LOGINRaven‘What are you up to, Roman Bellerie?’ I think to myself as I drain the last of the wine in my glass.Everyone looks shocked at Roman’s accusations, waiting for Vivienne to defend herself.She doesn’t break the way people would expect someone in her shoes to.That’s the thing about Vivienne. Even cornered, even with the room turned against her, she finds something to hold onto.“Disgracing me at our wedding wasn’t enough for you?” Her voice comes out steadier than it has any right to. She pulls herself up off the floor, straightening the dress, lifting her chin. “Not showing up, leaving me standing there in front of everyone wasn’t enough? Now you want to stand here and deny your own child? In front of my father?” Her eyes fill, and even now they’re performing. “How cruel can one person be, Roman? What did I ever do to deserve this from you?”“You’re still choosing to do this the hard way,” Roman says.“I’m not doing anything. I’m telling the truth.”“Last chance, Vivienn
RomanThe office is quiet on a Saturday.That’s why I like it.No calls routed through the main line, no assistants moving through the corridor, no scheduled meetings pulling my attention in six directions at once. Just the work, stripped of everything performative.I was here by seven.My phone has been lighting up since nine.I’ve been letting it.I finish reading through the Diamond Club correspondence, make two notes in the margin, close the file. Pour a second coffee. Open the next document.My phone buzzes again. This time I pick up.“Dave, tell me,” I say.“You need to come home.” His voice is tight in a way Dave rarely allows himself. “Right now, Roman. Vivienne has lost her mind completely. She’s broken two vases, a mirror, and Gerald is standing in your living room threatening to dismantle everything you’ve built before Monday morning.”As expected. She’d rather bark like a wounded animal than walk away with whatever dignity she has left.“Is anyone hurt?”“Not
RavenThe church is full by the time I arrive.I take my seat near the back, my hands folded in my lap, and I have made my peace with what I’m about to watch. I told myself I’d be brave. I told myself I’d hold my head up. I didn’t tell myself it would be easy.The minutes tick past.Then more minutes.Someone whispers, “Where is the groom?”Another answers, “Roman Bellerie has never been late a day in his life.”Vivienne laughs a little too brightly. “He must have been caught in traffic.”No one laughs with her. Vivienne keeps glancing toward the entrance, and her smile gets a little tighter each time. The murmuring starts low, a ripple through the pews, people checking watches, leaning toward each other.The priest finally steps forward.“Miss Cole.”Vivienne turns to him hopefully.“I can allow another twenty minutes.”A heavy silence settles over the church.“If the groom has not arrived by then…” He pauses, almost reluctantly. “…I will have no choice but to cancel today’s ceremon
Raven (Present) I wake alone. The room is quiet, the kind of quiet that tells you the person who was here left a while ago without bothering to wake you. I lie there for a moment, disoriented, before I reach for my dress and pull myself together piece by piece. I check the time on my phone. Six in the morning. Two hours until Roman’s wedding. Of course he’s gone. He’s getting ready, probably has been for an hour already, probably never even thought about whether I’d wake up alone in that room or how that would feel. I push through the door into the main house and stop. The living room is full. Family I recognize, people I don’t, all of them moving through the early stages of wedding preparation with the kind of bright, busy energy that makes my stomach turn. Dave spots me first. “Where have you been?” He crosses to me immediately, real worry in his face. “I looked for you all night. Your phone kept going to voicemail.” “I was at a friend’s. I needed t
Roman(Past)Three days.That was all it had been, and watching them from across the kitchen I wouldn’t have known it because they had bonded so well.Erica sat cross-legged on the living room floor with Raven in her lap, doing something with her hands that made the little girl laugh. Raven kept reaching up and grabbing Erica’s face with both hands, turning it toward whatever she wanted her to look at, and Erica let her every time without irritation.I sipped my coffee and watched.Catherine appeared beside me, leaning against the counter with her arms folded, her attention on the same scene.“Of all the people you could have chosen,” she said, “why her?”“Because she won’t walk away.”“You don’t know that.”“I know I have something she needs and something she fears. That’s more reliable than loyalty.” I set the mug down. “Three months I spent finding the right person. Not someone I could simply pay, anyone can be bought out of a contract eventually. I needed someone with skin in the
Roman (Past) The woman who stole from me sat across from my desk trying hard not to look afraid. She wasn’t entirely successful. Her hands were shaking in her lap, though she’d pressed them flat against her thighs hoping I wouldn’t notice. I noticed everything, and admired her for being brave enough to try. I slid the document across the desk. She looked at it without touching it. “Pick it up,” I said. She picked it up. “What is this?” I watched her read line by line, her expression changing as she worked through it, and somewhere around page three something that might have been a laugh escaped her, short and disbelieving. “You’re insane,” she said, without looking up. “Keep reading.” She read. Set it down. “A contract marriage.” She said it slowly. “Ten years.” “Correct.” “You want me to be your wife.” “On paper. In public. To anyone who matters.” I leaned back in my chair. “There is a child. A girl. Three years old. She needs a mother pres
RavenIt’s Vivienne and Roman’s engagement party today, and I’m here, standing in a corner with a champagne flute in hand, looking like I’m at a funeral.Well, I’m dressed in a black dress, so it fits how I feel about the part very well.“You seem bored,” Jack murmurs beside me, his voice low enoug
Roman She’s exactly where I told her to be. I close the bedroom door behind me and stop. Take her in. Raven is on the bed, knees spread, hips tilted up, her weight resting on her elbows so her chest hovers just above the mattress and her back curves into a perfect arch. Naked. Every inch of he
RavenThe hangover hits me before I even open my eyes.My head is a slow, steady throb. My mouth tastes as if something died in it. I lie there for a full minute just staring at the ceiling, letting the memories crawl back in pieces. The bar. Jack. The drive home. Roman guiding me to my bedroom. Me
RomanI’m walking through the lobby when I see her.Raven.Staggering through the entrance like she can’t remember how legs work. One hand on the wall for balance. The other clutching her phone.Drunk.She’s fucking drunk.Anger floods through me. Hot and immediate. I cross the space between







