by Amarie Avant
“Liam …” How had she ruined lives? Hell, Sharon’s meddling had made her miserable. “Liam, baby, please tell me what's wrong! I love you, never thought to cheat on you! Not with Tyriq, Stephen was never an option. You just strolled inside the house kissing—”
“Nah, Raven. I felt like that fat fucking kid from Bellwood tonight. Like a pussy, I hoped you would’ve left my house by now.” Through his anger, she almost perceived the sound of tears. “Well forget being a bitch because of you; allow me to tell you about yourself.”
Raven reached out to caress his face, Liam shoved her hand away.
“As far as I’m concerned, you are no better than my mom. Elise told me how you cornered her in the hotel bathroom. You threatened her, seriously? You made her go bald.” His hand went to his forehead. “Did you even think to bring up how you broke in my parents’ and made her go bald? I could’ve gotten over that, but to go threatening her? Seriously? Then to find out you were in the process of blackmailing me!”
Raven put her hand over her mouth. The man before her was brand-new, and he hated her. A sliver of moon from the skylight made his features hard, zapping her last morsel of courage.
“Liam, I wasn’t going to blackmail you.”
“Look me in the eye, and tell me yes or no. Were you plotting anything?”
His hazel eyes were on fire. Her eyes cast down to the floor and she opened her mouth to reply. As if her actions were all the answer he needed, he shrugged out of his suit jacket and tossed it across the hallway. “Cat got your tongue?”
“Yes, only for help with Royael’s sch—”
“We’re done.”
“Liam,” she began as the giant passed by her and into his bedroom. “It’s not what you think. I’d never embarrass you or our child like that. It didn’t involve Scandalous magazine or—”
He chortled. “I own Scandalous magazine!”
She sighed, tried to touch his arm, but like a flea, he flicked her away. Resolve gone, she held on to the truth. As he stepped toward the bedroom, she murmured, “No matter how it seemed, my only misgivings were that I was just going to leave you before y—”
“What’s this?” His laser gaze roamed the room. He slapped the wine glasses onto the floor. Raven jumped as it shattered near her feet. She felt naked in the worst of ways as he glared at her lingerie.
“Let me show you something.” Liam’s shoulders sunk as if all that animosity had been stolen.
Raven watched him move toward the canvas painting next to the bedroom door and open the contraption. He pulled out a royal purple box. She got a whiff of his cologne, the lady’s perfume, and an abundance of alcohol and cigarettes as Liam neared. Her eyes widened as he opened it to a marble-sized blue heart-shaped diamond with a diamond-incrusted band.
“If you weren’t scheming, this would be yours.” Liam snapped the box closed in her face. He stepped closer to her, and she moved back. Cat and mouse. “Get this through your head, I don’t want you anymore. Don’t come by if you don’t have my child. Do you understand?”
Rendered speechless, Raven nodded. To her dismay, she’d succeeded in part of her plan after all. He had to have loved her, truly, and deeply. There’d be no such madness if he hadn’t really cared. She’d made him love her again, and then broke his heart. In her attempt to leave him before he left her, well … Now, she was at the scary part. She’d desired to love him most of all. As Sharon said, our deepest desires are our worst fears…
Too bad loving him was the heart’s game of Russian roulette.
Chapter 38
Black Friday
Pulling the cell phone away from her ear, Raven turned the volume down as Liam ranted about wanting to see Royael for Thanksgiving. Too late. She smirked and pressed the delete button. She’d moved from the condo that he’d bought almost three weeks ago while he was in Chicago overseeing the hotel construction.
She couldn’t help the grin on her face when applying lip gloss in the guest bedroom at her mom’s home. If Liam thinks I’m as conniving as Elise, hell, I’m up for the challenge.
Her cellphone pinged. Raven grabbed it up from the dresser and noticed a text message. “You’ve got the wrong number.”
Eyebrows furrowed, she clicked on the text. It was from Sharon’s number. Raven hadn’t noticed that she’d added Sharon to the mass text for Thanksgiving. It was easier sending out a group message for holidays in order not to miss everyone, and she honestly hadn’t deleted Sharon’s number. Apparently, Sharon was playing a game, or perhaps the lady had simply changed her phone number. Whatever.
