MasukRaven“We need to talk,” Roman says calmly.Calmly.How can he be so calm after what he did to me? How can he stand there looking completely unaffected? Not even a hint of remorse.So this is how he wants to play it?Hurt me. Break my heart. Then act like none of it ever happened.“You and I have absolutely nothing to talk about.”“I’ll leave you two to talk,” Anaya says, but I don’t let her.“No. You’re staying. I’m the one leaving.”I snatch my jacket from the chair and press a quick kiss to Anaya’s cheek.“I’ll call you tomorrow.”“Where are you going?”“I don’t know yet. Anywhere far away from this man.”Roman smirks.He actually fucking smirks, like he finds this entire situation amusing.I hate him.I brush past him, out the door before he can say a single word.Before he can explain.Before he can feed me more lies.His voice follows me into the corridor anyway.“Raven.”I don’t stop.I take the stairs, pushing through the ground floor door into the cool n
Raven“Eat something,” Anaya says, holding out the plate she’s been trying to get in front of me for the last twenty minutes.“I’m not hungry.”“Raven.”“Anaya. I’m not hungry.”She sets the plate on the nightstand without arguing and sits beside me on the bed instead. Her arm comes around my shoulders and she pulls me into her side, and I let her because I don’t have the energy to pretend I’m fine right now.My phone lights up on the duvet.Roman.I turn it face down without looking at it properly.“Hey.” Anaya’s voice is soft. “Cry it out. I know how you feel. Don’t hold it in.”And just like that, everything I’ve been pressing down since I walked out of that garden breaks open.I sob into her shoulder the ugly way, the way that makes no sound for the first few seconds before it all comes out at once. She holds me tighter and says nothing, just keeps her arm around me, her hand moving slowly against my back.“That’s it,” she murmurs. “Let it out. You’ll be alright.”I don’t know how
RomanRaven is gone, and I blame myself for it—for not leaving the stage and going after her when I saw her walking away with her friend.I didn’t defend her enough against the cruelty Vivienne unleashed tonight, and she probably hates me for it.Right now, she’s out there thinking I got another woman pregnant.I pull out my phone and call her as I leave her bedroom. It rings, but she doesn’t answer.When I step into the living room, I find Vivienne halfway across it, and anger knots in my stomach.The audacity of her to still be here after pulling a stunt like that.“Pack up your things,” I say coldly. “You’re leaving.”“Too late, Roman. I’m pregnant, and we’re getting married tomorrow.”“You need to stop this nonsense right now. I’ve never touched you.”“I knew you’d say that.”Without breaking eye contact, she pulls out her phone, scrolls briefly, and turns the screen toward me.I watch the video.It’s from my office—late evening.We’re on the sofa, making out.Something cold slide
Raven“Did you know,” Vivienne continues, her voice carrying across the suddenly silent courtyard, “that your precious little stepdaughter has a whole diary dedicated to you?”Roman’s expression doesn’t change. “Stop it.”“Stop what? I’m just sharing something I found.”“You’re making a scene. Stop it now.”“I’m making a scene?” She laughs, short and disbelieving. “Why do you always blame me for everything? Fine. You don’t believe me?” She turns slightly, and someone behind her places a worn notebook in her outstretched hand. She lifts it up.I recognize it from across the room before my brain fully processes what I’m seeing.My diary.My stomach drops.The one I’ve kept for years. The one that’s supposed to be locked away inside my safe box in the estate.“What is going on?” Anaya’s voice is low and tight beside me. “This isn’t what we planned. Where is David? Can someone play the video? Play the damn video now.”I’m already moving toward the stage.“Give me that.” My voi
RavenRoman called me ten minutes ago, just to say he was on his way. No explanation for where he’d been, no apology for the timing. Just his voice, low, telling me he was coming.I didn’t ask questions. I just held the phone and felt something in my chest unknot. I was almost worried about him. Vivienne has been holding court near the entrance for the last hour, her smile working progressively harder as the evening goes on. She’s good at it, I’ll give her that. To anyone not paying close attention, she looks radiant, relaxed, a bride in her element.But I’m paying close attention. I watch her laugh at something one of her friends says, then slide her phone from her clutch and check the screen in the same motion. The laugh doesn’t quite reach her eyes when she looks back up.Anaya appears at my elbow.“Girl where Is your Dad? He got a cold fit and ditched her,”“Roman doesn’t run from problems.” I take a sip of wine. “If he wasn’t coming he’d have said so without apology. He
RomanI’m in Kingston’s territory.Tomorrow, I’m about to make the biggest decision of my life, one that will change the course of everything.But before that happens, there’s something I need to do.An old score that needs settling.Kingston’s territory hasn’t changed.Same warehouse on the waterfront, same two guards at the door who step aside the moment they see my face because they’ve been told to, same smell of salt and something industrial underneath it. Kingston likes to meet on his own ground. He always has.He’s standing at the far end of the space when I walk in, a glass of something amber in his hand, looking out through the high windows at the water below. He doesn’t turn around immediately.“I heard you’re hosting some fancy party tonight before the wedding,” he says. “Funny place for the groom to be.”My grip tightens around the folder.“I have something more important to deal with first.”That gets his attention.He turns then, his gaze sweeping over the fol
RavenI catch up with Roman before he reaches the car.“Roman.”He keeps walking.“Roman.” I grab his arm and he stops, turning to look at me with that particular patience that means he’s already decided how this ends. “You can’t keep doing this. Showing up wherever I am like you own the place.
RavenI’m three cups of soda water into the night when Anaya finally notices.“Wait.” 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. “Is there something wron
Roman“Tell me.”“The image isn’t perfectly clear, but we matched a partial off the footage. A college kid. Twenty, twenty one.” A pause. “We picked him up an hour ago. He’s not talking yet but he will.”“Where is he.”“Body shop on Halloran. The back room.”I drive myself to the location at a
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







