The Unraveling of Raven (The Unraveled Trilogy Book 1)

by Theresa Sederholt

  “MAX, WHEN THE FUCK is Tony going to have this done?” Now, I’m the one pacing.

  “He’s working on it. There are a lot of security walls in place.”

  I look over at Joseph and he doesn’t look good; his skin has almost a grayish tint to it. “Joseph, can I get you some water or something.”

  He nods, and as I hand him the glass, I notice his hand is shaking. Max turns to him, “Joseph, how long do you have?”

  I’m floored. How does Max know anything? Oh fuck, what am I thinking? It’s Max, for Christ sake. He knows if the wind shifts. “They told me I had a year, that I should get my affairs in order. That was six months ago.”

  “Is that when you told Marco the whole story?” Max asks.

  Joseph laughs, “Max, you amaze me. You really should be working for us.”

  Max chuckles. “Joseph, I could never work for the Feds. I need things done yesterday, and you guys have too much red tape. Not to mention, in your world, too much information is put on paper. I’m thinking that’s when Marco went off the rails, but you can’t sit here and blame yourself.” Joseph has a grave expression on his face, apparently Max’s words don’t seem to help him.

  The phone rings and Max puts it on speaker; It’s Tony. He’s narrowed it down to the Catskills Mountain range. Max orders Tony to pull everything he can on Erica, Duke, and Marco, to find their connection to that area and get a better pin point of what their location might be. I grab the phone off the cradle before he can hang up. “Tony, Erica had a quirky uncle that became a recluse. He moved up to Woodstock. He wanted to live the rest of his life with nature and weed. Pull whatever records you can find. She used to joke that Flynn was flying without leaving the yard. We’re going to start heading that way now. When you get the information, call me.”

  “Jax, we need the Rover. It’s snowing here, so it will probably be heavy up there.”

  I toss him my keys, and I see Joseph flinch. “Don’t worry, Joseph, Max also drove for the Royal family.” I don’t think that helps. We race out of the penthouse. The elevator ride down to the garage seems to take forever. We get to the Rover, Joseph gets in the back seat, double checking his seat belt. Max’s driving through the blinding snow. All I can do is pray we can get to Raven in time.

  “Jax, what did you do to this woman that she would want this type of revenge?”

  I don’t like to reveal too much of what I do, let alone to a Fed. “Joseph, my business is complex, but I’m good at it. I’m able to see the big picture and all the little pieces at the same time. Erica wanted in to my world, but she used sex, not brains. That was her first mistake. I was young and used to think with my cock, so I was vulnerable. When I realized what she was, I sent her packing.”

  “Why didn’t you prosecute her?”

  Right now I’m wondering the same thing. “The justice system here is for the rich and not the poor. She would probably have gotten off with a slap on the wrist, so I opted to blackball her from the only industry she knows. Because of it, her family also blackballed her, and her grandfather took her out of his will. We're talking millions here, Joseph.”

  He stares out the window for a while, “You said her first mistake. What was her second?”

  “Crossing me and putting the people I love at risk.”

  He says nothing more as we speed through the night.

  ERICA SITS ACROSS FROM me, her eyes glued to me. “I can’t believe you’re the girl that landed my Jax. You’re so simple. You fucking teach second grade kids for Christ’s sake!”

  I just want to bitch slap her! “I think it’s safe to say, if he was your Jax, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

  She bangs her fist on the table and it makes me jump. “I would watch your mouth, bitch. I can fuck you up royally, just remember that.”

  As she walks out, she kisses Duke’s cheek. Duke is being taciturn. My guess is, he doesn’t know what to say or do with me.

  “Duke, why are you doing this to me? I don’t even know you.”

  He sits down at the table. “I wouldn’t say that, Raven. We have the same blood running through our veins.”

  My eyes instantly fill with tears, and I have to fight to hold them back. “If you really feel like that, then why are you doing this to me?”

  He takes a steadying breath. “I got sucked in real quick and deep, first by Erica, and then Marco. I don’t see this ending well for any of us.” He looks away.

  “Duke, look at me, please don’t look away. If you really believe that, then do something to end this.”

