FAZER LOGINRavenâItâs freezing.â I whimper. âItâs⌠oh fuck. Daddy.ââThatâs right,â he murmurs, voice low and satisfied.He keeps my thighs spread wide with his hands, pinning me exactly where he wants me so I canât close my legs, canât shift away from the intensity of it. Then his mouth is on me again, hot and hungry, lapping at my pussy, his tongue chasing the melting ice mixed with my own arousal, sucking and drinking every drop. The contrast between his scorching tongue and the freezing melt makes me sob, my whole body trembling under his hold.âDaddy,â I whimper, blindfolded and lost to nothing but his mouth on me.âI know, baby,â he murmurs against my sensitive flesh, his voice vibrating through me. âTell me how it feels.ââItâs too fucking good,â I gasp, broken and desperate as another wave of cold and his relentless mouth sends sparks through every nerve. âRoman, I canâtâitâs so much.âHe chuckles, low and warm, his tongue circling my clit before pushing back inside me. âIâve g
RavenThe text comes through just as Griffin pulls up to the estate.*Come to the garden.*I stare at it for a moment then look up at the dark silhouette of the house ahead. Griffin parks and I climb out and follow the path around the side of the house toward the garden gate.Nothing prepares me for whatâs on the other side of it.Rose petals scattered across the grass in a winding path toward the center of the garden. String lights threaded through the trees above, warm and low. A thick cashmere blanket spread on the ground with an ice bucket beside it, a bottle resting inside, two glasses waiting.I stop walking.I have known Roman Bellerie my entire life.I have never seen anything like this from him. Not once. Not even for my mother.Roman is sitting on the blanket in white trousers and a brown button-down, sleeves rolled, collar open, the moonlight catching the hard lines of his chest. He looks completely out of his element and completely unwilling to admit it, which is the most
RavenThe hallway outside Anayaâs apartment is quieter, but not by much. The party noise leaks through the door behind us, muffled bass and laughter, while Detective Reyes leans against the wall like he has all the time in the world.âIâd rather not do this here,â he says. âBut youâve made yourself difficult to reach, Miss Bellerie.ââI donât have anything to tell you.ââYou were sent three separate requests to come in for questioning regarding Jack Davidsonâs death. You didnât respond to any of them.âThat actually stops me for a second.âI never got any requests.ââThey were sent to the address on file.â He says it mildly, like heâs reading off a form, but his eyes donât leave my face. âYour Dadâs residence.âOf course.Roman. Or someone working for Roman. I donât know if he intercepted them to protect me or because he didnât want anything official touching this family at all, but either way, Iâm standing here looking like someone whoâs been deliberately avoiding the police
RavenItâs Anayaâs birthday party. The one sheâs been excited about for days.Iâm not even fully through the door before Anaya stops dead and stares past my shoulder.âUm.â She crosses her arms. âRaven. Why are there two men built like refrigerators standing in my hallway?âI glance back. Griffin and the other guy, the quiet one whose name I always forget, are right behind me, just few steps away. âTheyâre still following me around,â I say.âStill?ââItâs the only way Roman would let me come tonight.âAnaya marches past me into the hallway, hands on her hips, and looks the two men up and down like sheâs inspecting furniture that doesnât match the decor.âOkay, hello, gentlemen.â She says it brightly. âThis is my birthday party. It is full of soft girlies and cool guys having a good, low-stakes evening. There are no dangerous people here, as you can clearly see.âShe gestures grandly at the apartment behind her, where someone has just put on a playlist and two of her cousins are
RomanRaven got discharged from the hospital, and Iâm the one driving us away.âI donât want to go home yet,â she says softly.Sheâs been quiet since we pulled out of the hospital car park. Not the heavy kind of silence that comes with fear or pain. Just quiet. Her head rests against the seat as she watches the city slide past her window.âWhat do you want to do?ââCan we just drive around for a little bit? But if you have meetings, you can take me home. I wouldnât want to be the reason you miss an appointment.âI reach for her hand where itâs resting beside her and lace my fingers through hers.âWeâll do whatever you want.âIâd already called my assistant and cancelled every meeting on my schedule.I tighten my grip on her hand and bring it to my lips, pressing a kiss against her knuckles.The thought of losing her still sits in my chest like a wound that hasnât decided whether it wants to heal.For days, all I did was sit in hospital corridors, listen to doctors talk, and wait for u
RavenâSorry to interrupt,â the doctor says. âWe would like to do an ultrasound this afternoon if you are feeling up to it. To check on the baby given everything your body has been through.âI nod. âOf course.âThe machine is brought in. The gel is cold against my skin. The probe moves across my abdomen and the screen fills with the image.There it is. Bigger than before. More defined. A certain small shape that makes my throat tighten with emotion.Then the sound.A heartbeat. Fast and strong and completely indifferent to everything complicated about the world itâs been born into. My hand finds Romanâs arm and grips without thinking. A sound escapes me, small and involuntary and embarrassing â and I donât care at all.âStrong heartbeat,â the doctor says. âGood size for gestational age. Everything looks exactly as it should.â He makes a note. âYouâll be able to see a lot more detail at your next scan.âI canât look away from the screen.This is mine. This tiny, stubborn, already-fight
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







