Chapter 16 Raven
SIXTEEN
RAVEN
Aiden had long since left for work, but my skin still overheated when I thought of all the things we’d done since dawn. It was no wonder my best friend read so much smut. If it was half as good as fooling around with Aiden, I was determined to ask Athena for more recommendations.
My husband left the keys to several of his vehicles in the garage, giving me the pick of the lot, but my driving skills were worse than my cooking, so I opted for an Uber.
The driver took me to the bank where I withdrew a substantial amount of money—spending for it yet to be determined—and right before noon, I pulled up to my mom’s building in Brownsville in New York City.
From the outside, it looked sad, but from the inside, it was even worse.
It was in desperate need of demolition. There was a reason we were the only residents, with the other three units vacant since Mom moved almost two years ago.
Despite its structural (and cosmetic) issues, it’d served as a home to us, but it wouldn’t for much longer.
Thanks to Aiden, we’d be out of here forever.
For the first time ever, I entered the building lighter than ever.
I practically flew up the steps and then threw the door open ready to share the news with my mom.
Surely, after the initial shock of my sudden marriage, she’d be ecstatic about moving into a nicer place.
Maybe this would mean we could finally put down roots.
I still felt torn in a way that made my chest ache.
Every thought of Aiden sparked warmth, a pull I couldn’t deny, but alongside it was a restless ache for Paris and the life I’d imagined with my friends, sharing the experience of college years with them.
The more I thought about giving it all up, the more a strange panic twisted inside me.
I liked him a lot, I really did—maybe even loved him—but I also loved the idea of myself chasing my dreams, of living a life I wouldn’t regret.
And in that contradiction, I felt small, selfish, and utterly human, caught between two desires that both demanded my heart.
However, there was a consolation: knowing my mom would be safe and comfortable, just as Aiden had promised. That alone made giving up my plans for Europe worthwhile.
Resolute and determined, I stepped inside the apartment and froze upon seeing my mom’s face.
She stood in the middle of the living room, her complexion deathly pale and her hands balled into fists at her sides. She stared at me with a look of sheer terror. Oh, shit!
“Uh, I…” I trailed off, not knowing what to say.
“I thought I taught you to stay away from dangerous men.”
Okay, then, she knew.
“I-it happened so suddenly,” I said lamely, not bothering to point out that she hadn’t really told me much when she was sober. “But Aiden, he… That’s my husband. He wants to help.”
“I doubt it,” she said dryly. “Close the door and sit down.”
It felt like déjà vu from the night I ended up married. I only hoped today wouldn’t end with the coverup of a murdered government official. A crime that, now that I really thought of it, I was technically an accomplice to.
The door slammed shut behind me. I shuffled to the couch and took a seat, struck by how rare it was to see my mom sober, steady, and unmistakably in charge.
But it was the turbulent energy shooting beams from her eyes that had me unnerved.
It was almost as if I were watching a completely different person in her body.
When she said nothing and continued fixing me with that hard look, I squirmed in my seat uncomfortably.
“I didn’t really have a choice.”
“I thought the same once too.” She flashed me a bitter smile, then started pacing. “It’s like watching the past repeat itself and worst of all… Now we’re exposed.”
“Exposed?” I repeated in a raspy voice. “What do you mean?”
“We were supposed to keep a low profile,” she mumbled, pushing her hand through her hair. “He thought we were dead and now…”
She walked around the living room, checking beneath the sofa and chairs, around the TV stand, in the lamps—everywhere.
Maybe I was wrong and she was drunk. Or even worse, she’d turned to drugs.
“Mom, what are you doing?”
She didn’t stop her scouting, and with each second that passed, my chest tightened further. It was like she’d lost her mind.
“Please stop,” I rasped. “You’re scaring me.”
She finally stopped in front of me and glared at me.
“Good. You need to be scared, because now that your father knows we’re alive, he’ll never stop.” She tightened her fists. “We need to disappear again. Or rather, you need to disappear. Today. Your father cannot get his hands on you.”