A rap came at the door. Raven put all thoughts of Sharon to the back of her mind. “Come in.”
“ReRe.” Charlene’s head was just in the door. “Damien’s been calling up the stairs for you for the last five minutes. You have a visitor.”
Raven smiled. After Damien heard the heart-shattering story of Charlene’s rise to fame, they'd reconciled. They both understood her mother better.
“Who?” Raven tugged at her cable-knit sweater.
“I don’t know, but hurry up. We’re going to miss the Black Friday sale. Turkey is my weakness. You know Mama made me eat all that food, so I overslept. You barely ate anything and should’ve woke me up. Besides, Damien won’t dream of letting me blow a ton of dough like this every day.”
“Okay.” Raven stuffed her feet into suede boots and hurried down the stairs. A man stood at the door with a bouquet of roses. William? Unlikely. They’d broken it off before the plane could launch. She’d apologized. He’d even taken some of the blame for putting school first.
The visitor handed her the red bouquet and asked for her signature. When she did, he said, “You’ve been served.”
“Motherfucker!” She slammed the door and opened the envelope.
“What’s that, Raven?” Damien asked, walking down the hall. “You look worried.”
“Liam wants joint custody.” She handed Damien the court petition, not the least bit fazed, irritated beyond repair, but not worried. This was only the beginning of hurting Liam. Wherever Sharon was, she'd been right. Even if Liam owned Scandalous, Raven still had the letter he gave her about aborting Royael. No way in hell was she going to let the letter leak and embarrass her baby, but holding it over his head was good enough.
“I thought you two had that all arranged?” He scanned the documents. When Raven looked down at the floor, he added, “Royael’s been cranky; when’s the last time she saw him?”
“Not too long ago …” Six weeks to be exact. The beginning of forever, as far as I’m concerned.
“Raven, you can’t keep Liam from seeing his daughter.”
Uninterested in a fatherly scolding, Raven crossed her arms. “Why not? I should tell the judge about those Delacroixs and how they tried to pay me to get rid of Royael. Liam can’t just come back and decide he wants her. Let him try, the judge will know all about his grimy-ass family. If that’s not enough, the whole world will, too!” If it has to come to that …
“You said Elise wrote the letters from each of you to each other. Seems like you and Liam have just caught the worst of his family’s dealings.” Damien patted her shoulder.
“Uh-huh. Tell Mom, I’ll be back.” She grabbed her keys and hurried out of the house.
***
Rain descended in torrents, seeping into her sweater as she stood outside of her car in Liam’s driveway. She leaned down to give the steering wheel a good, long honk.
Hands stuffed in his leather jacket, he hurried past the front door and jogged over the fragmented stone bridge. She tossed the court papers at him. Sighing, he took hold of the soggy documents.
“Raven, I was drunk. You hurt me. I hurt you. But I still want to see Royael. Can we go into the house and talk?”
“You think you can come into my life and take my child?” Her voice was eerily calm—too calm for the pounding of her heart and the quaking of her angry spirit. The genetic makeup of a serial killer surged through her veins. T
he rain pummeling her skin started to boil.
“I’m not trying to take Royael.” Liam sighed. “Come inside. We can talk like grownups, for the sake of our little girl. We’re soaking wet.”
“I’m the one who takes care of Royael.” Her lips barely moved as she spoke. She didn’t even wipe the rain and tears from her face. “I’ve nurtured every cold; changed every stinky diaper. I breastfed her! You don’t know the pain of birth! If you know what’s good for you, you’ll just leave us alone!”
“No, Raven, everything will not go your way. Despite the summation of everything, I love you. I just don’t trust you anymore. We have to make this about Royael.”
“Hell, no! You tried to take my daughter.” Her hair was drenched and her clothes stuck to every inch of her body. “I guess you think Scandalous is the only magazine. Come at me with all you got. I dare you. Try to take my child! I’ll have every dirty secret that you, your mom, that bastard Jonathan. I’ll have the Lemaître and Delacroix names looking so dirty that it’ll take—”
“You can't fucking do that, Raven!” His voice rose. “It won't be safe—good. It won’t be good for you.”
