Chapter Twenty-Five
S lade
“ Where were you last night?” The absolute last person I needed hanging around me right now was up in my face. I gritted my teeth. She needed to get the fuck away from me before I snapped her fucking neck.
“None of your goddamn business, Sienna.” I pushed past her and headed to the bar. Elijah and the rest of the guys were hanging around drinking god knows what, and while I normally didn’t partake in their silly banter, I needed to be around them.
I was so close to blowing everything for Raven, and I couldn’t do that. I needed to ruin Lars like he ruined me. I needed Raven to do that. While the old man acted like he didn’t give a flying fuck about her, his fatherly love and instincts were around. Just buried deep, deep inside, to where no one would be able to see a crack in his armor.
“Dude, what’d you do to piss off Sienna? She’s over there steaming.” Elijah joked, always trying to lighten the mood when I was pissed off.
How could having sex with one woman make me so angry? The scene was on replay in my mind, and I wanted more. No, I craved more. Raven was so goddamn perfect, but I couldn’t have her yet. I had to wait, be patient, and make all the right moves. Lars needed to be gone. This fiancé character of hers needed to be eliminated.
“I wouldn’t fuck her. You’d think she’d have plenty of dick around with you fuckers.”
Elijah and the other guys were big time players. They wanted nothing more than to stick their dicks in as many women as they possibly could. Fuck, Elijah straight up told me he was in an orgy once. He even asked me if I would partake in one, but that was too much. I was a one woman type of guy. I didn’t need the stress of making sure each partner was pleased. Fuck all that.
I took a seat and Elijah gave me a shot glass with some clear liquid in it. I took it in my hand and tipped it back. The liquid went down smooth and made me want more. Vodka could be disgusting, but when the mood was right, it could be the most satisfying drink in the world.
“Alright, what’s our next move, boss? Do we go to them or get her to come to us?” He asked. He’s been particularly greedy about getting into the estate and taking it over. I couldn’t really figure out what his endgame was. Yeah, he was my best friend and loyal as fuck, but how far did that go? Would he try to take what was mine after I fought so hard to get it all back? Lars and Zeke were gone for a few days, so I figured we had some time to figure shit out.
Someone snorted. “Looks like your question has already been answered.” Noah tipped his head in the direction of the garage doors. The hair on the back of my neck stood up when the woman who was fucking with my sanity came bursting through the doors with Sienna of all people.
Her dark blue jeans hugged her ass, and the gray hoodie didn’t do a good job of making her invisible. It only made her more desirable because she wasn’t trying to get my attention. She was just naturally breathtaking.
“Shit. Never thought I’d see the day she stepped in these doors of her own free will. What do you think that’s about?”
I shrugged. Her frantic violet eyes found mine. Something was wrong. I stood up waiting for her to reach me.
"We need to talk.” Her lips demanded attention with her words. She transferred me back to last night when her lips were doing wicked things to my body. My dick stood on attention, but I shut it down. She was worried. Hell, she even looked scared.
“Let’s go to my office.” I headed towards the office, feeling the heat of everyone’s stares on the back of my head, including the one who wanted nothing more than to be my Queen. Sienna had made it clear several times over that she should be standing next to me. That Raven was weak, and that she had no place as Queen of a Country.
What she didn’t know was that Raven was far from weak. While on the outside she was breaking apart, on the inside, she was a feisty little scorpion, waiting to come out and sting. She wouldn’t stand down without a fight, but I also know how heavily this shit was weighing on her. It was breaking her and if I don’t intervene soon, she may cease to exist. I couldn’t let that happen. I closed the door behind her and she began to pace. There was a war raging inside of her.
“What’s wrong with you?” Wrong question.
She stopped, and her body rose and fell with anger fuming through her veins. “What’s wrong with me? I need you to make a fucking move, Slade.”
My hands curled at my sides, “I’m trying.”
Her eyes began to water and her shoulders shook. She was breaking down right in front of me. Did something happen since I left? I took a step towards her, “What’s wrong?”
She turned away from me and wiped her face. “I can’t keep doing this.” Her voice shook, and that was so unlike her. She was normally empowered in everything she did.
“Doing what?” I swallowed the lump in my throat. I didn’t know how this woman became my whole world, but the thought of losing her, fucked me up.
“Waiting. If you don’t do something, I will. I can’t live in this constant state of...”
I took a few more steps until my chest was against her back. I wanted to reach out and touch her, she was close enough for me to do so, but she was still out of my reach. We could never fully be happy until the threat was eliminated. “Of what?”
Her shoulders rose and fell as she took a deep breath, “Fear.”
“Rav,” I spoke, but she cut me off when she turned and her violet eyes showed something lingering in their depths. There were very few times in life when I saw her scared. Even after all of the abuse she suffered from the King, she still never showed signs of fear. Signs of weakness yes, but fear was an emotion that was far out of reach for her.
This Raven was something I had never witnessed, and I wanted nothing more than to make it all better for her. To protect her and my daughter, but it was hard when we were under two different roofs, and hers was a heavily guarded prison.
