I step out, my eyes hitting his before I turn my body to face him completely.
“Raven,” he edges, subconsciously taking a step backward, his eyes flying to the door behind me when Chloe lets it slam with her exit. “What is this?” He takes in my fresh bruising. “What happened? Why are you here alone? Where are the boys? Did—”
“Are you done?” I ask and his shoulders fall some. He closes his mouth. “Good.” I nod. “I have questions.”
“I can’t—”
“But you will because you’re smart enough to recognize a give and get when you see one.”
“You’ve already married him, Raven.”
“I’m not looking for a way out of this.”
“Then what?”
“My mom had me raped when I was twelve,” I tell him, not blinking when he stumbles back a step. “By a man you used to know.”
His brows knit at the center.
“She paid this man. It makes no sense.” I shake my head. “People, her people, from our neighborhood would have done it gladly and free. Men have asked for me over the years, but she’d act jealous and make them leave. I think she used the man she did, a man who had ties to this world, hoping it would get back to Donley. Why would she do that if he didn’t know I existed?”
“I...” Perkins shakes his head, looking off. “I don’t know.”
“What do you know, Connor?” I ask him.
He looks to the floor. “What she told me. That she was leaving him, that she didn’t need the money or the town. That her and I could go somewhere and be together, away from it all. I believed her. She wanted to be with me, I know it.”
“What happened?”
“She was supposed to meet me but didn’t show, so I went to the Graven Estate, ready to go in and get her, but my brother met me at the gates instead. He was smiling in a way I’d never seen, and I knew the woman we both loved gave him what she promised to keep for me.”
“Her virginity.”
He gives a curt nod, looking away. “I went out, preyed on someone who was hurting more than I was that night.”
“Captain’s mom.”
“She was crying, devastated. She had no family, was a foster kid who found someone to love. All she wanted was to have a child and show them a love she never knew, and she knew the life she was about to marry into meant no children of her own.”
“There are plenty of ways to be a parent that doesn’t include a fertile fucking husband.”
He gives a small nod before continuing. “I comforted her, knowing she’d break.” His sad eyes hit mine. “She was in my arms and then my bed within an hour, but she couldn’t stay long. She was getting married that night.”
Jesus Christ.
“Ravina was gone four months later but not before she got a note to me. She said she was sorry, and she had a secret she couldn’t hide if she were here.”
“A belly,” I croak.
He nods. “That was my first thought. I never understood why she’d take off. If she chose him, fine. I stayed out of her face, never stepped foot in that house again after he told me she gave him her. Her leaving made no sense to me. It really made no sense when Felix broke down months later.” Perkins eyes me.
My chest muscles constrict.
“Ravina seduced Felix that night. He said he found her stepping out of the shower, and instantly she came on stronger than she ever had. He said he tried to stop before things went further, wait for the wedding night, but she wouldn’t let up,” he whispers. “He said he couldn’t deny her, not that he truly wanted to anyway. Only after, he said she cried and asked for a few minutes alone, so he left to get some air.” Perkins meets my eyes. “That’s when he saw me outside and grew suspicious, so he masked his confusion and made sure I knew they’d slept together.”
“He slept with her that night.”
“He did, and every night that followed from there until she was gone.”
“I don’t understand.” I run a hand over my forehead, taking a few steps away. “Was he my father or not?”
Perkins gives a regretful shrug. “I don’t know, Raven. I wish I did.”
“You said she left four months after, what happened in that four months?”
“Ravina and Felix spent every minute together, looking every bit the happily engaged couple that they were supposed to be.”
“And when she left?”
“It was abrupt, caused a storm in the town. That’s when Donley called the strike on the Brays as revenge. He believed they stole her back, hid her somewhere because they changed their minds which wasn’t allowed.”
“How did he get to them?”
“They thought they were coming to hear news on where she might be but were ambushed. Everyone but Rolland died.”
Holy shit.
“Their dads... that was because my mom left?”
Because I existed?
I’m the reason they lost their parents?
Wait. So Perkins doesn’t know Rolland’s brother escaped either.
I swallow. “Did you look for her?”
“For years.”
“When did you learn about me?”
“When Rolland went to prison, which he only did because he thought it would keep you and her hidden. Felix had no idea who he was accused of raping. Your mother’s name was sealed, some back end deal made with the DA, so Felix blindly played the role asked of him by Donley, having no idea he was so close to discovering where Ravina was.”
“Did you go to her then?”
He shakes his head. “Rolland wouldn’t tell me where she was when he was sentenced, but he told me it wasn’t only her. I did the math, too, Raven.”
“She shot him,” I tell him and his head jars back. “Captain. She found out about the engagement, and she came back. She shot him, twice.”
He rushes toward me and Bass dashes from behind the other door, gripping his elbow and spinning him, throwing him against the wall with one smooth move.
“I wasn’t... I’m not gonna hurt her.” He fights to meet my eyes. “He’s alive?”
“He’s alive. She’s... not.”