“Are you threatening me?” Raven could hardly see for the rain falling. Taut lips bluer than her eyes, she looked at the man she’d love to hate. She hated him with all her being. When Estella broke the news about Jonathan not being his father, Raven had been right there, by his side through every moment.
Where had this bastard been when Elise falsely claimed Jonathan was her father? When he came to the coffee shop, he’d been filled with what she now knew was the other “L” word. Not love, but lust. He'd said they could be together because Jonathan wasn't her father.
Yes, they could fuck. They did. That was all he wanted. Liam never took into consideration that the truck-driving rapist was Raven’s dad.
“Fuck you, Liam!”
“C’mon, Re. We’ve been best friends since we could string together a sentence. Let’s go hash things out like—” He took hold of her arm. She winced. He let go. “What’s wrong with your arm? I barely touched you.”
“Don’t pretend to care!”
“Did someone hurt you—”
“Get over yourself! Fuck the chivalry. You wanna know who hurt me? Only you, asshole. You hurt me!” She got back into her car.
Pulling at the doorknob, he tried to open it. He jumped back when the Challenger roared to life and sped in reverse. The car almost hydroplaned in the rain. “Raven, wait!”
Wiping away tears, she forced the stick into drive and mashed on the gas. You won’t be taking Royael! Focusing on that thought, her foot pressed harder. She rounded the first curve and zipped by massive pine trees. Body tensed with anger, she took to the next bend. The car swiveled as it rode over the third arc. Skimming over the sleek road, it veered toward the opposite side and flipped sideways, skirting toward the low railing … heading for the cliff. The drop off.
Chapter 39
Six Weeks Earlier
Raven breathed in and out, calculating how long she held the breath. It didn’t cut through her anxiety as she sat on the couch in her condo. She turned on the TV. Just like her mother, Raven had made her own connections with Stork. The private investigator told her to turn to channel five at approximately 3:00 PM. for the afternoon news. Every once in a while, Stork paid the main anchorman to deliver a code, the answer of which would only be known by a select person. Today, as the recipient of the code, only she knew the answer.
“… that’s awful. What’s the world coming, to?” The main anchorman shook his head; his perfectly rosy cheeks almost made this a joke. “Soon we’re going to hear that there has been a sighting of a purple-spotted chicken.”
She gasped as the newscaster gave the sign and the co-caster laughed in high definition. This was no laughing matter. Picking up the remote, she rewound the program and paused.
During her private meeting with Stork, prior to visiting the prison, he’d outlined a set of instructions. “Remember everything, verbatim. When you arrive at the guard station, you’ll stay behind. The guard will find a nail clipper in your pocket and hold you aside. The money should be in your boot.”
The domineering guard got chummy after Charlene left, and she’d handed him a thick wad of cash—more money than she’d made in the last couple of years at the coffee shop.
She’d smiled at Royland upon entering the visiting room that day. He’d been enraged with Charlene. The switch to her heart was OFF. Raven had even winked at Royland. Then Charlene turned around. Raven stood stark still, pretended to be in shock. She’d faked fear but was not afraid. Not one iota. She knew his fate.
The guard went to Royland’s cell and left a rather large present. As soon as Royland had been escorted back to his cozy-cemented chamber, he’d be beaten within an inch of his life by three of the roughest anti-KKK prisoners that Alabama had to offer. After which, he’d do a stint at the infirmary and there, amongst healing wounds and unbeknownst to him, his DNA would be tested.
Feeling like she’d sink through the cushion and suffocate slowly, Raven hopped up. Every filament in her body was on fire, every sense hyped. She pressed the rewind button again, let it play, and then mashed the rewind button, repeating the process over and over as the tip of her thumb lost all blood circulation. Self-torture.
“… sighting of spotted-purple chicken …” The screen froze on the co-anchor’s wide mouth, teeth, and cocked head.