  He laughs. “What? Like going to the police? Marco shot that agent right in the head while Erica just stood there, talking to the man!”

  I shake my head. “Just call, Jax. He’ll know what to do.”

  I see such pain in his eyes. “You don’t get it, Raven. Erica and Marco, they are just the tip of the iceberg. I did some digging, on my own, looking up our family tree. Even if we do get out of this, we are both fucked. They’re all ruthless. I mean, Jesus, apparently my father killed your father, his own brother, and then raped our mother. If that’s not fucked up, then I don’t know what is.”

  I sit there for a while, thinking about all of this. “Duke, what do you think our family would do to us, when they find out about us?”

  He shrugs, “They might embrace me, but for sure, they would kill you. It really doesn’t matter, because they already know.”

  “Oh.” I whisper.

  We both sit here, watching the snow falling outside. I wrap my arms around my body and I can smell Jax on this shirt. I wish I had never run. As I watch the snow, I wonder how something so peaceful could be happening in the mist of such evil.

  WE STOP IN KINGSTON for gas, when Max’s cell rings. He’s pacing. That’s never a good sign.

  “Okay, Jax, Tony has an address. It’s just off of Route 212, past the elementary school. Tony is worried. There’s been some chatter and internet hits about the Chicago family, they might know already.”

  “Fuck! Okay, just keep driving. We will have to take our chances.”

  Joseph’s phone rings. The caller ID says: Marco, and we all freeze. “Put it on speaker.”

  He takes a deep breath before he answers, “Hello, Marco, where are you? What the fuck is going on?”

  Marco laughs, “Joseph, I want seventy-five million wired to my off shore account. You have thirty minutes from when I hang up.”

  “Hold on, Marco, how do I even know she’s still alive? There is a lot of blood at the safe house.” Joseph yells.

  “Joseph, she is of no use to me dead, but I’ll let you say, hello. Raven, say hello to Joseph, I’m sure he has you on speaker and Jax is probably sitting right next to him.”

  “Hello, Joseph. Jax, I’m okay. Please protect yourselves, I’ll be okay,” her voice quivers. What I hear next, slays me. He slaps her and she’s crying.

  “Marco, touch her again and I swear I’ll rip you from limb to limb! You’ll wish you were never born!” I yell. My adrenaline is so high; I can hear my blood pumping through my veins.

  He laughs “Now, now, Jax, you need to play nice with me or I’ll mess her up good. I’ve been babysitting this bitch for the last twelve years. I’m done.”

  “You listen to me, arsehole, I’m the one with the seventy-five million, so harm a hair on her pretty, little head and you will royally fuck yourself!”

  “I just sent you a text with wiring instructions. As soon as the money hits, you’ll get her location.” He hangs up.

  “MARCO, WHY ARE YOU doing this to me? I thought you loved me?”

  He laughs, “Yeah, well you thought wrong, baby girl. I was just waiting for my cash cow to come in, and now it has.”

  “So, what about Erica, what happens to her?”

  “You’re so wrapped up in all your own drama, you stupid, little girl. Erica’s my wife, what do you think is going to happen to her?”

  My mouth falls open. “Wife?! When did this happen? I thought you were
gay?”

  He glares at me. “So many questions, and of course, you’re so behind. I’m bisexual, and Erica is fine with that.”

  Suddenly, there is yelling between Erica and Duke, and he’s shaking. “I loved you! I thought you loved me, and now I find out that you’re married to him!” He’s waving Marco’s gun. Marco keeps his focus solely on the gun and where it’s being waved. This is bad . . . real bad. Erica doesn’t look as nervous as Marco does. She’s laughing lightly and taunting poor Duke.

  In the same moment, I see Duke snap. He turns towards Marco. “Duke, just put the gun down, and let's discuss this.”

  “I’m done talking, Marco.” Duke shoots him, “That should, finally, shut you the fuck up.”

  Duke turns to Erica, “Now you’re a widow.”

  I can’t breathe. Duke just shot Marco in the head. Erica is looking at Duke, and then finally, she looks down at Marco’s body. There is no grief, no crying—not even shock. Nothing but a blank stare.

