Victoria’s jaw ticks.
“What is it you know that you aren’t sharing?”
“I told you,” she forces past clenched teeth. “I existed to uncover the secrets of a man.”
“Yeah, and what did you find out?” I push. “Because as far as I can tell, you’re useless on the info front,” I goad her.
She jumps from the couch. “That’s not fair.”
Bass pushes off the wall, moving closer.
“Isn’t it?” I eye her. “What happened to the loose-lipped girl I sucker-punched at the Bray house?”
“Stop it,” she snaps.
“You’ve been here the longest.” I push to my feet. “You don’t like to ask, don’t wanna seem too interested because then people might have a reason to question you, and you don’t want that.”
“Shut up, Raven.”
“So, like Cap, you use your eyes and your ears. When I first met you, you tried to act like you were different. You wanted me to think you were just another gossip girl when I know now that’s the farthest damn thing from who you are.”
“That means nothing.”
“It means everything. You had a purpose.”
She shakes her head, her blonde hair falling from her messy ponytail.
“You led me to that binder. You told me about the boys’ backstory on purpose because you wanted me to take it.”
“It didn’t belong in that house where anyone could find it and—” She cuts herself off.
“And... what? Use it against them?” I nod. “’Cause I agree. You wanted it to be safe, where it belonged, and you trusted me to make it happen.”
“I didn’t trust you,” she spits, but looks away. “But I wasn’t blind either.”
“You knew I’d give it to them.”
She rubs her lips together, giving an almost unnoticeable nod. She sighs. “Everyone has said it, Raven. You’re not like the others here.” She glares, taking a second before deciding to share more. Her guilty swallow has me confused. “I knew immediately they’d want you. You got on their radar on your own, but I still nudged a little to be sure.”
“The Graven party you insisted I come to, all part of the plan, right?”
She frowns. “I didn’t do this for them. None of it was for their benefit, I was just helping push things along faster.”
“I know. You being loyal to Graven wasn’t even a question in my mind. At all.”
“I would never,” she rushes out. “Ever.”
I nod. “I know, but I was there on purpose, right?”
“Yes.” She eyes me a moment before continuing. “I got you to the party knowing Collins would spot you. I knew he needed to see you, speak to you for his obsession to fully take over.”
“The boys showing up?”
“I tipped them off, made it known a Graven was snooping that night.”
“How’d you get the Graven girl to their party?”
“The guy I was ‘dating?’ He worked for them. He was only a mouse in a lion’s den compared, but still. I casually let it slip that the Brays had a new girl they were locked on and how they were showing her off at their party. I knew they’d send someone. The last thing Collins expected was for you to walk in his house that night. He was sidetracked, pretending not to watch you when his eyes never left you, and forgot to call the girl off. Then the boys showed up.”
“And I made a scene.”
“No.” She shakes her head with a frown. “You paved your way. You showed loyalty to them without hesitation, without knowing they were yours.” She sits again, shifting forward, eyes strong. “You stood for who you saw as the weaker in that moment because you felt it was right. You showed everyone before anyone even knew who you were that you’d stand for people who couldn’t stand for themselves. I hated you before that night, but I hated you even more after it.”
My brows lower. “Why?”
“Because it finally all made sense. Why you were worth more, why your life was different than mine. I knew then I could never be more than you are, and that night you made me realize, for the first time, that I wanted to be.” She looks down. “That that was the real reason I came here, unbeknownst to me. I wanted the safety this world didn’t show me when it should have, but I was here for two years and they never saw me.”
“How could they when you hid yourself from them?” I ask her, and her eyes come back to mine. “They see you now, we all do. You’re as strong as I am, Vee. You have the scars to prove it.”
“You know nothing about my scars,” she snaps.
“I don’t need to know how they got there to know they aren’t just on the outside of your body.”
She glares.
“Stop acting like you’re less than I am.” I glower. “I’m just a fucking girl trying to save people she loves anyway she can. You can help me.”
“Maybe I don’t want to!” She jumps up again.
“Bullshit you don’t.” I jump with her, shoving her into the small table. “I get it, you lied to me, acted like you didn’t know I was Brayshaw when I told you I was. I don’t care. Wanna know why?” My brows raise. “Because you brought me to them the night I was jumped, helped me in the bathroom when Collins attacked me. You were there with me when I broke down after Donley and the doctor fucked with me. You can handle my boys, you push me, fight me, demand from me—”
“Who cares!”
“I do!” I yell back. “Fuck everything before now. I don’t care what you’ve hidden.”
“That’s because you don’t know the half of it,” she snaps.
“You’re clearly mad enough at yourself, what right do I have to be mad at you, too? You owe me nothing, Victoria, nothing.” My shoulders fall. “But I’m asking you to be my fucking friend anyway. Stand with me. Take this fucking town with me. I need you in my corner.”
Her eyes fly to mine, tension and unease filling hers. “You’ll regret this.”
“Then that’s on me.”
With a shake of her head, she shoulders past, and down the hall.
“Where you going?”
“I need some fucking air.”
“And I need you, Vee.”