“Royland Timothy Alder was my father,” Raven whispered into the empty room. Fuck, the truth was engraved in her brain. Falling back, she could gouge out her eyes—his eyes. They were his blue eyes. She turned her arms over in front of her, looking at the lightness of her skin because of Royland Alder.
Instead of letting the hate break through, she went to Victoria’s Secret. She decided not to hurt herself because Liam had already promised that tonight would be a good night.
Except, when she arrived, love didn’t love her anymore.
***
“Only family and friends, sir,” the lady with Dallas Cowboy scrubs instructed at the nurses; station. This was Liam’s umpteenth time asking about Raven’s status. Her tone had gone from empathy to apathy.
“I’m her fiancé,” he said quickly, hands on top of his head.
The nurse hesitated. Yes, she knew of him, so it made the dynamics of patient confidentiality easier. “All right, Ms. Shaw is still in surgery. I, or her doctor, will inform you the moment we have an update.”
Damp jeans stuck to his thighs as Liam sat. He glanced at the clock. Raven had been in surgery for hours. Who hurt her arm? Almost a month ago, before Raven stopped allowing him to see Royael, their daughter didn't say she was seeing anyone. He'd asked.
She'd dated Chris in high school, but didn't seem like a woman who'd cling to abusive men. She was much too strong and opinionated to be some man’s punching bag. Liam's hands were in such tight fists that it hurt.
Thinking about Charlene, he pulled his cell phone out for the first time. There were eleven missed calls and even more text messages from Char, looking for Raven.
He called back, but Damien answered. In an out-of-body experience, he spoke with Raven’s stepdad. A while later, a doctor in green scrubs came to introduce himself as Charlene ran into the waiting room. The rain had done a number on her hair, transforming her into the Medusa he remembered as a teenager, fitting her demeanor.
“I’m Dr. Abdu.” The surgeon addressed the jumble of nerves, shaking her hand. “… Raven’s stabilized.” The doctor looked back and forth at them, explaining her condition.
“She’s okay?” Charlene’s hands were at her chest.
“Yes, ma’am, given the level of the car accident, I'd say she's doing fairly well. She had lacerations to the head, and we had to clean a lot of glass. Her left ankle is in a cast. She’s resting now.” He led them into her room.
Raven’s eyes were closed as she laid in a sanitized bed with bandages to her forehead. The beep of
the heart rate monitor cut through the silence as they crowded around her. It had stopped raining, and the only window cast a dim light from a gloomy day.
“I do have a few things I need to discuss with you.” Dr. Abdu turned to Liam.
“What do you mean to him? I’m surprised you’ve even allowed him in here. He’s not family.” Charlene huffed, pulling the ribbed coverlet to Raven’s neck.
“You’re the fiancé, right?” Dr. Abdu asked.
“I’m—”
“He’s not the fiancé!” Charlene cut in, turning away from her child.
“You’re the baby’s father?” Dr. Abdu looked down at the medical charts.
“Yes.”
“So what this bastard is the baby’s daddy, but he’s not in the picture,” she assured, turning to shoo Liam away. “You can go now. I’m here, family is here!”
“Sir, are you or aren’t you the baby’s father?” Dr. Abdu’s bushy eyebrows crinkled together as he watched Charlene shove Liam. He scanned the chart, saying, “Raven is about … five weeks pregnant.”
Recalling the hotel grand opening, Liam nodded, taking a seat.
Charlene glared at him. “You bastard. Can’t strap it up?”
Ignoring her flair for the dramatics, he asked, “Is-is the baby okay?”
“Yes.” Dr. Abdu name was called over the intercom. “This is urgent. I’ll be back.”
When he walked out of the door, Charlene walked over to Liam. She looked down with disgust. “I want you to leave! If you had any respect for Raven, you’d go, now!”
Head in his hands, Liam’s voice was muffled. “No.”
“It’s clear that you don’t care anything about my daughter, so you need to go.” She tugged at his bicep, but he didn’t budge. “Raven told me all about Camille Kerr, cheating bastard.”
