and starts looking for his clothes before texting back. Diana was most likely his newest side piece. In my head, I start going through all the Dianas from Saint Rita’s, as Bryan ties his shoes. When he leaves, I can start the downward spiral of comparing myself and bringing all my insecurities and childhood trauma back to the surface. He looks at me and I reach for his hand. I hate it when he leaves. He never stays long after he gets what he wants from me. He pulls away and looks back down at his phone. His face softens, and he puts on that smile he uses when he needs something from me. A smile that makes me feel like he loves me, like I am valuable to him.

“If anyone asks you, I was here with you all night. Do you understand me?” I nod.

“I’m serious, Mireya. The cops are going to question you, and I need to know I can trust you.” He strokes my cheek and leans down to kiss me.

“I will tell them you were with me all night.”

And I had without question. Bryan had snuck back into my bedroom early that morning and the cops followed shortly after. I told them he had been with me all night, and I stuck to that story, even when the prosecutor tried to dig up evidence on him. What I didn’t know was that Adrian had also been involved. Thankfully, my age at the time guaranteed my identity would remain anonymous, and Bryan had walked free from any charges. I never had to face Adrian, but I read up on his case, and I felt guilty that he had been convicted. The Diana who was texting Bryan was Adrian’s girlfriend at the time, so I knew right away that something was off about the entire situation.

I had wanted to ask Bryan what he was doing that required an alibi, but Bryan Mendez is not the type of person you ask questions of. I often look back at that memory and wonder how I hadn’t seen the signs that I was being manipulated. Bryan was abusive and controlling, but I still found a way to convince myself that he loved me. I had spent the majority of my life delusional about love. Starting with Adrian.

Adrian Ibarra was the first boy to show any interest in me. We were fourteen the first time he walked me home from the bus stop. Our mothers had been friends, but he never paid me much attention. No one in our neighborhood did. I was often shy, and isolated myself from people, insecure about my weight, glasses, and braces. My mom would make it her daily mission to remind me that I was ugly.

“You look just like your dad’s family. Fat and ugly,” she would say every morning after my father left for work. She would never say it in front of him. My father let her live with us, but he could barely stand her commentaries about him and his family. I never understood why they stayed together, but my father made it up to me. He treated me like I deserved the world at my feet.

But my mother’s words rang true. I was not the girl guys were drawn to, but Adrian was the boy all the middle school girls were in love with. Over time, the after-school walks turned into walking me to classes, or letting me ride on his bike pegs with my arms wrapped around his shoulders. The first time he grabbed my hand, I thought it was a joke. Maybe one of his friends dared him to do it. Everyone in school laughed at me, but Adrian never cared what other people thought. He never stopped holding my hand, and slowly, all his time and attention was on me. It was puppy love, but it always felt real. Little did I know he would break my heart the summer before my freshman year. The same year my father died.

A few months after he broke up with me, my father had a heart attack and my mother’s mental and verbal abuse got worse. I took my tia Vicky’s offer to stay with her in Arizona until she could pull some strings to get me into Saint Rita’s. She had worked the majority of her life for Calavera Hotels in Arizona for Don Fernando and had her connections to the Houston location.

I was enrolled halfway through my freshmen year, and after losing some weight, growing boobs, and a much needed glow up, I found my way right into Bryan’s arms. I was the new girl at Saint Rita’s, and there was no trace of Mireya-see-ya-later from our little barrio.

I had to go back with my mother, who, at that point, was a bitter shell of a person. She not only resented my father the whole time they were married, but also his entire family. When she found out Tia Vicky had pulled some strings and helped me to get myself back on track, she was even more resentful.

She never worked a day in her life, and the money my father left us was spent on designer clothing to impress the different men she would search for in the high-end Houston clubs. There were many times I was worried the lights were going to get turned off at home. I told Bryan about it, and he used money to secure my devotion to him. Showing up with wads of cash, looking for a warm place to bury his cock at night. With my mom gone, he had a safe place to crash while he was drunk and high.

I’m not sure any of the other girls at Saint Rita’s wanted to deal with his instability. I was desperate to survive, so I found comfort in the dysfunction. I knew Bryan wasn’t a saint. Shit, deep down, I also knew he didn’t love me, but I’d settle for being needed if it got me out of this house.

All I ever wanted was to be loved, and if it wasn’t for that night, I’d probably still be content being whatever I was to him. I’m still lost in the thought when I finally pull my attention back to the source of what triggered my flashback.

I look down at the purple and gold invitation in my hands.