MasukRaven“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 his spoon at her.“She absolutely needs to know.” Anaya turns to me fully, the way she does when she’s about to deliver something she’s been waiting years to tell. “Okay. So. Jack. Year ten. School sports day. There is a relay race…”“I want to state for the record that the ground was wet.”“The ground was not wet, it was a completely dry day in June, and I was there.” She waves him off. “So there’s a relay race and Jack is on the last leg, right? He’s winning. Genuinely winning, which rarely happened—”“I was fast—”“You were occasionally fast. There’s a difference.” She takes a sip of her tea. “So he’s coming around the final bend, he’s got the baton, the whole year is cheering, and he som
RavenI am in the lobby when I see the scar-faced man leave Roman’s office.He smiles to himself as he passes. There is something about him that seems off, but I don’t let it bother me.I don’t move until he steps into the elevator, and then I head back to Roman’s office quickly—before someone else goes in before me and I have to wait another long minute to see him.I push open Roman’s office door.He doesn’t let me get two steps inside.“How many times have you been warned to text before coming to my office?”The coldness in his voice makes me stop walking.Roman is standing behind his desk, leaning forward, staring down at me with such a heavy frown I barely recognize him. His face is tight, his jaw locked so hard the muscle is jumping visibly. It’s a wall of pure anger I cannot penetrate.I have never seen him this furious. It actually scares me. My stomach twists into knots and I take an involuntary step back.“Roman…” I whisper, my voice trembling. “I was going to Anaya’s place.
Roman“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 doing a good job of it right now. “You put ten bullets in Alexander Kingston’s son?”“I did.” I swirl the whiskey in my glass and watch the amber catch the light. “Ten times. I made sure he stayed down.”Marcus is quiet for a moment. The kind of quiet that means he’s choosing his words carefully.“Roman. The boy—”“The boy was a jackass,” I say. “Just like his father. Same arrogance. Same recklessness. Same belief that the world would simply rearrange itself around him because of whose blood runs through his veins.” I set the glass down. “He got exactly what that kind of thinking earns a man.”“This isn’t good.” Marcus runs a hand down his face. He looks tired. He always looks tired when I’ve done something he can’t undo. “If he dies…”“If he dies,” I say, “it saves me the trouble. But that
RavenI enter the private fitting room and it feels like a stage set for someone else’s life.It should be beautiful. It probably is beautiful. But standing here, pressed against the wall with my arms crossed over my chest, it feels suffocating.Vivienne stands on the low podium at the centre of it all, a queen holding court without even trying. The seamstress, a small, precise woman named Margaux — moves around her in careful circles, pins between her lips, hands ghosting over fabric with the kind of reverence reserved for sacred things. Two assistants orbit further out, adjusting, smoothing, waiting.And Roman stands a few feet away, hands in his pockets, watching with that expression he always wears in public. Bored. Untouchable. Dangerous in the way that a storm is dangerous, not because it’s loud, but because it doesn’t care who it destroys.“What do you think, Babe?” Vivienne asks, turning at the waist, holding a swatch of ivory silk against her collarbone. “Is this the one? Do
RavenI’m already walking away when his hand closes around my arm, yanking me back hard.“Stop.”I spin around, fire burning in my veins. “Don’t touch me.”“Stop throwing tantrums.” His voice is low, controlled, infuriatingly calm. “Every time things don’t go your way, you act like a child.”Something snaps inside me. I plant both hands against his chest and shove him with everything I have.“Stop calling me that!” I snap. “Stop treating me like I’m five. I am a grown ass woman, Roman.”His hand shoots out and catches my wrist in an iron grip.“Let go—”“Enough.”“Stop telling me what to do!” I yank and twist against his hold, fighting to free myself, but he doesn’t budge. Not even slightly. It’s like trying to move a mountain. I swing my other hand at him and he catches that one too.Both wrists trapped in a single, iron-strong grasp. He wrenches them high and slams them against the wooden shelf above my head and steps right into my space, his body pressing flush against mine, and su
RomanWe walk into the building. Vivienne loops her arm through mine instantly, pressing herself close, playing the part of the perfect bride-to-be to perfection.“Isn’t this place divine? Everything is so exclusive.”I grunt something noncommittal. My mind is already elsewhere.My phone buzzes in my pocket. I pull it out. Marcus. I gesture for them to keep walking and hang back, lifting the device to my ear.“Boss.” His voice has that sharp edge. The one that means trouble. “Have you seen the news today?”“What news?”“Alexander’s son got shot last night.”“I heard. Gerald called last night.”My mind flickers back to last night. To the bastard who thought he could put his hands on what belongs to me. The one I put bullets in. It might just be a coincidence that Alexander’s son got shot around the same time. I got rid of the trash that needed to be taken out to the street.“Kingston is losing his mind,” Marcus continues. “He’s promising to tear the city apart. Every contact, every fav
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.“Good morning,”
Roman“No.” She sits up straight and holds my gaze and there is nothing uncertain about her. “I am not going anywhere. I am not a child anymore and you cannot keep sending me away every time this gets too real for you.”I lean back in my chair and look at her and I am doing everything I know how to
RavenThe penthouse is quiet.Anaya left an hour ago after we finished the pizza and talked about everything and nothing and she hugged me at the door for a long time without saying anything which is how I know she is more worried about me than she lets on.I try to sleep. I lie in the guest bed an
RavenI spent the entire evening cleaning the guest bedroom and putting things in their proper place.This should be the cleaners' work, but I needed something to distract me from thinking too much about this whole situation.I tuck in the last side of the bed sheet and stand back to look at the wo







