Chapter 37
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Raven
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, and my blood ran cold. That voice knew my former name. The name that had haunted my dreams for over a decade. No one knew me by that name except my parents—and him.
When he stepped through the doorway, my stomach dropped even further.
Blue eyes glared at me from beneath perfect dusty blonde hair.
He was the man I’d run into on the street last month.
He looked familiar then, too, and I realized I had been glimpsing him for months.
I never thought anything out of the ordinary, but the truth hit me like a ton of bricks.
Ryan hadn’t been the one following me. It was him, my initial fears confirmed.
He looked around my office. “You have been a busy woman since the last time we properly spoke. From a scared little girl to a successful entrepreneur. I’m impressed.”
I was frozen in my chair, my mind replaying how it felt as he held me underneath my arms against a brick building while his friend touched my body. I kept my face composed, as badly as I wanted to vomit.
“You do know who I am, don’t you?” he asked, his eyes fixed on my face.
I didn’t answer. I needed to be calculated with my words and try to delay and distract until I knew how to get out of this mess.
“Now, Leah, you know I’m the one that got away,” he scoffed. His large frame shifted and he moved to sit in one of the chairs opposite my desk. He placed one ankle on a knee, his expensive shoes shining in the fluorescent light. “I told you I’d be watching, didn’t I?”
Years of training my mind slid away. My rage and fear were replaced with the calmness I’d had in the aftermath of killing his buddy. I’d worked tirelessly to tamp down the monster lurking inside me that took pleasure in what I had done, but now, I let her roam free.
I laughed, the sound indifferent and deep, filling the room.
“Yeah, watching your friend die at my hands must have really traumatized you. I assumed you would have shown up long before now.” I leaned back in my chair into a relaxed position.
“Did you finally work through your issues in therapy, or did it just take fourteen years for you to finally grow some balls and come back for me?”
His mouth crept into a sadistic smile. “She’s still a cunt bitch, I see.” His laugh clanged through my bones. “Lovely, my dear.”
“You surely didn’t think I was going to be a cowering mess in the corner waiting for you to show up again, right?” I jeered as I gestured around the room. “Look at what I’ve built. I should actually be thanking you and your homeboy. You lit a fire under my ass. Thank you for that.”
His smile faltered the tiniest bit, almost as if I imagined it before it was back in place.
“Speaking of thanking each other, I should be thanking you.” He leaned to his right, resting his elbow on the chair.
“I was angry at first. Angry that you killed my only brother. Then, as the years went by, I understood you did me a favor. I would’ve had to kill him eventually, anyway, to take over my family’s company.
So, actually, thank you, Leah. You took that burden from me, and I’m forever grateful. ”
A maniacal cackle tore from my chest. “I killed your brother? Oh, even fucking better. I’m honored, truly.”
“He always was a hotheaded imbecile.” The man looked so relaxed, like this was a friendly business conversation. “He saw you somewhere while visiting one of our offices and decided he wanted you. Admittedly, I was an idiot for entertaining him, especially while I was so…inebriated.”
I listened, the new information coating the back of my throat with ash.
“I was pretty reckless back then. The run-in with you wasn’t the only time I’d escaped death, or worse, prison.” His eyes had been wandering, but now they rested back on me. “If you have enough money, though, anything is on the table.”
Venom coated my words. “I didn’t need money to overpower you and slit your brother’s throat, did I?”
He laughed. “See, that’s my point. If I hadn’t listened to my fool brother, you wouldn’t have gotten away from me, girl. I was so drunk and high from the purest drugs and top shelf alcohol I could barely stand, and that’s the only reason you stood a chance against me.”
He sat up straight, steepled his hands in front of his chest, and flashed the brightest smile I’d ever seen, searing straight through me with his cold blue eyes. “But you know what? I’m not high right now, Leah.”
Every time he said my birth name, chills slid down my spine.
He looked around the room as if he were pondering his next words. I saw the moment he landed on what he was going to say next as he flicked his gaze back to me before standing.
“You know, I almost left you alone,” he said as he stalked to my desk and dragged his fingers over the glass surface.
“All these years passed and while I always kept an eye on you, even in person sometimes, the anger had left me. Like I said, I was thankful for you taking care of a future problem I didn’t realize I would need to deal with at the time. ”
He walked around my desk so slowly I had to fight to keep my body in my chair as I tracked his movements and swiveled my chair as he went. He stopped at the side and put his hands in his pockets.
“Then something interesting happened. Something I wasn’t expecting that enraged me all over again.”
I crossed my arms over my chest, the desk no longer a barrier between us. “Let me guess, the big bad wolf got pissed when I decided to pave my own path with my firm. When I decided to make a name for myself in the town I fled to because of you.”
His laugh boomed throughout the room. “Leah, you’re still that naive little girl you were back then. You have no idea what you had in your grasp. It’s a shame, honestly. For any other man, it would’ve been the ultimate reverse card for you if you had known. I’m not most men though.”
The monster in my chest stopped pacing and glared at him. I regretted not wearing my knife on me like usual, but if I was quick enough, I could snatch it from my purse on the ground at my feet.
The man, whose name I still didn’t know, walked closer. He brushed the hair off my shoulder, his fingers trailing the exposed skin at my collarbone. I held my breath as the monster screeched.
The air moved as he brought his lips to my ear. “How does it feel when my son is this close to you? How does it feel when he hunts you and watches you just like his father? How does it feel when he fucks you, Leah?”
My body went numb, and my brain emptied.
Every ounce of feeling and humanity left within my body drained away.
Raven no longer existed. The monster within took over, and I thought of nothing except the years of pain I suffered at the hands of others.
I shed my skin like a snake and replaced it with unadulterated malice.
He chuckled, his voice rumbling off my neck, the derisive tone from before replaced with ire.
“I’m going to show you how a real man fucks, Leah.
How a savage plays with his food before he devours it, before he rips it to shreds beneath his teeth.
You aren’t escaping this time, bitch. When I’m done with you, not a trace of your body will remain.
The legendary Raven Lovelace, disappearing without a trace. ”
A crash boomed at the front door, and the man whipped a knife to my throat. Glass shattered, and Ryan’s voice roared through the office. “Raven!”
He thundered down the hall and froze when he reached the doorway, taking in the scene before him. Utter shock fixed his features, but the monster didn’t care.
“Oh, son, how nice of you to join us.” The man’s voice grew mocking again. “I was just asking Leah what it felt like to be stalked by the son of the very man who’s been her shadow for years.”