  “Well, Duke, I guess that leaves just you and me.” She smirks. Is she serious? What kind of psycho was Jax and Marco involved with?

  Duke glares at her. “Do you really think I want or need you?”

  She laughs, “I think you do want me, and I know you need me to get out of this place.”

  There is some noise from downstairs. That must be the police, here to rescue me, thankfully. However, I notice neither of them panicking at this and I can’t shake the sudden feeling that my first assumption could be very off. Duke scoffs, “I don’t want Marco’s leftovers and I, sure as shit, don’t need you to get out of here.”

  Fear finally registers on Erica’s face just as the door opens and in walks a man who could be my father’s twin. “You gonna do her, son, or should I?”

  Duke glances over to him but he turns back to Erica, “I wish I could stay, but our ride is here, and your number just came up!” He puts the gun right between her eyes and pulls the trigger. Her life is over, just like that. I’m left, looking into the face of a killer, my father’s brother, and his murderer. “Raven, let me introduce you to my father and your uncle, Vincent.”

  My heart switches back and forth between racing and breaking all over again. “We met twenty years ago, when I watched him kill my father.”

  MAX IS SPEEDING INTO the night. The snow is coming down hard. Joseph is staring out the window, lost in his thoughts until he tells Max that the local police are on their way and should be at the house in twenty minutes. Max looks back to Joseph. “Do you really think I’m waiting for them? We will be there in five.”

  He takes a shaky breath, “Max, I know that you’re a former Special Ops with the Royal Army, I’m sure you can handle yourself. I’m armed. I’m sure you are, but, Jax, you’re not, and you need to stay in the car.”

  Max looks back at me, “Jax, under the seat, pull the panel down.”

  Joseph’s mouth opens as if he’s in shock. . “Are these even licensed? Fuck, are they even legal?”

  Max just raises his right eyebrow at Joseph. “Jax, load up and get ready. We’re here.” Max tells Joseph that he will go around back and that he and I should cover the front. Just a few minutes and I’ll have my girl back. We all step in at the same time. It’s quiet—too quiet. We start searching room by room.

  When we go up to the upstairs, the scene that awaits us makes me want to hurl. Two bodies. The first one is Erica, shot right between the eyes. The second body is Marco. He’s been shot in the head. Their bodies are still warm. There is no sign of Raven and I can’t help but feel paralyzed. I turn to Max, “Who?”

  He looks around. “I venture to say she and Duke are together, and the family knows who they both are.”

  “God, forgive me, what have I done?” Joseph places his face in his hands.

  Max grabs Joseph and throws him up against the wall. “Joseph, what the fuck did you do?!”

  Just when I think things can’t possibly get any worse, Max starts pounding on Joseph. I try to pull Max off of him. If he kills him, we’ll never know.

  “Joseph, before anyone gets her, you need to tell us everything.”

  “When I found out I was dying, I told Marco everything about Raven, and why I felt so protective of her. Her father died for me! Antonio jumped in front of me, just as Vincent pulled the trigger. Cara saw the whole thing. That’s why she stopped talking. He convinced me that he would take care of her, and that for her safety, he needed to know where her half-brother was staying. I was blinded by loyalty, and that will probably get her killed.”

  My rage is rising to the surface as I hear his words. “So let me get this straight, you hired Marco twelve years ago to work his way into Raven’s life? You then told Marco everything you knew about Raven’s family, about her half-brother, that she wasn’t aware of, and you told him where the brother was located?”

  He nods, “Yes.”

  That’s it. I look at Max, and before he can stop me, I punch Joseph in the face. Judging by the amount of blood, I’ve probably broken his nose. Max and I walk out, leaving Joseph with the mess he helped create.

  “Max, where do you think she is?”

  “Well, it’s safe to say, that she is with Duke and he probably contacted his newfound family.”

  “So, Chicago?” I stare out the window.

