Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 60018 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 300(@200wpm)___ 240(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60018 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 300(@200wpm)___ 240(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
“What?” She blinked, stunned, and leaned on the counter for support. Early release was impossible. The bastard ought to serve every day of his too short sentence.
“Breathe,” her brother demanded, moving his hand to her back and rubbing for comfort.
She pulled in much-needed air. “How? He wasn’t due out for another year!” And Raven thought she’d have that time to prepare and decide what to do before he was paroled.
“Overcrowding and good behavior, apparently.” Caleb shook his head in disbelief. “Good behavior.” He snorted, a scowl marring his handsome face.
Caleb was so good, so kind. The complete opposite of his fraternal, not identical, twin brother who lacked morals and a conscience. They did not look alike.
If it weren’t for Caleb and the way he’d protected her, Raven might have gone mad while growing up within her adoptive family. Her birth father had run out on her mother before she’d been born and when Raven was five, her only parent was killed, hit by a car as she crossed the street on her way to work. Raven had vague memories of a soft voice and light brown hair. That was all.
Cassandra and Reginald Kane adopted her soon after, a lucky thing for a five-year-old in foster care, where babies were usually the first choice. She was brought home to meet her new brothers and she’d latched onto Caleb who she’d adored on sight. But from early on, she knew Lance was different. Colder. Meaner. And the older she got, the more she realized something was missing behind his brown eyes. He had no soul.
She sniffed and pulled back her shoulders, determined not to let the bastard defeat her.
Her big brother wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her into him. “I wish you could move in with me and Owen.”
She shook her head, a lump in her throat. “We both know that’s a terrible idea. I don’t want to put you in the middle and besides, I will never put Owen at risk.”
“But—”
She pulled away and held up a hand, cutting him off. “Before you say Lance wouldn’t hurt your child, remember what he did to Emily. I won’t risk someone I love ever again.”
In an effort to escape him once before, she’d left home at the age of twenty-one and moved in with a friend in the city. Not only had Lance found her, he’d beaten and was about to rape her roommate while Raven wasn’t home. She’d arrived in the middle of the assault, had taken a bat and swung, hitting him in the shoulder to get him off her beaten friend. Raven shuddered at the memory and swallowed back the urge to throw up.
“Okay, but you’re safe, right?” Caleb’s voice helped ground her to the present.
She nodded. “Nothing here is in my name. The apartment where I’m staying is owned by the bar and it’s alarmed.” She wrapped her arms around herself and rubbed her goose-bumped skin.
“And no more visits you haven’t told me about?” He pinned her with a worried gaze.
“None since I moved upstairs. I promise. I would have let you know.” After Lance had been convicted thanks to Raven’s testimony, he’d obviously made friends inside because she’d get periodic visits from released inmates, telling her that her brother said hello. Lance’s way of letting her know that wherever she went, he’d find her.
This final move had enabled her more freedom since the apartment was listed under a corporate name and her lease was with Zach, personally, not through a property manager or real estate firm. He didn’t know what she was running from but he hadn’t questioned her need for secrecy. If he’d dug into her background and knew her story, he’d never let on, and for that she was grateful. Which made her wonder… if Zach did know about her past, had he told Remy?
She shook her head, discounting either notion. Both Remy and Zach had protective streaks a mile wide for anyone in their world. Despite Raven’s deliberate attempts to remain aloof—until Saturday night, anyway—they’d pulled her into their world. She knew their family and their friends.
Zach might have his hands full now with his wife and her teenage sister, but Remy kept an eye on Raven. If he had any sense that danger lurked in her background and her future, he’d have mentioned it by now.
“Hey. Where’d you go?” Caleb asked.
She refocused on her brother. “Sorry. Just thinking.”
He looked at her with a combination of pity and worry in his gaze. She despised the former and understood the latter.
“I’ll do my best to keep an ear out and make sure I press our mother for details on her favorite son,” he muttered, his tone laced with disgust.
Raven pursed her lips at that. Cassandra Kane spoiled her psycho child, turning a blind eye to his sociopathic behavior and taking his side no matter how bad the incident. Always. Which was why Raven put distance between them. Her father, a weak but kind man, passed away from a heart attack seven years ago, before Lance had tried and failed to rape Raven. Her mother had believed Lance over Raven and she’d moved out almost immediately afterward.