Victorious Vice (Bellamy Brothers #6)

33. Raven

33

RAVEN

M y mother and Robin arrive about an hour later. Robin comes in to the guestroom where I’m staying.

“Raven, last night couldn’t have gone any better. Have you heard how much money we made?”

Wow. I haven’t even thought about that with everything else that went on.

“I assume it was pretty good.”

She pulls out her phone and scrolls through it. “From the donations that we received and the silent auction receipts, we’re at about two and a half million dollars already. That doesn’t even count the three thousand dollars a plate the people paid to go to the gala.”

“But it doesn’t take into account our expenses,” I say dryly.

She raises an eyebrow. “Don’t get too enthused.”

She’s right. Our expenses were nothing compared to receipts so far, and there’s no price on the awareness we raised.

I regard my sister. Though we’re not identical twins, we look a lot alike. Her facial features are a bit harder than mine, and of course she has a beautiful head of hair. Our eyes are nearly indistinguishable, except her lashes are longer.

Mine will be again, I keep telling myself.

The nubs are growing. I did like how I looked with false eyelashes on last night.

“We made more than enough to rent office space and hire a skeleton staff to get things started,” she says. “Then the money you and I are putting in from our trust funds gets us a good start on helping to fund research and giving grants to people in need.”

“It’s all going to be fundraising, isn’t it?” I ask.

“That’s kind of what nonprofits are all about, Ray. Surely you thought this through when you went through all of it.”

“I did.” I rub my eyes. “Don’t mind me. I’m just exhausted.”

She pats my hand. “Of course you are. You’re still in recovery mode. That’s why Emily and I are doing all the footwork. Right?”

“Yeah, right.”

I hate lying to my sister.

I hate lying, period.

“So where did you go last night?” Robin asks. “You were gone for a while.”

I swallow. “I just…needed to get away from the crowds. You understand.”

“I do.” She nods. “We all think it’s amazing that you took this on. Right after coming out of recovery.”

“I’m fine. I’m cancer free, as they say.”

“You’re in remission, Ray.”

“Potato po-tah-to. Whatever.”

“I’ll let you get some rest.” Robin gives me a quick hug. “You planned a great gala.”

“You planned it.”

“All right. But it was your idea.” She grabs my hand, squeezes it. “This is your brain child, Ray. You need to take some credit for yourself. That gala was amazing. Your speech brought people to tears.”

“Thanks, Robbie.”

She leaves the room, closing the door behind her.

I grab my purse and pull out my cell phone along with the burner phone that the fake Uber driver gave me.

I read through all the texts.

The texts on my phone, threatening me.

And the texts on the burner phone, warning me.

Then I pull out the velvet box that contains the pendant I won in the silent auction.

I turn it over, rub my fingers over the engraving, reading the message once again.

Even the raven can’t fly forever. Sooner or later, it comes home to die.

I should be more frightened than I am.

But right now, all I want is to fall asleep again.

Even though I was plagued again by nightmares last night.

At least I was in Vinnie’s arms.

Until I woke up, that is. And he was gone.

I could call him.

But he won’t answer.

I know what he thinks, and I know he’s right. But I’ve seen enough miracles in action to believe in them. I’ve seen myself go from a sick bag of bones to a healthy woman again.

I believe that Vinnie will come back to me.

I have to believe it.

I look toward my door when I hear a knock.

“Yes?”

The door opens, and my father stands there.

Sometimes when I look at my father, I wonder how we all came from him. His skin is fair, his hair blond, his eyes blue.

We all have darker skin and dark hair like our mother. Only Hawk got his blue eyes.

But I do see similarities between him and me.

When he smiles, I see my own smile reflected back at me. There’s a certain crinkle around his eyes that I’ve been told I have, a shared laugh that cuts through the silence on quiet days.

At times, my reflection in the mirror is like looking into a mural of our family’s history—a blend of my mother’s Mexican roots and my father’s Northern European lineage. My eyes are a deep dark brown almost identical to my mother’s.

My father has always been a quiet man, the silent observer in most situations. He speaks when necessary and when he does, everyone listens. His voice is deep and resonating, a stark contrast to his fair complexion. His wisdom seeps through every sentence, every word carefully chosen and spoken deliberately.

Hawk takes after him in that regard. Much like our father, he is reserved, content in his solitude. He shares similar interests with our father—fishing on weekends, reading countless books on history and architecture, and a deep sense of what’s good and right.

“What is that?” he asks, pointing to the pendant I’m still holding.

Why not?

I hold it out to him. “Turn it over,” I say.

He does, and his cheeks turn red as his jaw goes rigid. “Where did you get this?’

“At the auction. I won it.”

He squints at it, tracing the engraved letters with a calloused finger. “This...” he begins, “this was your grandmother’s.”

My jaw drops.

I think back. My grandmother only died a little over a year ago. I was too sick to go to the funeral, but all those years before, she was a big part of our lives. I don’t ever remember seeing her wear this bird pendant. Birds are our mother’s thing. They were never our paternal grandmother’s.

“It was?”

He nods. “Your mother and I got it for her when you and Robin were born.”

That explains the bird motif. “I never saw her wear a pendant like this.”

“She didn’t wear it much. You know your grandmother. The only jewelry she ever wore were pearls. Your mother and I tried to change that. We got her a Falcon pin when Falcon was born. Then the pendant when you girls came along. After that, we gave up.”

“But how did it end up in the silent auction?”

Dad shakes his head gravely. “I have no idea. After your grandmother died, we placed her jewelry in a safe deposit box.” His hands tremble. "Someone must have taken it out and gotten it engraved.”

I place a hand over my mouth. “I didn’t make any bids. I thought it was kind of a conflict of interest, you know? So when they called my name…” I shake my head.

“You didn’t know this was in the auction?”

“No. I really only knew about the big-ticket items. Robin and Emily made most of the arrangements for the silent auction. I figured this item was just something that had fallen through the cracks. But Daddy…”

“What, sweetheart?”

“This isn’t the first time I’ve gotten this message.” I grab my phone, pull up the requisite text, and show it to him.

He glares at it, his hands curling into fists. “Now do you understand why I want you here? Safe?”

I gulp as I nod.

“Damn that Vinnie Gallo,” Dad says. “He’s been nothing but trouble.”

I don’t respond.

I don’t know how to.

I love Vinnie. I love him with all my heart and soul. So much that I’m not sure I can ever love another man.

I’m destined to become an old spinster.

Eventually moving back home with my ageing parents.

Hell, I’m here already.

I can’t let my life become this.

“I want to go home, Daddy.”

“Raven, not an hour ago, you said you would stay.”

I sigh. “Yes, and I will. I don’t want you and Mom worrying about me. Doesn’t change the fact that I want to go home.”

“I understand, sweetheart.” He puts the pendant back in the box. “I need to take this. Have my investigators look at it. See if we can pull any fingerprints off of it.”

“Sure. Of course. I didn’t pay for it.”

“Somebody did and put it in your name. Did you happen to see what the final bid was?”

“I didn’t look. Since I technically won it, I didn’t have to check out. They all know I’m good for the money. It’s my nonprofit, after all.”

“I need to look into this,” he says. “Is there anything I can get you?”

“How about?—”

“An Orange Crush?” he finishes for me.

I sigh, nodding. “Yes, please. I could use a drop of sunshine right about now.”