She pauses a moment before glancing at me over her shoulder. “You’re gonna need me more than you realize, Raven.”
I turn to Bass after she rounds the corner.
“What do you think she means by that?”
“I have no fucking idea.”
A few hours pass before Bass plants his ass beside me.
He frowns. “What’s your plan, Raven?”
“That’s just it, Bishop. I don’t have one. I have no plan, no fucking idea what happens from here. Nothing. I never do. That’s what nobody understands. You all think I can rock this shit out, but I literally fly by my fucking pants. I think, I do, and deal with what happens after.”
“And it works for you.”
“Yeah, and for how long, huh?” My brows jump mockingly. “And how well did it work this last time?”
He eyes me. “What did Donley say to you?”
I scoff, looking away. “Nothing, but the maid had a lot to say—” I cut myself off, my brows drawing in as my eyes snap back to Bishop.
“What?” he drags out.
“The maid.”
“She didn’t come out, but I have a feeling the Daniels guy didn’t let her body burn. We’d have smelt it. Think after the smoke took her, so did they.”
“Really?”
He nods.
I shake my head, not having realized that. “I... no, I know she didn’t come out, but I’m not talking about her.”
He tilts his head.
I face forward, thinking aloud. “Someone who was there when my mom was, someone who would have had to of been around her age.”
I push to my feet.
Holy. Shit.
I rush down the hall only to have Rolland block my way at the end, and Bass to grip my wrist tugging me around.
“What’s going on?” Rolland asks, fres
h coffee in his hand.
“I’ll be back.”
“No, no, no,” Bishop says.
I yank my hand from him. “You can’t stop me.”
He steps closer, lifting a dark brow. “Oh, you think not?”
“She has ten security guards lining this floor, all with weapons,” Rolland reminds him. “If she wants out, she’s getting out.”
I purse my lips like an asshole.
Bass glares. “Royce has only been gone hours, he won’t be back until this afternoon. You’ll be leaving him alone all that time.”
I force myself not to swallow. “I have a phone now, Royce can call me, Rolland can call me, and besides, he won’t be alone. Victoria is here somewhere.” I lick my lips and look to Rolland. “And he has his dad. Maybe it’ll do some good for you two, bet you could use a private chat?”
“Wait.” Rolland steps forward. “He’s awake again?”
I shake my head. “He was, but the nurse said he won’t be knocking out so much now. Small naps here and there maybe, but that’s all.”
“May I.” He motions past me, a hopeful smile on his face.
“Go.”
He takes off down the hall.
I turn to Bass. “Your job is to stay with me, not fight me. Follow through, Bishop, with anything I ask until the dust settles and whatever roles we’re meant for come down on us. I promise it’ll be worth it for you if you do.”
“I’m not going anywhere, Raven, but I don’t want you to regret anything later either.”
“This is different. This isn’t a death wish mission. Promise.”
He grips my shoulders with a frown and spins me around, pushing me toward the elevator. He pushes the button and it slides open, the both of us stepping through. “I hope you’re right, Rae, because if you’re not, it’ll only fuck things further.”
“Trust me.” I close my eyes. “It will regardless.”
“Raven.” She opens the door, pulling her robe tighter and the breeze blows through the door. She glances behind me, spotting only Bass and her worried eyes move back to me and the bruising on my face. “Are you okay?”
“It was you, wasn’t it?”
Her eyes pull in, as her head tilts slightly.
“The maid, the one he forced away. It was you.”
Her eyes widen before unmistakable sadness washes over her entire body.
A broken smile finds her lips. “I told you someone rescued me once.”
I swallow. “What did Rolland do with you?”
“He gave me a new home. Hid me away for the remainder of my pregnancy.”
When my brows pull in, she steps outside, moving to the patio chairs.
“What happened?”
“I went into preterm labor when no one was around. I had to call an ambulance.” She looks away. “When we got to the hospital, the nurse said the baby was in distress, so they had to put me under, emergency cesarean.” She licks her lips looking back to me. “When I woke up, the crib beside me was empty, but the chair across the room, it wasn’t.”
Graven.
“Walk away, and she got to live. Stay and she died.”
“You went back to the Bray house after anyway.”
She nods, tears in her eyes. “I hoped maybe I’d see her out, that I could steal her back, but it was like she didn’t exist. I knew Donley had her locked away somewhere. I started to crumble.” She takes a deep breath. “And then Rolland allowed me to move into his home, instead of the front houses.”
My eyes pull in. “The boys.”
She swallows audibly, unable to meet my stare. “They were only months old, so precious. Maybell was there to care for them all day while Ravina was in school, then every second of every day once Ravina was gone, but I always managed to convince her to let me help, but only when Rolland was away.”
“You tried to replace her with them.”
“With him,” she whispers, regretfully admitting.
Captain.
“There was something about him that made me feel a little more whole,” she admits sorrowfully. “He’d look at me with his big eyes, some days blue, some days green, and put his little hands up. Slowly, he came to only want me when he was tired or hungry. Rolland noticed, and I thought he’d be upset, but he wasn’t. He was grateful at least one of his sons felt the love of a mother...” She trails off and suspicion grows in my stomach.