I struggled to process her words, the meaning of them hanging in the air, jagged and unreal. I stared at her, waiting for her to say she was joking or for signs that she was drunk. But she definitely wasn’t. Her eyes were too clear and her expression too somber.
My stomach sank as the meaning settled in: she was dead serious.
It would seem all my suspicions about my father were true and much worse, judging by the terror on my mom’s face.
“Why?” I whispered, her words slowly stirring panic inside me. “What do you mean disappear?”
“It’s about your father…”
“What about him?” I questioned, struggling to follow her.
“Fuck that motherfucker.” I flinched at the hate lacing her voice. “I sent him to jail a long time ago, and now… he’s found us thanks to the Callahans. He’s coming for us, Raven.”
I blinked, not following. It was as if she were speaking Greek. “What… what are you talking about?”
“He’s been after us for years. Baby, there was a reason for the constant moving. It was all because of him. He’s going to kill me, Raven, and do who knows what to you.”
I shook my head. “What? Why?”
“Your father is a lunatic,” she screamed.
“You must be joking.”
“Do I look like I’m joking?”
I whipped my head around, checking every surface for empty bottles—anything that might make sense of her behavior. There was nothing, but my mind still struggled to find a simple solution. Anything to indicate that we weren’t in a dire situation.
“That can’t be true because… because…” I trailed off, needing to believe it for both of our sakes. Mom had to be spiraling because she was worried about my marriage to someone like Aiden Callahan. Yes, that had to be it. “My father is dead,” I said, then added hesitantly, “Isn’t he?”
“You really believe that?” she screeched. “Why do you think we moved so much over the years? Why we never made friends or had family?” I froze. “Boarding school was my stipulation to the DEA when I snitched on your father.”
“What…” I stared at her like she was an alien. “Why would you have a deal with the DEA?”
She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Because I knew you would need some stability. Constant moving was hard on an adult, never mind a child. They wanted to lock up your father for his drug dealings, and I demanded twelve years of paid boarding school and tuition in exchange.”
All of this seemed to be too much to grasp.
“If he’s in jail, why do we need to run?” I continued to question.
A bitter laugh slipped from her lips, sharp and humorless, while her eyes continued to reflect terror.
“He was released ten years ago.” She snickered.
“It would seem the Scottish mobster was released on good behavior and went back to Scotland to run his empire while his goons searched the world for me.”
Slowly, her fear started to make sense.
“Did you turn him in because he was a… mobster?”
The word tasted strange, old-fashioned, too small for the damage it described. Maybe my morals were warped, but I wouldn’t have done it. Blood and fear ran thicker than justice, at least for me. And if she really had turned him in, then Aiden didn’t stand a chance.
“I turned him in because he was an abusive bastard, and sooner or later, he was going to kill me. And you… He’d fucking use you to gain more power.
” Relief washed over me for Aiden’s and my sake.
If my father was abusive and hurt her, she had every right to betray him.
“And now you married a fucking mobster who’s more than keen to use you in the same way, so you’ve signed your death warrant. ”
“No, Aiden will protect me… us from everything.” I lifted my finger. “Look, he got me a ring.”
“They’re all the same, and his uncle Jack was very clear. The only reason they didn’t kill you is because you’re a Lyons, but that protection doesn’t extend to me.”
“No…” I breathed out, my heart beating so loud I couldn’t hear anything else.
“Why did you lie to me, baby?” Mom’s voice wasn’t laced with accusation, only resignation. “Why would you go and work at a strip club that was owned by the Irish mafia?”
My shoulders slumped, guilt sinking its claws into me.
“I thought it’d be a faster way to make money,” I admitted. “But I wasn’t… stripping, and I haven’t been working there for two weeks now.”
She let out a bitter laugh. “Since the night you married Aiden Callahan.”
“Yes.” I swallowed. “I really thought I was doing the right thing. I’m so sorry, Mom.”
“It’s my fault,” she mumbled as she resumed her pacing. “I was so intent on forgetting, and I failed you.”
I shook my head.
