Conspiracy

Raven

Numbness.

It was something I never thought I’d ever feel as I fluttered my eyes open, confusion instantly hitting me.

Where the hell was I?

I blinked. Once. Twice. Then I started to sit up. Why did my body feel like a brick? I forced myself into a sitting position.

I looked down my arm to see a drip attached to my wrist, following the tube to see a heart monitor.

More confusion.

The room I was in didn’t look like a hospital room. It didn’t smell like antiseptic or bleach. Instead, the air smelled like sandalwood. The walls were grey. One side was all glass that showed clear blue skies.

Right there, a man’s back was turned to me, he wore a white shirt with his hand in his pockets.

My brow furrowed. That wasn’t Marco. “Hello?” My voice was croaky as I called his attention.

He instantly turned around, surprise flashing in his eyes before he hurriedly moved to where I was. “You’re awake.”

More confusion filled me because I had no idea who this man was. And now that he was closer, I could see every detail on his face.

And dare I say it, he could compete with a god with how chiseled his face was. I shook my head.

Don’t think such thoughts, Raven. You have a fiancé.

I dragged my eyes away from his blue ones and looked around the room. “Where am I? What happened?” My gaze settled on him again, a frown on my face. “Who are you?”

He stood up straight, his blue eyes intense on mine. The intensity of his gaze told me he had expected me to ask the questions, making me want to shift uncomfortably on the bed. For a moment, he didn’t say a word, just stared, his eyes roaming my face as if he was contemplating what to say.

I raised a brow. “Are you going to say something anytime soon?”

“I’m Liam Knight,” he said with a slight tick to his jaw like it bothered him to introduce himself to me.

His name sounded familiar. Very familiar.

When I didn’t say anything, he ran a hand through his hair before letting out a curse. “I think you need to get better before I tell you what happened to you.”

My lips were set in a firm line. “I can handle it. Tell me.”

He held my eyes, and it took everything within me not to look away. “I found you half dead on the top of a shattered car when you fell from your office balcony.”

I blinked in shock, shivers rippling through me, and with it, the waves of memory from that night.

The surprise.

The poisoned cake.

The wicked smiles from the people I loved, the people I thought loved me.

The bitter taste of betrayal I felt that night.

The look of hatred on Ian’s and Selena’s faces. The blank look on my fiancé’s.

The pain I had felt before Selena pushed me off the balcony. Her face was the last I saw peering down at me before everything had gone black.

It all came rushing back to me like a movie.

the walls started spinning, the beeping sound of the heart monitor going frantic. My vision doubled, and suddenly I couldn’t breathe.

My ears were ringing, and the only thing I heard was the sound of the stranger’s curses before I blacked out.

****

“Maybe you shouldn’t have told her, doofus.” A voice I didn’t recognize brought me out from the hazy darkness in my mind.

“She asked.” I could recognize this one. Liam Knight, he said his name was.

“You shouldn't have told her regardless,” another voice I didn’t know.

There was silence.

“I couldn't say no. Not when she looked so… broken.”

I looked broken?

My eyes instantly snapped open to see three sets of eyes peering down at me, all three of them causing my breath to hitch. My pulse spiked, the sound of the beeping monitor indicating it.

They all looked taken aback by my abrupt awakening, one more than the others.

The one with blonde hair and eyes that looked like they were competing with a sapphire green gemstone gave a smile so bright I had to blink. “Finally,” he said with an air of relief in his voice.

My brow furrowed, my face scrunching up as I forced my body to sit up. “What happened?” I asked, my voice hoarse.

“You passed out,” Liam responded. He folded his arms across his chest, his rolled-up sleeves showing his muscles. “The doctor said it was due to shock, so you’re fine.”

“Call Dr. Brian.” The third man in the room was the one who spoke, his voice a low rumble. He, like the other men, was drop-dead gorgeous, with his dark hair glinting under the lights in the room and those intense dark eyes fixed on me as if he was trying to decipher my soul.

I couldn’t seem to remove my eyes from him, from any of them, actually.

The blonde one moved out the door, his phone to his ear as he called the doctor, leaving me with the other two, whose attention on me felt like they were going to suck me up, like they were going to swallow me whole.

Just who were these people? I ran a hand through my hair…and stopped. I looked down, confusion mixed with surprise.

My hair was long, the dark ends reaching just below my chest. I frowned. My hair had been in a pixie cut on my birthday.

As soon as that thought crossed my mind, realization struck me, and something twisted settled in my stomach. A sick feeling. I slowly raised my gaze to the two men who were watching me intensely.

“How long have I been unconscious?” I asked, my voice giving a slight shake, already dreading the answer they were going to give.

Liam clenched his jaw. “Six months.”

The air was knocked out of my lungs. “W-what?” I looked between them, shock filling me once again. “What do you mean I’ve been unconscious for six months?” I started to remove the blanket from my body. “What about the company?” I looked around in confusion, my movements frantic as I tried but failed to stand up. “My family should be here. Where are they?”

They both moved to my side, both reaching to push me back on the bed.

“Don’t move. You aren’t fully healed,” Liam said, more like an order than a suggestion.

I ignored the tingles that spiked through my body at their hands on my arm, glaring at him. “Where the hell am I?”

They both shared a look, an agreement passing between them as if they were having a silent conversation.

Liam dropped his hand first, followed by his friend, the feel of their touch still lingering on my skin.

“You’re still in New York if that’s what you’re asking,” Liam said, his hands in his pockets. “And the last thing you want to do right now is return to your company after six months in the state that you’re in, especially when your brother has taken over as CEO.”

For the umpteenth time, my heart sank to the ground.

Ian, my half-brother who had conspired in my death and watched me fall off my office building, had taken over my position.

I controlled my breathing by taking a deep breath, my eyes squeezed shut.

“We know he was there when you were pushed off the balcony,” Liam continued, his voice holding an edge to it. “I saw them.”

My gaze yanked to his, my hazel eyes clashing with his blue ones in surprise.

“I happened to be there when you fell, watched the whole thing unfold, and saw the three of them peering down at you in the rain. Moving you from the hood of the car wasn’t the most difficult thing when they entered back into the building,” he said with a shrug. “We brought you here and made sure you got the best treatment. No one except us knows you’re here.”

My eyes were wide as I held his gaze, trying to comprehend his last words. “First of all, thank you for saving me,” I said, my lips firm, a twinge of gratitude filling me, but it wasn’t enough to mask the slow anger brewing inside of me. My gaze skidded to the dark-haired one who was watching me with slight interest. He was quiet. Too quiet. “But what I don’t understand is why on earth you didn’t let anyone know I’m here. My parents? The police?”

“Everyone thinks you’re either missing or dead, Raven. Courtesy of the three people who almost killed you,” dark hair finally spoke, his thumb grazing the side of his jaw, his dark eyes never leaving mine.

If I had been standing, I would have definitely staggered back with how weak my knees were right now, with how shocked his words made me feel. “What do you mean?” I said, looking at them aghast.

“We mean the three of them lied to everyone. The press, the public, how you’ve been having suicidal thoughts and how you wanted to either run away or kill yourself.” Liam gave a dry laugh. “They even printed out a suicide note to prove it.”

I could barely breathe.

Nothing, I mean nothing could have prepared me for the words I just heard.