FAZER LOGINRavenRoman pulls me back against his chest, and I settle into him, the warm water shifting around us as I let my eyes drift shut.His fingers move lazily through my damp hair, combing the strands away from my neck.“I’ve been thinking about names,” I say quietly.He hums softly. “You already have Mason.”I smile. “I know, and I love the name. But what if it’s a girl? We still don’t have a name.”His arms tighten around me just a little. “We’ll figure out the perfect one before you get to term.”I trace idle circles over his forearm resting across my stomach. “And this time, you’re choosing the name.”I feel him hesitate behind me.“Me?” There’s a quiet note of surprise in his voice.I nod. “Mm-hmm.”He laughs softly against my hair. “That’s a dangerous amount of trust.”“You’ve earned it.”The bathwater laps gently against the porcelain and his thumb moves in slow strokes over my belly and neither of us feels the need to fill the quiet with anything.Then I freeze.“Wait.”His hand
RomanThe house is calm when I come home. I loosen my tie walking down the corridor, already tired in the way that sits in your bones rather than your eyes, the Diamond Club meeting having taken more out of me than I want to admit. Not physically. Just the particular weight of years of patience finally converting into action.I push open the bedroom door.The en suite light is on, the door open, steam drifting into the bedroom in soft curls.I hear water moving.I walk to the doorway.Raven is in the bath, hair pinned loosely up, the water deep and warm, her knees drawn up slightly, her head resting back against the edge. She opens her eyes when she hears me and something in her face settles the moment she sees me, the way it always does, like she’s been waiting all day to see me. “You look exhausted,” she says.“Long day.”“I made dinner.”“It can wait.”She watches me shrug off my jacket. Hang it on the back of the door. Work through the buttons of my shirt.She move
RavenIf I’m going to do this, someone has to know where I’m going. If something happens, I can’t let myself disappear without anyone knowing where to look.We’re only a few minutes away from the house, but I don’t want to go inside.Not when someone out there claims to have something important for me.Maybe it’s from my father.Maybe, after all these years, he’s finally trying to reach me.The thought settles heavily in my chest.I’ve imagined this moment more times than I can count. If I ever saw him again, I’d ask him why. Why he walked away. Why he never came back. Why he never cared enough to find me.Maybe today, I’ll finally get those answers.I unlock my phone and stare at the message for a long moment before I do anything with it.Then I hand it to Anaya.She reads it once.Then again.“No,” she says.“Anaya…”“Absolutely not.” She hands the phone back like it’s something unpleasant. “We are not doing this. You are not going to some unknown location because a s
RomanThe Diamond Club sits behind an unmarked door on a street that doesn’t appear on any map worth finding.I’ve known about it for years. Getting inside has taken considerably longer.Two of Gerald’s men are positioned at the entrance when I arrive. They see me coming and the shift in their posture is immediate, hands moving before I’ve reached the bottom step.“Private event tonight,” the larger one says.“Move,” I say.“Mr. Bellerie—”My men come up on either side of me. Gerald’s men reach for their weapons. My men reach faster.The street goes very still.Six men with weapons drawn on a quiet Thursday evening, nobody moving, everybody calculating.“There will be a bloodbath on this pavement,” I say quietly. “And I promise you, I won’t be the one going down.” I hold the larger man’s gaze. “So think carefully about the next five seconds.”A voice from inside.“Let him through.”Gerald’s voice. Controlled. Reluctant in a way that costs him something.The men step asid
RavenThe babies section of Harrods smells like something between a nursery and a dream.I stand in the middle of it holding the tiniest pair of socks I have ever seen in my life and feel something happen to my chest that I wasn’t prepared for.“Raven.” Anaya appears at my elbow, arms already full. “Look at this.” She holds up a cashmere onesie the color of warm cream with little bear ears on the hood.I take it from her and hold it up and stare at it.“I can’t,” I say.“You can and you will.” She’s already moving down the rack. “We’re getting three.”I put the onesie in the basket and keep walking.I’d decided early this morning that I’m not going to find out the gender. I don’t know how to explain it properly to Anaya except to say that it doesn’t matter. Boy or girl, this baby is already the most loved person in the world and has been since the moment I found out they existed. I don’t need a color to prepare myself. I just need to show up.“So we’re going unisex,” Anaya co
Roman (Past)“He won’t give up unless we give him something,” Marcus said. “He wants every potential threat eliminated. He won’t stop hunting until he believes the heiress is dead.”“Then give him something. A body.”“I’ll make arrangements and see if we can find a dead girl who shares the heiress’s features. That should convince him to call off the hunt.”“Good.”Erica reappeared a moment later, this time carrying her luggage.“I need this sorted once and for all before the weekend,” I said, ending the call with Marcus. I finally turned to face her fully.“Where’s Raven?”“I put her to sleep,” she answered, her hand tightening around the handle of her suitcase.“And where are you going with that?” I asked, my gaze lifting from the luggage to her face.“I can’t stay here anymore. I don’t want any part of this. I swear I’ll disappear. You’ll never see me again. I’ll never tell anyone. Just… please let me go.”“You signed a contract,” I reminded her.“I’ll pay you back. I promise.” She
RavenI pull out my phone.Her name is Vivienne Cole. I’d known the name long before Roman ever did, everyone knew Vivienne Cole. She was Miss America at twenty-two, she has the kind of beauty that didn’t seem real, the kind you stared at as a little girl and genuinely wondered if she was a differe
Roman I have been in rooms with presidents. I have negotiated deals that made grown men sweat through their suits. I have buried a woman I loved and kept my composure at her graveside because my daughter needed me to be steady and I was. I am not steady right now. I knew she was coming. I had
Raven In a few minutes, I’ll see Roman again after three years apart, and God help me, I might lose my mind just thinking about it. James drives smoothly and unhurriedly, as if there is no such thing as urgency in the world. I’d forgotten that about him. I’d forgotten a lot of things about Boston
RavenHis hand closed over my wrist and guided it gently away. Then his fingers were there instead, and the difference was immediate — the difference between trying to tickle yourself and someone else doing it. He found my clit with easy, unhurried pressure and I gasped so hard I almost choked on i







