Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 75699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“I didn’t want to believe it.”
“Believe everything I tell you about what my family is capable of, Raven. I’m sorry you had to see so much of it. That’s why I need to stay away from you. So it doesn’t touch you again.”
“Can you do it?”
“What? Stay away from you?”
She pauses. “Yes.”
God, that voice. So much emotion in that one little word. Yes. She’s clawing at my heart, and how I want to give in. How I want to drive over to her right now, take her away, and keep driving. To Mexico. To Canada. Somewhere where we’re both away from all of this. Where it can’t touch us anymore. Where all we have to do is love each other.
But that leaves my sister vulnerable. My mother and father as well. And that poor little girl, Belinda.
I can’t in good conscience leave them to fend for themselves just for my own happiness.
And there’s no guarantee my bastard of a grandfather wouldn’t find us anyway. He knows I’m a flight risk, and he’s had his eyes on me like a hawk ever since I returned.
So the correct choice is clear.
“I have to,” I say. “There is no choice, Raven, if I want to keep you safe. And I want that more than anything in the world.”
“So you want to keep me safe more than you want to be with me?”
I rub at my forehead. She’s not making this easy on me.
“If I keep you safe now, perhaps we can be together sometime in the future. But being with you now will only put you in danger. I can’t have that. I couldn’t live with myself. You’re everything to me, Raven Bellamy. Every fucking thing. I didn’t ask for this. Neither did you. No one could’ve predicted it. I sure as hell couldn’t have. But my heart beats for you, Raven. Every fucking beat. Despite that, I can give you up. As much as it hurts me, tears out my own fucking heart, I can give you up to ensure your safety.”
“Vinnie…”
“Please. Don’t fight me on this. If something were to happen to you, I wouldn’t be able to go on. I wouldn’t be able to do what I came back to do. It must be done, Raven. Please believe me. It must be done.”
A slight whimper comes through the phone.
God, this is killing me.
“Please don’t make it harder than it has to be, Raven. Please…”
The phone call ends with a soft click.
I’m sitting on a bench on a downtown Austin Street.
What I want to do is look to the heavens and scream. Curl my fists and release all the angst from my body into the stratosphere. Why? Why now? Why now did I find the love of my life, only to have to let her go?
The unfairness of it all.
But I have to be stronger. Raven needs her strength for other things. So I need to stay away from her. This is on me. On my shoulders, and I can’t let her down.
I draw in a deep breath, rise, and walk back to the office building owned by my grandfather’s coffee import company.
This is my life now.
It’s become volatile. So volatile. I’ve killed a man, and now my future bride is being harmed by her father and she has reached out to me for help.
And they know about Raven.
They know about my Achilles’ heel.
Which is why I have to stay far away from her.
13
RAVEN
I allow myself five minutes to cry. I freaking bawl my eyes out to the point where seven tissues are now soggy clumps on the bed in one of my parents’ guestrooms.
But I gulp back the last tear.
On my burner phone, I call Savannah.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Savannah. It’s Raven.”
“Ray, are you okay? Is Falcon still over there?”
“Last I checked, yeah. I think they’re about done here.”
“Okay. But are you sure you’re all right? You sound kind of…congested.”
“I’m fine. But I need a favor.”
“Of course. Anything.”
“I need the address of your parents’ house in Austin.”
“Why?”
“I need to see Vinnie, Savannah. I need to see your brother.”
“Oh my God, is he all right?”
“Yes, he’s fine. I just spoke to him.” I wipe my eyes, sniff a few times. “But Savannah…”
“What, Raven? What’s going on?”
“Falcon will tell you anyway when he gets home. I’m in love with Vinnie, Savannah. I’ve fallen in love with your brother.”
She doesn’t say anything for what seems like an eternity.
Until finally I speak. “Savannah? You there?”
“I’m here,” she squeaks. “So many emotions are going through me right now. I’m thrilled for you and Vinnie, of course. But…”
“Believe me, I know all the buts. He’s already told me that being with him will put me in danger.”
“Raven, you have to know that you mean everything to Falcon. Please… I don’t want you in danger either.”
I wipe a tear from my cheek, willing my voice to remain steady. “But I’ve fallen in love.”