His body locks and he stops moving, all the fight leaving him as the color drains from his face. He goes slack, so Bass releases him and he falls to the floor.
“I never meant for any of this to happen. I never should have told Collins about you, but he... he found the birth certificate, and I had to lie. Pretend I was hiding her, and that I needed him, but he knew about the agreement and wanted what he felt he was owed. I had to tell him you existed to protect Zoey.”
“And for that, I’ll let you keep breathing, but you need to get out of this town. He doesn’t want you around, so you can’t be. Leave, Perkins, and don’t come back unless he calls and says you can.”
Victoria steps out then, and Perkins eyes move from her to me.
“This is my home.”
“Not anymore.”
“That’s them,” I say as an old pick-up truck rolls to a stop at the light ahead of us.
Bass parked just after the bridge where the Graven side of town begins.
I’ve stayed in Collins’ house, but I’ve never actually seen the Graven Estate that is apparently the entire back half of this end of the city.
“He’s looking right at you.”
I nod, right as Gio looks away, their vehicle passing right by us.
“Okay, let’s go.”
“Shouldn’t we talk to them, make a plan or something?” Victoria sits forward in her seat.
“No. They know how to do their jobs better than anyone, I’m not gonna sit here and tell them how to do it. Drive, Bishop.”
He gets back on the road, making the right onto the street and following it down about two miles.
“There it is.”
We pull up to the iron gate, three times as tall as me, large curled spikes at the tips. The street literally dead ends at their property entryway.
“How do we open it?” I ask.
“Where did the others go?” Victoria asks.
I shrug, frowning as the gate opens before us. “Bass...”
“I know.” He rolls forward and the second the tail of the car is past the metal strip on the ground, the gate closes us in, a man stepping from behind a shrub with a gun at his hip, a wire hanging from his ear.
I unbuckle my seatbelt, and Bass follows, dipping his hands into his ashtray before we step out.
He stays at my back as I keep advancing. “Get out of my way.”
A small smile plays on the man’s lips. “Don’t work like that.”
“I’ll ask one more time before I make you.”
The man glares this time, reaching for his earpiece, but not before Bass quickly darts forward. He tosses the ashes in his face, dips in and rips the gun from his jeans while tearing the piece from his ear.
The man rushes back a step as he swipes at his eyes, blinking rapidly. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“I said move.”
The man scoffs, his lip curling. “You’re not in charge here.”
Bass shoots him in the foot and the man howls.
Victoria steps from the car, tossing him a roll of duct tape – must be a Bray staple, keeping duct tape on you – and places it over his mouth. The two drag him behind the shrub, wrapping his hands and feet together.
I crouch down beside him while they move back for the car. “You might wanna try hobbling out the gate. Don’t be a hero. Heroes die.”
He glares but then gives a curt nod, dropping his eyes from mine.
I don’t step back in the car when they slide inside it, I walk the hundred yards down the driveway with them on my tail.
The men on the porch glare, stepping closer to me, their hands on their waists but when I keep toward them, something shifts in their demeanor. They hesitate, then stand taller.
They fall aside.
“Ms. Brayshaw.” The one closest to the door drops his head while reaching for the handle.
I glance back at Bass and Victoria, who have just opened their doors and stepped out.
Bass lifts his arms, propping his elbow on the hood. “Your call.”
“Flip the car around and wait.”
“I’m coming with you,” Victoria shouts but her feet don’t move.
“No, you’re not.”
I turn back and step through the entryway.
Voices float from the left, so I slowly follow the sounds.
Two women smile at each other, laundry in both their hands, crisp white bedding stacked perfectly in front of them. The flooring alerts them of my presence and both their gazes snap to mine. Their smiles fade instantly, their laughter disappearing with it.
The women quickly drop what’s in their hands, duck their heads and begin to walk away.
“Wait, stop.” I quickly slide over, blocking their escape.
They gasp, their muscles tensing. “We’re sorry, Ms. Brayshaw. We—”
“Did nothing to be sorry about.” I frown, glancing between the two.
After a moment, one of the women meets my eyes, and I’ve got to give it to her. Not once does she look to the bruising surrounding it.
“Tell me where I can find Donley.”
Curious, she tilts her head, but still answers. “He spends his evenings in the study.”
“And where is that?”
“The way you came, to the right of the entrance, then follow the hall.”
I nod, taking a few backward steps. “Get out of the house,” I tell them before turning and doing as they said.
I only make it a few feet into the hall when the sweet scent of a cigar leads me past a staircase and to a tall, wide-open archway.
The second my feet pass the threshold his head pops up, and his pen falls from his hand.
He shakes off his surprise and uncertainty with his next breath, but the extra wrinkles lining his eyes give him away.
“Raven.”
“Donley.”
“I must say, this is unexpected.”
“Yeah, you’re telling me.” I step farther into the room.
His eyes rake over my face and he frowns. “I’m afraid, if you’re here to ask to change our deal, I can not accommodate you. If the boy is handsy and you weren’t aware of this before, you’ll need to find a way to live with it. That, or give it time. You’ll learn what he will and won’t allow, how he’ll react, and you’ll mold into what he needs of you.”
