Mateo didn't sleep that night.
He lay on the living-room couch, staring at the ceiling while Jade and Bambi whispered behind their bedroom door. He could hear the low hum of their voices, the softness of their comfort for each other, and it made something dark coil inside him.
They had shared something.
Something he wasn't part of.
Something he should have known about.
His mind twisted it, replayed it, poisoned it.
They had sold their bodies.
Without him.
Behind his back.
The betrayal gnawed at his insides like acid.
By morning, he couldn't breathe inside the apartment. He stormed out, slamming the door so hard the frame rattled.
Lucas lived two blocks away in a cramped, dim apartment that always smelled of cigarettes and desperation. He opened the door shirtless, scratching his stomach with one hand and holding a bottle of beer in the other.
"You look like shit," Lucas said cheerfully.
Mateo shoved past him and collapsed onto the frayed couch. "They're sleeping with men for money."
Lucas paused, then snorted. "Both of them?"
Mateo's jaw tightened. "Yes."
"Damn," Lucas chuckled. "Can't say I didn't see it coming. I told you."
Mateo shot him a murderous glare.
Lucas raised his hands in surrender. "Relax. I'm just saying… girls like that? They get tired of broke boyfriends."
Mateo's chest tightened again — shame, anger, and fear tangling in a painful knot.
"We're supposed to be a team," Mateo muttered. "We've always been a team. But now they're making decisions without me. Doing things behind my back. Hiding money." His voice cracked. "Why would they hide money?"
Lucas's expression sharpened at the word money.
He leaned closer.
"How much did they make?"
"I don't know." Mateo shook his head. "They won't tell me."
Lucas's eyes gleamed. "Maybe they don't trust you."
Mateo tensed like he'd been slapped.
Lucas pressed on, voice low and oily. "Maybe they think you can't provide for them. Maybe they think you're dead weight. Probably because they know you gamble away your salary"
Mateo swallowed hard, the words sinking deep.
But Lucas wasn't done.
"Luckily," he said, grinning slow, "I have a solution."
Mateo looked up, desperate. "What solution?"
"Take a loan," Lucas said simply.
Mateo blinked. "What?"
"A loan. A big one. The kind that gives you capital to flip." Lucas grabbed a cigarette. "You can start a business. A real one. Not those part-time scraps that barely cover groceries."
Mateo hesitated. "My credit is garbage."
"Then don't take it in your name," Lucas said casually.
Mateo froze.
Lucas smirked.
"You've got Jade. Clean credit. Good name. People trust girls like her."
Mateo shook his head. "She'd never agree."
Lucas leaned back, blowing out smoke. "Brother, she's already sleeping with strangers for rent. What's signing one little paper?"
Mateo flinched again.
Lucas continued, picking at Mateo's insecurities with surgical precision.
"This is your chance to step up. Provide. Show them they don't need to—" he gestured vaguely
"—do what they're doing."
Mateo's pulse quickened. The words hit the exact wound in his pride.
He imagined Jade smiling at him like she used to.
Bambi leaning into his touch again.
The three of them whole.
Balanced.
His.
Lucas noticed the shift and leaned in for the kill.
"You get the money. Flip it. Pay back the loan. Done. And you become the provider again."
Later that evening, Jade was washing dishes when Mateo came home. Bambi was at work. The apartment was quiet again, but this time Mateo felt in control — he had a plan.
"Ja," he said softly.
She glanced up, wary. "Mateo…"
"I'm not here to fight." He approached slowly. "I know things have been… messed up. And I know I haven't been helping the way I should."
Her shoulders loosened slightly.
"I want to fix it," Mateo continued. "I want to help. I want us to be good again."
Jade blinked, stunned by the softness in his voice.
He took her hand gently.
"Lucas knows someone who gives loans. Small business loans. Easy approval. No collateral."
Her brows furrowed. "Mateo…"
"If I get the loan," he pressed, "I can start something real. A small delivery business. A car hire service. Something steady."
She hesitated.
Mateo softened his voice further. "Ja… I want to take care of you both again. I want you to stop doing things that hurt you. Let me fix this."
Her eyes wavered — fear, hope, exhaustion swirling together.
"Why do you need my name?"
"My credit is ruined," he admitted honestly. "But yours— you're everything they want to approve. Please… trust me."
The plea broke her.
She loved him.
Despite everything.
She still saw the boy he used to be.
After a long silence, Jade nodded slowly.
"Okay," she whispered.
Mateo exhaled in relief — real relief, the kind that made him sag against her and hold her like she was his anchor.
He didn't tell her that the "loan" wasn't from a bank.
He didn't tell her that the lenders were violent Eastern European sharks.
He didn't tell her that the interest doubled every month.
He didn't tell her that he had no real plan.
He just held her, convincing himself he'd figure it out later.
Convincing himself he was saving them.
A few days later, Jade and Mateo made their way to the office where they were supposed to get the loan.
The office wasn't an office.
It was a warehouse with a table in the middle and men who watched Jade like she was prey.
Mateo squeezed her hand. "It's just paperwork."
Jade's signature looked small on the page.
But the debt tied her down like chains.
Mateo told himself — again — that it was for their future.
For their survival.
For their love.
But as they walked out of that warehouse, Jade's hand trembling in his, Mateo felt something else rise quietly in his chest.
A seed of fear.
A whisper of dread.
He ignored it.
He had to.
Because whether or not he realized it yet…
He had just destroyed all three of their lives.