“You didn’t fail me, Mom. You’ve been doing it all alone and I…” I shoved my hands into my hair, tugging on it as if an idea would come that would save us from this predicament. “Maybe we can negotiate? I witnessed the Callahans killing a mayor, so we use that to keep us both safe.”
“We blackmail them?”
“Yes.”
“Raven, we cannot blackmail mobsters,” she said exasperated. “It’s a certain way to get yourself killed. I’m already dead, but you… We have to save you.”
“No, no, no,” I protested. “I’ll appeal to Aiden and make him see that the only way to have me is to make sure you’re safe and with us.” That would work. It had to. After all, he’d been nothing short of considerate so far. “He brought up moving you to a nicer place, closer to his penthouse.”
“To a fucking gravesite!”
There was too much information being thrown my way and I was struggling to process it. “You said Lyons. What did you mean?”
“That’s our last name, Raven.” A sob caught in her throat and tears ran down her face. “I’m Duncan Lyons’s wife, Glasgow’s most notorious mobster, and you’re his daughter.”
“I’ve n-never heard of him,” I stuttered. “And I think I’d know if my last name was Lyons.”
“Under the federal witness protection program, we were given new identities. But your stupid marriage put us back on the radar! You’ve doomed us both.”
I was going to be sick.
Mom came to stand in front of me and put her hands on her hips.
“You need to get the fuck out of here before Duncan shows up.”
“But he doesn’t know where we live, right?” I took her hand in mine. “We can explain it all to Aiden and he’ll ensure that his family keeps this secret.”
“It’s too late. Why do you think Aiden Callahan married you? They want connections to the Lyons mafia that come along with your birthright.”
I shook my head. “No, he doesn’t know—”
“He does,” she cut me off. “Jack Callahan came to visit me.” She sank her fingernails into my flesh.
“He’s already reached out to your father to work on leveraging your marriage to his family.
Jack knows it was me who sent Duncan to prison.
Informing is the worst kind of betrayal in the mafia. The Callahans won’t protect me.”
My shoulders slumped. “But—”
“Snap the fuck out of it, Raven. They are criminals just like your father, and they won’t hesitate to kill us once they’ve gotten what they want.”
“What—” I slammed my eyes shut and dropped my face to my hands, biting back the sob that wanted to tear free. I couldn’t make heads or tails of all this information, it was all too much.
“You have to run, Raven. Disappear. Be dead to the world.” My shoulders tensed and tears began streaming down my face. “I know I should have done better. I wasn’t a good mother, I know that, but you’re the most important person to me. Promise me, no matter what, you’ll get away from all of them.”
“Who… what…” I clutched my chest, trying to soothe the pain forming. “How?”
The words tumbled from my lips on a whisper, unsure what she was asking of me.
“You’ll have to die,” she whispered. “Start fresh, but this time, I can’t go with you.”
“But… but… I can’t leave you.”
“You’ll have to. Remember our P.O. box? Go there, grab the money. There are travel documents and—”
“No.”
“We don’t have time to argue, baby.” She cupped my cheeks, her tearstained face softening for the first time since I stepped into the apartment. All the fire had left her. “I’ve lived my life and—”
“Hardly,” I argued. “You’re young. We still have so much to do and see together. I can’t leave you.”
“Give me your ring,” she demanded, her eyes on my wedding finger.
“What?” But I was already handing it to her.
She grabbed me by the elbow and gently brought me to unsteady feet. “You need to leave before your father finishes the job he started nineteen years ago.”
I struggled to process what I’d just learned.
My father wanted to kill my mother and use me.
The Callahans left me alive only because they somehow learned of my connection to Duncan Lyons, a man I’d never heard of.
And the one that hurt my heart the most…
Aiden Callahan used me for his family’s gain.
Everything was falling apart.
My stomach churned and I tripped, falling to my knees.
“Keep it together, baby,” Mom said, her voice trembling much like my entire body.
“I can’t… can’t do this without—”
My words were cut off by a loud ticking sound. The last thing I felt was my mother’s body on top of mine.
And then… Boom!