“It wasn’t enough for you,” I guess. “What did you do?”
She takes a deep breath, her eyes hitting mine. “I took him,” she whispers.
Anger twists in my gut, but for some reason, it’s not for her.
“He called me mama, and never once did I whisper the word to him, and still” —tears fall from her eyes— “that’s what he called me.” She sniffles. “We only made it about a month before Rolland showed up at my doorstep. I thought he’d kill me, but he was overcome with emotion by the sight of his son, safe and warm. He showed me mercy. He paid for a year’s worth of therapy where they treated me for postpartum depression, but he made it clear, to come back was to leave in a casket. So I stayed away, and the little boy who lost his mom, lost another. Because I was selfish.”
“The girl,” I rasp, my heart pounding. “Your daughter...”
Her lips tremble, her shuddered inhale cracking. “Alive.”
“Where?”
Her wretched eyes find mine. “You know,” she breathes.
I swallow, looking away as I slowly push to my feet, moving for Bass’s car.
“Raven.” The hesitant tone she uses to call my name has tension wrapping around my shoulders.
I look, but don’t turn around.
“Don’t tell.”
Slowly, I turn to face her.
“You want me to keep a secret for you?”
“Please.” Her eyes fly between mine. “I don’t deserve anything from you, but please.”
“You’re right.” My jaw locks tight as I shake my head. “You don’t deserve anything from me, Maria.”
With that, I spin on my heels and rush for the car. I slide in the front seat, closing my eyes.
It makes sense now why Rolland said he’d only trust Maria with Zoey, because Maria loved her father like a son. He knew she’d love his daughter just as much.
When Bass sighs a few minutes down the road, I open my eyes.
He looks at me suspiciously.
“What?” I snap.
He runs his tongue across his lips, squinting as he looks away. “I’m trying to figure out what just happened.”
“Don’t.”
“Fine,” he huffs. “But you know as well as I do, the last thing this town needs is more secrets—”
“Bass, look out!” I scream, but it’s too late.
A car slams into the side of us, and everything goes black.
The blare of a never-ending horn has my eyes peeling open.
The road is still dark, but lights shine from somewhere.
I start coughing, but the jolt causes an ache in my side, so I clamp my teeth together, clearing my throat the best I can.
“Bass,” I rasp, reaching to the side to feel for him, but I can’t turn my head.
My hand makes contact with his shoulder, so I shake him lightly.
“Bishop, wake up,” I say louder this time, shaking him harder, and finally he groans.
“Wha... fuck, Raven,” he hisses, shifting around in his seat. “My fucking seatbelt’s stuck. You okay?”
“My side and my ribs.” I squeeze my eyes shut.
After a moment, he says, “Not seeing any blood, that’s good.”
The crunch of glass against pavement has both of us going silent.
“Raven,” he whispers. “Can you open the glove box?”
I reach forward, under the airbag, feeling for a handle and tug but it doesn’t open.
“Shit,” Bass hisses, the footsteps growing closer. “Your knife?”
I hold in a groan as I slap my hand against my left pocket.
Bass reaches over, tugging on my jeans until the knife slides up. “Got it,” he says. “Close your eyes.”
My heart is pounding in my chest as I do as he asked, and not a second later, a shadow blocks the light that was creeping through my window, another set of footsteps joining.
“She alive?”
“She’s breathing.”
“Get her out.”
My muscles lock.
Are they fucking kidding me?
I keep my eyes closed, allowing them to pull open my door, push aside the airbag and cut through my seatbelt.
The second my ass and back are laid against the ground, I jerk my head up, nailing him in the forehead.
Leo groans, stumbling back.
Vienna darts in, wrapping her hands around my throat as she straddles me, but she was always a weak bitch.
I lift my knee, hitting her in the ass as she jerks forward, releasing me to catch herself before she flies over me.
Her wide eyes hit mine as her hands slam against the glass-covered road.
I jab her in the lungs and she gasps, falling over.
I shove her off right as Leo rushes back in but he’s laid on his ass when suddenly Bass is out of the car and putting him in a headlock, my knife pressed against his cheek.
I push my foot into Vienna’s chest.
“Please!” she shouts. “I’m sorry.”
“Sounding like a broken record, Vienna.” I use my weight to apply pressure as my strength is suddenly gone again. “I told you to get the fuck out of here.”
“I was leaving, I swear, but Leo found me at the bus station.” Her eyes fly to his.
He jerks in Bass’ hold.
“He said if we helped Graven, that we’d be taken care of.” She starts to cry.
“Did Donley ask you to do this?”
“Leo said if we got to you and took you to them, we’d be rewarded.” Her eyes fly between mine. “You kicked me out with nothing. I... I needed the money.”
I look to Leo who glares at me. I shake my head, and spots cloud my vision, but I ignore it, speaking to Vienna while staring at him. “He lied to you, Vienna. I already gave myself over to Graven, married the new head of their household. What’s theirs is now mine.” I drop my eyes to her wide ones. “What do you think will happen to you now?”
Reign of Brayshaw (Brayshaw High #3) Page 21
