Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 75699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“Raven, please. What are you up to? After everything that’s gone on…”
Maybe I should be straight with her. Maybe I should tell her that I’m in love with Savannah’s brother. Maybe. I already told Falcon and Leif. I told Savannah.
But I can’t.
“Just trust me, Mom. Please.”
“Raven, you know very well it’s not a question of trust. Of course I trust you. You’re a mature adult.” Her voice cracks. “But after almost losing you… I suppose I’m destined to worry about you until my dying day. After everything Falcon went through, and then you… And now this. Someone getting into our home. Our sacred space. Murdering that poor attorney.”
“I know. Have the police contacted you again?”
“No, not yet. If they need any of us to make a formal statement at the station, I’m sure they will let us know.”
“I suppose it’s a good sign that we haven’t been called yet,” I say.
“Yes, definitely a good thing. Your father’s beside himself. Even this new security system that your brother and Leif got installed hasn’t helped.”
“I understand. His space has been violated. Yours was too. And mine. It’s disorienting. But that’s nothing compared to what happened to Mr. Latham.”
“I know, honey. I know.”
“I’ll be home soon, Mom. So don’t worry, okay?”
“I’ll try not to. And I won’t ask you where you went.”
“Thank you for that. I appreciate it. I appreciate your trust.”
“Just stay safe, honey.”
“I will, Mom. Goodbye. I love you.”
“I love you too, sweetheart.”
I end the call.
Vinnie has dressed, and he’s waiting for me at the front door of the guesthouse.
“You ready?” he asks.
I’m not sure how to answer that question. Am I ready to go home? Yes. I need to go home. For my mother’s sake. For my father’s. They need to know I’m safe.
But am I ready to leave?
That’s another question altogether.
Because when I leave, I don’t know when—or if—I’ll see Vinnie again.
“Sure,” I finally say. “Let’s go.”
He looks at me then, meets my gaze, and his own dark eyes are so beautiful and troubled. I want to lean into him, lean against his hard body, show him that everything will be okay.
But I don’t know that it will be.
And neither does he.
If only we could go away. Far from here. Start over.
I open my mouth to say as much, but then I close it.
“What do you want to say, Raven?” he asks.
“Would anything I say make a difference?”
“You mean change our lives right now? Make it so we can be together?”
I nod.
He sighs. “I wish I could say it would, Raven. You have no idea how much I wish that.”
“So that’s your answer?”
“You want me to be specific about it? No, Raven. Nothing you can say will make any difference.”
“Then I suppose there’s nothing to say.”
And there isn’t. We don’t speak for the rest of the drive.
I wake up the next morning in one of the guest bedrooms in my mother and father’s house. I can’t stomach the thought of being in my own room—where a man was found bleeding out on my bed.
It’s still a crime scene anyway. It will be until the police close the investigation.
So far, the police aren’t questioning my parents and me any further.
I don’t know whether that’s because they believe our alibis or because my father is who he is.
He’s a good man. He doesn’t own the police station or anything.
But he does know them all. The two policemen who were here the other day—Detective Harrison and Officer Martinez—are young. Probably about my own age, though the detective may be a few years older.
My father has contacts everywhere, so it’s reasonable for me to believe he has contacts with the police who will see that no charges are levied against anyone in my family.
But then I wonder…
If my father had that kind of power, why did Falcon go to prison?
We were told at the time that two factors were in play. Number one, the Bellamy name. It was a good chance to make an example of Falcon, to show that no one is above the law, no matter what his name is.
But more so, it was because a young rookie cop was dead. Not only that, but Jaden Perez left behind a pregnant wife.
Public sympathy had never been higher.
It was around ten o’clock when Vinnie drove my car into my parents’ drive.
No kiss good night, though he did walk me to the door.
Then he parked my car in the driveway, got into his own car with Fred at the wheel, and drove away.
My mother was waiting up for me in the kitchen, of course. Dad was in the study.
I saw my mother, kissed her cheek, told her I was fine, and went to bed in the guest room.
This morning I’m up early, and I head into the kitchen where my mother stands at the stove, staring into space.