MasukRavenI walk into the quiet house and find Roman in the bar just off the main hall. He’s pouring himself a glass of whisky, still wearing the shirt from the press conference. His tie hangs loose around his neck, and his sleeves are rolled up to his forearms, like he stripped off the armor the moment he stepped through his own front door.He pauses when he hears me, but he doesn’t turn around immediately.“Did you really mean everything you said out there?” My voice comes out smaller than I intended.He finally faces me, lifting the glass to his lips before taking a slow sip. His eyes never leave mine over the rim.“What do you think?”I swallow.“You gave up your company. On national television. For me.”“I gave up a title.” His thumb traces the side of the glass. “I would’ve given up considerably more than that.”God.My eyes sting, tears rushing up so fast I can’t stop them. Not from heartbreak this time, but from the overwhelming realization that I have this man. A man who
RavenThe television plays low in the background, some evening anchor running through the day’s headlines in that practiced, unbothered tone, and I sit curled into the corner of Anaya’s couch with a mug of tea going cold in my hands. I haven’t touched it in twenty minutes.“I think you’re overreacting,” Anaya says.I look up at her.“He was protecting you, Raven.”“He should have said something to me.” My voice comes out rougher than I mean it to. “Eighteen years, Anaya. Eighteen years of birthdays and dinners and every single time I asked about my father, and he just let me believe I came from nothing.”“But he did say something to you.” She sets her own mug down on the coffee table, patient in a way that makes my chest tighten. “He waited for the right time. And this is how you’re reacting?”“Please don’t take his side.”“I’m not taking anyone’s side.” Her voice softens, but she doesn’t back down. “I’m asking you to actually listen to his reasons. You were in danger, Raven. Your ver
Roman The building feels different walking into it this afternoon. Same glass, same marble, same security nodding me through like any other day, but I can feel it in the air before I even reach the elevators. The way people’s eyes drop half a second too fast. The way conversations stop when I pass. Marcus falls into step beside me, phone already in hand. “Statement’s out,” he says. “Buys us the forty eight hours you wanted. Barely.” “Good.” I press the button for the top floor. “I want a press conference after this meeting.” He glances at me. “Tonight?” “Tonight. Get everything set up. Podium, cameras, the works. I want it ready the moment I walk out of that room.” “Roman, we haven’t even agreed on what you’re going to say.” “I know what I’m going to say.” The doors open. “Just get it set up.” He nods, then hesitates, phone still in hand. “Where’s Raven right now?” I ask. “Security had eyes on her.” I check my watch. “Last I heard, she left the estate on fo
RavenMy phone rings again.Anaya.I let it ring out and keep walking. Gravel crunches under my shoes, the estate gates still a distant blur through the tears I can’t stop. My chest hurts in a way that has nothing to do with the cold morning air.Roman should not have done this to me.He really should not have betrayed me like that.A text comes through. I don’t look at it yet. I can’t. I just need to get off this property, away from that house and everything buried underneath it, away from him.I’ll call a cab. Check into a hotel somewhere the cameras haven’t found yet. Somewhere I can breathe.There was a time I would have run straight to Anaya with something like this. Now even that door feels closed. Now everyone I trusted has turned into someone I don’t recognize.No Roman.No friends.No one.My baby kicks, hard, right under my ribs, and it startles a laugh out of me even as the tears keep falling.“Hey, little one.” I press my hand to my stomach and slow my steps.
Roman I stand in the underground room for a long moment after Raven’s footsteps disappear up the stairs. Looking at the walls her father built. At the family she just found and lost in the same breath. At the door she walked out of. Then I follow her up. In the living room every device I own is making noise simultaneously. My personal phone is ringing. My business phone. The intercom. All of them at once, overlapping in a relentless chorus that can only mean one thing— something has happened that can’t wait. I stop one of my security in the corridor. “Raven went outside,” I say quietly. “Find her. Stay back far enough that she doesn’t see you. Don’t approach her unless she needs you. Just make sure she’s safe.” He nods and moves immediately. I pick up Marcus’s call first. “Turn on TVC,” he says. No greeting. No preamble. “Now.” I find the remote and turn on the television and there she is. Vivienne. Sitting across from a morning show host in a cre
RavenThe room is underground.I know it the moment we start descending, the temperature dropping slightly, the light changing from the warm natural brightness of the floors above to something softer and more deliberate. Roman leads me down a narrow staircase behind a door I had walked past twice yesterday without noticing and I follow him because my legs are still moving even though my mind stopped somewhere between the breakfast table and Mario Cole’s daughter.He pushes open the door at the bottom.I step inside and stop.The room is not large. But every wall is covered. Photographs. Portraits. Framed and hung with the kind of care that means someone spent time in this room alone, arranging and rearranging until it looked the way they needed it to look. The people in the photographs are strangers and yet something in my chest responds to them before my brain has told it to.“Who are these people?”Roman stands just behind me.“They were your family,” he says.I turn to look at him.
Raven“Come on Cousin. Don’t embarrass me in front of my potential date. It was one incident—”“There were several incidents.”“The bucket thing was an accident.”I look between them. “The bucket thing?”Anaya’s eyes light up. “Oh, she doesn’t know.”“She doesn’t need to know,” Jack says, pointing
Roman Stepping into the office this morning, I’m reminded of all the problems that has compounded for me. “You actually did it, boss?” Marcus’s voice is low, controlled, but I hear the shock underneath it. He has worked for me long enough to know better than to wear his reactions openly. He isn’t
RavenThe living room is dark except for the lamp in the corner and the low amber glow of the drink in his hand.I stop in the doorway.Roman is sitting in the armchair, facing the entrance, as if he has been there a while. Like he positioned himself there deliberately. His jacket is gone, his shir
RavenThe restaurant is warm and softly lit, the kind of place that makes everything feel slightly more manageable than it actually is. We have menus open in front of us. I am staring at mine without reading a single word.“Right.” Anaya closes her menu with the authority of someone who made this d







