LOGINRavenâSounds like a challenge Iâm willing to take.âA slow smile spreads across my face as I fold my arms over my chest.âNo. Youâre going to be a good girl for Daddy and do as youâre told.âGod help me, Iâm sore.So swollen and raw from last night that even standing here is its own sharp, throbbing kind of awareness. And having this manâs hands on me, his voice, his eyes on me, only makes me want him to take me again. Or better.I donât know anymore.All I know is that for the past few days, Iâve been living with this relentless need I canât seem to shake. Maybe itâs the pregnancy hormones. Maybe itâs the knowledge that a part of him is growing inside me. Whatever it is, every time Roman gets near, my body wants him.Itâs ridiculous. I should want a break. Recovery. A moment to breathe.Instead, I find myself wanting him to follow through on every threat he just made. To rip my clothes off and shove me against the nearest available surface.âGet in the car, kid.â He says it again
RavenI catch up with Roman before he reaches the car.âRoman.âHe keeps walking.âRoman.â I grab his arm and he stops, turning to look at me with that particular patience that means heâs already decided how this ends. âYou canât keep doing this. Showing up wherever I am like you own the place. Iâm with my friends.ââGet in the car.ââExcuse me?ââWeâre going home. Get in the car, Raven.ââI already told you.â I cross my arms. âIâm not coming home until you look me in the face and answer my questions. All of them. No deflecting, no telling me what I need to know and what I donât.âHe looks at me for exactly two seconds.Then he bends down, wraps one arm around my legs, and lifts me clean off the ground over his shoulder like I weigh absolutely nothing.âPut me down.â I hit his back with both fists. âRoman. Put me down right now.âHe walks to the car.Opens the door.Deposits me inside.Closes it.Gets in the driverâs side and pulls out into traffic like nothing happene
RavenIâm three cups of soda water into the night when Anaya finally notices.âWait.â She sets her drink down and squints at me across the table, the VIP corner dim and quiet enough that we can actually hear each other over the music thumping through the rest of the club. âIs there something wrong with your health that I donât know about?ââNo.â I laugh. âWhy would you even think that?ââYou havenât had a single drink all night.ââIâm just not in the mood.ââEven at my birthday party,â Anaya says, her eyes narrowing, âyou didnât touch a single drop of alcohol. And now this. If youâre not dealing with some health issue thatâs keeping you away from itâŚâ A teasing smile tugs at her lips. âWhat? Are you pregnant?âThe question is meant as a joke.A ridiculous joke.But the moment the words leave her mouth, my stomach drops.âWhat?â I let out a laugh that sounds far less convincing than I intended.Anayaâs smile falters.For the first time all night, she studies me instead of t
RomanâTell me.ââThe image isnât perfectly clear, but we matched a partial off the footage. A college kid. Twenty, twenty one.â A pause. âWe picked him up an hour ago. Heâs not talking yet but he will.ââWhere is he.ââBody shop on Halloran. The back room.âI drive myself to the location at a reckless speed, ignoring traffic lights and every law I pass along the way.I donât care if a cop pulls me over.I donât care about anything except finding the person who put Raven in that hospital.I want to see his face.And then I want to make him pay for what he did to my girl.The room is exactly what I expect from one of Marcusâs locations. No windows that matter. No neighbors close enough to hear anything.The boy is young, terrified, his face already swelling on one side from whatever Marcus did before I arrived. He looks up when I walk in and whatever color is left in his face drains out completely.âWhatâs your name?â I ask.âN-Nathan.â His voice shakes. âPlease, I didnâtâ
RomanShe wants to talk.I set the glass down.I look at her standing in the middle of my office and I already know whatever is coming is not going to be easy. I can read Raven the way I read a room before a deal goes bad. Something in the set of her jaw. The way she folded her arms when she walked in.âI spoke to Dave,â she says.And there it is.âHe doesnât know as much as he thinks he does.ââRoman, please donât shut me out again because I wonât take it this time.ââI want you to stay out of it.ââWhat happened to Nicko? I know he is dead. Did you do it?ââI met with him.â I swirl the whiskey in my glass. âI roughed him up a little.ââYou what?â Disbelief flashes across her face, then frustration. âWhy?ââHe sold information about my business to my rivals. I handled it.ââThatâs not all of it.â Her voice trembles. âYou consoled me when he didnât show up, knowing it was you who made sure we never met. Why did you do that? You did all that just because you want to make sure I donât g
RavenIâve been restless all morning waiting for Roman to get home, but my patience is wearing out.He doesnât pick up my calls, and he told me I canât come to his office anymore.But when did I become the one to follow his instructions.My whole life is falling apart. Everything I grew up knowing might be a lie. Do I really know this man well enough? This man Iâve given my body to, my heart, my entire being. Whose child is growing inside me. Who became my parent and held me when I had no one else.If he never married my mother, then why did we live with him? Why did he give me his name and take care of me more than my mother ever did? Showed up for me where parents should, signed his name wherever it was needed.Dave has to be wrong.He better be wrong.I watch the clock move slower than it should and he isnât home, so I decide to go to the penthouse. Maybe he went to his fiancĂŠe after work.I find the guard by the front entrance.âWhereâs Griffin?ââHe doesnât work here a
RavenI find leftover pasta in the fridge and heat it up and sit at the kitchen counter with my phone and a cup of coffee and try to feel normal. It is not working but I am trying.I am scrolling through nothing in particular when I hear the elevator open.I already know who it is.I keep my eyes o
RavenVivienne is already in the kitchen when I come downstairs and honestly, I should have turned around and gone back to bed the moment I saw her.She is standing at the stove in a silk robe, her hair twisted up perfectly, looking like someone who woke up beautiful without trying.âGood morning,â
RavenâMake me.âThe words leave my mouth before I can stop them. Bold. Reckless. Everything I shouldnât be with this man.But I canât help myself. Not with him. Not when he looks at me like that.âGet out of the pool,â he says. His voice is rough and commanding and it sends heat pooling between my
RomanThe spreadsheet on my desk shows three months of movement across the Harlow Port acquisition and every number on it tells the same story. Someone has been quietly buying up surrounding parcels of land in small, untraceable increments, and I know exactly who it is without looking further.âHow







