LOGINRomanI return early, just as I promised Raven. I take the first flight out because three days is the longest I’ve ever been away from my family, and by the time I board the plane, I can’t wait another minute to be home.When I walk through the front door, the house smells like coffee and toast, morning light spilling gold across the hallway floor. I’ve barely set my bag down when I hear the sound of small feet pounding across the kitchen tile.“Dada!”Nadir barrels into my legs at full speed, and I scoop her up before she can knock herself over with her own momentum, her small arms wrapping tight around my neck.“There’s my girl.” I press a kiss to the top of her head, breathing her in, three days’ worth of missing this exact weight settled finally back where it belongs. “Did you miss me?”“Ye ye.” she says solemnly, patting my cheek the way she does when she’s decided something is very important. “Mud.”“Mud?”“She found the barn again,” Sarah says from the doorway, amused.
RavenA YEAR LATERI still find myself pausing on that number some mornings, standing at the kitchen window with coffee going cold in my hands, watching mist settle over the field the way it does most mornings here, and thinking, we actually made it a whole year.“Mama.”I turn to find Nadir wobbling toward me across the kitchen floor, arms out for balance, her small feet still figuring out this whole walking thing she’s decided to commit to over the past few weeks. She makes it three more steps before plopping down triumphantly on her bottom, entirely unbothered by the fall.“Look at you.” I scoop her up, pressing a kiss to her cheek. “Such a big girl.”“Mama,” she says again, patting my face with one small hand, and then, brightening, “Dada?”“Dada’s in Boston, baby. He’ll be home soon.”Her face falls slightly, bottom lip pushing out, and I laugh despite the small ache it gives me too.“You miss him, don’t you?” I press my forehead gently to hers. “I miss him too. Three days is way
RavenRoman’s private jet waits on the tarmac, its engines already humming as we approach.Roman carries Nadir in his arms while our luggage is rolled behind us by his security team.A few hours later, the pilot begins our descent into Vermont, and I press my face to the window.We fly over rolling hills, endless forests, and scattered farms. My goodness, I’m already sold.When we step off the plane, the crisp air only seals it. It’s peaceful here. From the convoy of SUVs waiting for us, with Roman’s security already in position, to the quiet stretching in every direction, I know this is where I want us to build our life.The photos the realtor sent don’t do the place justice.We turn off the main road onto a long dirt driveway lined with maple trees just beginning to change, gold and red bleeding into green. At the end of it sits a farmhouse with a wraparound porch, its white paint slightly weathered, green shutters framing the windows, and smoke curling lazily from the chimne
RomanJames pulls up the long gravel drive, and the ranch stretches out ahead of us, quiet and worn, a few outbuildings already stripped bare, equipment gone from where it must have sat rusting for years before all this.I spot Rebecca near the fence line before she spots me, bent over one of the horses, carefully working something loose from its hoof. She looks up when she hears the car, and something crosses her face, surprise, maybe, before she manages to smooth it over.I get out and walk toward her.“I didn’t think you were going to come,” she says, straightening, wiping her hands on her jeans.“I said I would.”“You didn’t have to. If you didn’t want to.”“If I didn’t want to be here,” I say, “I wouldn’t be.”She studies me for a moment, like she’s trying to decide whether to believe that, and something in her posture softens slightly when she does.“I don’t know how to be a father to you,” I admit, because there’s no version of this conversation where pretending otherw
RavenThe water’s warm around me, bubbles clinging soft to my skin, and Roman kneels beside the tub, sponge moving slow and gentle over my shoulders, careful in that particular way he’s been since everything happened tonight.“I don’t want to be here anymore,” I say quietly.His hand pauses. “Here, meaning the house? Or something bigger.”“Bigger.” I stare down at the water. “As long as we’re living this life, we’ll never actually be safe. Any of us. I can’t raise our daughter inside something that keeps sending people through our door trying to take her.”He’s quiet for a moment, dipping the sponge again, dragging it slow along my collarbone.“Okay,” he says simply.“Okay?”“We’ll go wherever you want to go.”I glance up at him, searching his face for hesitation and finding none. “The company needs you, Roman. You can’t just walk away from something you built your entire life around.”“The company will survive without me. Marcus can run it, or the board can find someone els
RavenThe house is quiet once the last of the guests are gone, Nadir finally settled in her crib upstairs with Anaya watching over her, and the second we’re alone in the study, I turn on him.“Why did you do that to Vivienne?”Roman doesn’t look up from where he’s pouring himself a drink. “The choice was between her and you. There was no other choice to make.”“I hated her.” My voice shakes. “I hated her more than I’ve hated anyone in my life. But not enough to want her dead. Not like that.”“You know,” he says, setting the glass down without drinking from it, “I think you should try being appreciative every once in a while, instead of constantly trying to make me the villain in every version of this story.”“You killed someone for me.” I stare at him. “How exactly do you think that’s supposed to make me feel? And you didn’t think it was wise to tell me yourself, before I heard it from a girl who kidnapped my daughter?”“I expected a thank you.” His voice hardens. “Instead I ge
RAVENI sit at the kitchen island, eating cornflakes straight from the box because I know it will annoy someone eventually, and right now that feels like the only power I have left.The house is quiet. Too quiet. Roman left for the office hours ago without saying a word to me. Vivienne is out there
RavenThe living room is dark except for the lamp in the corner and the low amber glow of the drink in his hand.I stop in the doorway.Roman is sitting in the armchair, facing the entrance, as if he has been there a while. Like he positioned himself there deliberately. His jacket is gone, his shir
RavenThe restaurant is warm and softly lit, the kind of place that makes everything feel slightly more manageable than it actually is. We have menus open in front of us. I am staring at mine without reading a single word.“Right.” Anaya closes her menu with the authority of someone who made this d
RavenI can’t hide my joy about the postponement.Even though I should, even though Jack is barely cold and his family is planning his funeral, I should be drowning in grief.But all I feel is satisfaction.The wedding is postponed, Vivienne is furious, and for the first time, Roman chose to protec