She wiped a stray tear from her face and walked past me. “Nevermind, I have to go.”
I blocked her exit. “No, you don’t. Stay here.” Something was nagging at me. I couldn’t let her go right now.
“If you won’t stop him, then I will. I don’t give a fuck anymore about what happens to me. At least Julianna will be free and you can, well, you can do whatever the fuck you want.”
She brushed past me, and I didn’t stop her. I just stood there like a deer caught in the headlights.
RAVEN
He asked me to stay, but this time I walked out on him. My stomach was in knots. I had to do something. I couldn’t let Zeke win, and Slade was taking too fucking long to make a move. He kept talking in riddles, about chess pieces, revenge and eliminating the enemy. I was tired of waiting. If he wouldn’t step up like the man I knew he could be, then I would have to take matters into my own hands.
My feet kept marching towards my car, a small little Honda, not noticeable to the public eye. I used this when I didn’t want to be paraded around like some diamond to oggle.I heard my name being called, but I ignored it and kept walking. As soon as I pulled out my keys, large hands pulled me against a solid chest.
“Stop, Rav. I need you to think about what you’re going to do. Every time you stand up to him, the outcome doesn’t go as planned and you get hurt in the process.”
I wiggled away and turned to face him. “Why do you care?”
“You can’t be fucking serious.”
I crossed my arms and leaned against the hot car. “I am fucking serious. I don’t know what’s real anymore. Everything is a mess, and I’m in a giant hole that I can’t seem to dig out of. I have Julianna. I know I have her love because she’s my baby girl, but you and me? It's a fairytale that is so far out of reach. It’s not real. I’m being tortured with what I want and can’t have. You may be standing in front of me, but you’re not real. None of this is real. My true horrors are back in that house, waiting for me to get home so it can do god knows what to my body.”
Slade paled after the words I didn’t mean to say spilled out of my mouth. I didn’t want to give him an image, but he infuriated me. What was I doing? Seriously. What was I doing with my life? Waiting for my knight and shining armor to come and save the day?
Women didn’t do that anymore. Fuck, Mother didn’t do that. She always stood her ground against Father. That’s what made him fall in love with her. Didn’t I use to be like that? Able to take care of myself? What happened? Was Slade walking away what started my heavy descent into darkness? Was it the way Zeke manipulated and used my body the way he wanted?
The unfortunate thing was, I was a woman. Nobody believed it when a woman said she was raped. It always turned into an allegation and his word against hers. Being a woman sucked.
My phone rang and pulled me out of the internal battle I was fighting. I pulled it out of my pocket and went to answer it. Lewis’s face was staring back at me as I swiped to the right, but my phone was snatched and Slade put it to his ear.
“Do you have Julianna?” He rudely barked at Lewis and I wanted to smack him. “Good. Can you bring her to the compound?”
My teeth were gnawing against each other. I had the deepest urge to smack him upside the head for being so rude to Lewis.
But then, a weird feeling passed over me. The way Slade was talking to Lewis was as if he hadn’t been gone for years. It was like they had been in contact on a regular basis. Bring her to the compound? Had Lewis been here before? Had he hung out with these people previously? Was he against my father? My fingers twitched at my sides.
Had Lewis been lying to me?
“Thanks.” He took the phone away from his ear and put it in his pocket. His gaze went to mine.
A wave of dizziness passed through me and I wanted to throw up. I swallowed it down, but my throat was too dry. I needed water, vodka, whiskey, something to get rid of this ache. What was happening right now?
Slade’s eyes were looking through me, searching for something. It was like he wanted me to know he had been in contact with Lewis all this time.
I took a step back. How many more of our staff were on Slade’s side?
My hands went to my throat. The ache was burning; there was nothing that could ease the pain, not even ice.
I licked my suddenly dry lips. “How long...”
Understanding passed through his eyes, and I saw a brief flash of something lingering. Guilt...determination...regret? “Since before I left.”
My stomach twisted and churned. An invisible hand came and slapped me across the face.
A honk pulled me out of the daze I was in when Lewis’ car drove up alongside us. My body grew tense at the thought of Julianna being around her dad.
Slade’s attention was no longer on me as Lewis opened the door and Julianna slid out beaming like a happy child living her best life. My heart warmed. That’s all I wanted for her. To be healthy, happy, and living life. All the other stuff, the burdens Father put on our family, would fall back on me. I would never, ever let anything happen to her.
She ran up to her father, arms open, smiling wide and eyes beaming. The most beautiful grin outlined Slade’s face, and I realized how much I missed this. How much I had wanted this. There had been a part of us missing this whole time, and seeing Slade with Julianna made me second guess every decision leading up to this point. It made me hate Father even more for driving a wedge between us.
I rubbed the skin over my heart where it was hurting. The gap in my heart was closing little by little, pieces being sewed back together. But there was always the devil on my shoulder, the annoying red-headed guy who told me this would all go to shit.