A scoffed laugh leaves me before I can stop it and he glares.
“Man, you are seriously a piece of work, aren’t you?”
Donley pushes to his feet, smoothing his suit jacket down.
“Captain would never harm me in any way. Ever. You should know that, you’ve been watching them all their lives.”
“A man is different with a woman behind closed doors.”
“Was Felix?”
Donley’s eyes narrow. “Pardon?”
“Felix. Was he different with my mom behind closed doors?”
Donley fixes his tie. “How did you get in here, Raven?”
“I walked through the front door,” I tell him.
“My staff didn’t notify me of any visitors.”
“I’m no visitor.”
He leans against the shelving behind him, slowly folding his arms over his chest. “Is that so.”
“It is.” I look around. “This is my house now, remember?”
His head jerks back, brows knitting before a deep belly laugh escapes him. “Now don’t go getting ahead of yourself there, little girl. Not until after the marriage, it’s not.”
My brows snap together.
He doesn’t know? Collins found out, told the entire fucking school, but the news didn’t make it back to his stand-in grandfather?
I slowly lift my left hand, dropping all my fingers but the middle one, flipping him off, crown side up. “It fits me better here.”
Donley swiftly moves around the desk while I keep my feet planted where they are, my head held high, finger up.
“When?” he asks almost wistfully.
“Eight weeks ago.”
Donley smiles wide, but traces of a scowl line his eyes. “Yet you’re here, and with bruises. Am I right, is he rougher than you expected in bed?”
Piece of shit.
“Do you have the video I requested?”
I hold in my glare. “Not on me, but yes.”
His hands lift, coming together in one solid clap. “I must admit, I wasn’t sure I’d ever see the day.”
“You won’t see the night if you don’t get out of my house.”
He freezes where he stands. “I’m sorry?”
“In the contract, it says the Graven Estate becomes ours after the marriage. It’s after the marriage, Donley.” I step aside, holding an arm out.
He eyes me a moment before glancing at the empty doorway behind me. “Where is your new husband, Raven?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know.”
Donley gives a dark chuckle, nodding his head as he steps closer to me. “Okay, Mrs. Graven. I’ll tell you, I’m quite happy you’re so eager, but you do not call the shots, nor will you ever. That is what you have a husband for. Once I have the video, I will gladly have my things moved to another property, and not a second sooner.”
“Suit yourself.” I shrug, turning to leave.
Donley reaches out, gripping my arms between his fingers and I whip around to face him.
“What are you playing at, Raven?”
“You’re missing pieces, Donley.” I jerk free. “How’d you get the blood bags, hm? Did you draw it from her arm yourself, or did the good old doc do it for you?”
He shoots straight. “How do you know about the blood bags?”
“Are you gonna stand there and pretend you didn’t know she’d show up here? Isn’t that why you went to her, to let her know how even all these years later, Graven still wins?”
“What do you mean still wins?” His anger is starting to s
how. “We lost, if you remember correctly. Ravina abandoned her responsibilities and Graven was forced to pick up the pieces after she destroyed our future leader with her betrayal.”
“Right.” I eye him. “So, no answers from you today, hm?”
I take backward steps away from him, but he keeps toward me.
“Where is Captain?”
The shatter of glass echoes from down the hall and Donley’s head snaps right.
Another follows.
His glare slices to me. “What the hell is going on?”
He stalks into the hall, glancing around.
“I told you to go.”
The Riverside family walk around the corner just then, minus the wife.
“Trick,” Donley draws out. “What are you doing here?”
Trick glares at him, but says nothing, walks straight past us all while Alec and Gio stop beside me.
“Twelve minutes.”
“What the hell is going on here?” Donley shouts.
Alec spins, getting in his face. “Wanna live? Leave.”
With that, he glances to me, so I turn for the entrance.
Donley shoves past us, and out the front door.
My eyes fly across the grounds as staff rushes for the head of the property line, most piling onto matching golf carts.
Donley glares at Bass and then Victoria, his eyes lingering on her for a long moment before his car pulls around the grounds.
He steps down, pausing to eye me once more before he slips into the car and pulls away.
“We need to sweep one more time, make sure they’re all out,” Gio says.
Bass nods while Victoria calls me to her.
“We need to get you out of here.”
“I’ll help.”
“I don’t think—”
My eyes fly to Gio. “I will help.”
He throws his hands up and rushes back inside.
I start with where I saw the maids, but they’re already gone, so I throw open each door I can find, but all the rooms are already empty.
“We already went through and evacuated, but it’s protocol to sweep twice.” Gio steps beside me. He looks at a little tablet looking thing with bright orange and red colors moving across the screen. “I think there’s still someone on the south end.” He pushes a little button on his watch, speaking into it. “Alec, you on the grounds?” he asks.
Reign of Brayshaw (Brayshaw High #3) Page 18