  Max is quiet for a bit. “No, Jax. That would be too easy. They don’t want you finding her or Duke. With the amount of snow that is falling, it’s safe to say, they are driving, not flying. I just don’t see them driving back to the city, to get a flight out. It’s too risky. Even Logan airport, in Boston, is too close. They’ll still have the weather to deal with. I think they’ll drive south. If it were me, I would drive to Atlanta. It is the largest international airport in the world. I’ll have Tony check all the private airports from here to Florida. I also have him working on Duke’s computer.” Max puts a call through to Tony. “Hey, Tony, you're on speaker. I need you to check all the private airports from New York to Florida and look for any last-minute flights, heading out of the country. Did you find out anything from Duke’s computer?”

  Tony sounds excited. “I did find something interesting, but not from Duke’s computer. Who’s in the car, Max?”

  Max gives him the go ahead to talk freely. “Okay, I hacked into Marco’s computer. I just felt there might be some clues as to where they were taking Raven. I found out that Marco got married six months ago, but here’s the shocker—he was married to Erica. It seems they’ve been together for almost a year. Oh, and it seems Marco has a very expensive, online gambling habit. That’s how he met Erica, in one of the gambling chat rooms.”

  I can’t speak, and I can’t think. My entire world has been thrown off kilter so many times, over the past three weeks. I’m glad Max still has his brains, because mine are fried.

  “Tony, were you able to access the logs from the chat room?”

  He sighs, “Yeah, they are an interesting read. Really shows how twisted they both are.”

  “Well, Tony, they’re both dead.” I pipe up, finally finding my voice.

  Max tells Tony to get on the airport search and pull the files for the Chicago crime family as we head back to the city. I sit in silence, lost in my thoughts.

  THREE WEEKS AGO, THE biggest thing I was worried about was parent teacher conferences. In that short time span, I have been kidnapped, for the fourth time in my twenty-seven years. I have seen four people murdered, right in front of my eyes. I have been lied to and manipulated, emotionally, by the people I trusted the most. Why is this happening to me, when all I want to do is teach my second graders?

  As we are driving through the night, I notice that we are heading south. Where we’re going really doesn’t matter to me; I’m sure my life is over. Poor Jax, I think about him and feel so sorry. His life was somewhat normal, up until I came into it, although, the crazy ex and the assistant was his. We were both manipulated by people—the trusted ones. I think about Marco and the fact that Joseph put him into my life
. How much of the last twelve years, with Marco, was real? How much was staged? I think about Joseph, and I know he blames himself for so much, starting with my father getting shot. He’s dying, and I can’t be there for him. So much pain and sadness, and for what—money? Is it worth it? I think I really understand, now, why Jax keeps himself tucked away in The Tower. I can’t believe that Jax was ever involved with someone like Erica. She was so cold, and she had such a hardness to her, that I would never have expected someone like Jax, to be attracted to the likes of her. How could I not know that Marco was bi-sexual? Marco said that he married Erica six months ago, but when was he seeing her? Every time I saw Marco with someone, it was a guy. Pulling out of my thoughts, I realize we’ve already passed through Virginia. “Duke, where are we going?”

  He doesn’t answer. In fact he is just staring out the window, almost in some kind of trance. I know he is a killer. I’ve seen what he can do, but I don’t think he was always like that. I honestly believe he was manipulated and just snapped. In the past twenty-four hours, three people were murdered, and I’m probably next.

  As I sit here and reach back into the deepest, darkest parts of my mind, I close my eyes and I’m back to that horrible day, twenty years ago. I was coming home from school when a man picked me up, telling me that my parents were in an accident and I needed to go with him to the hospital. That day changed my life forever. That day changed the lives of so many people, actually, from the grandfather I never knew, to me—a clueless, little seven-year-old girl, just playing with her dolls without a care in the world. That day when Joseph and my father rescued me, I saw the man that shot my father, and now I’m looking at him again, sitting in the front of the car. Talk about life, coming full circle. I don’t know if Joseph realized that I saw the man pull the trigger. I saw my father jump in front of Joseph, when that shot rang out. I wonder how much Duke really knows. I can’t ask him now, not while his father is in the car. We all sit in silence. I finally fall asleep, but it’s not peaceful, and it probably never will be again.