Chapter 2 - THE DATE RAVEN WANTED GONERaven reached our table.
Silas stood.
“Mr. Cavalcante.”
Raven ignored him.
His attention stayed on me.
“Come with me.”
“No.”
Silas looked between us.
Raven finally turned toward him.
“Stay away from her.”
Silas laughed.
“That sounds less like a request and more like a threat.”
“It is.”
I stepped between them.
“Enough.”
Raven looked at me.
“Do you know who he is?”
“Yes.”
“You don't.”
Silas's smile disappeared.
“Actually, Mr. Cavalcante, I think she knows exactly who I am.”
Raven's hand tightened around the photograph in his pocket.
“Sarah, we need to talk privately.”
“I have spent two years working for you. If you want a conversation, you can have it without humiliating my date.”
“He isn't who you think he is.”
Silas went pale.
That was when I noticed the first crack in his calm.
“Silas?”
He looked at me.
“I can explain.”
Raven laughed once.
Cold.
“You should have started with that.”
I stared at Silas.
“What do you need to explain?”
He reached for me.
Raven stepped forward.
“Don't touch her.”
“Raven.”
“I'm serious.”
Silas looked at him.
“So am I.”
The room seemed to freeze.
I looked at Silas.
“Tell me.”
He sighed.
“My father worked for Raven's father.”
Silence.
“When?”
“Years ago.”
“How do you know the Cavalcantes?”
“My family was involved in the old shipping business.”
Raven stared.
“What family?”
“Bennett.”
Raven's eyes hardened.
“The Bennett family.”
Silas nodded.
The old family.
One of the few families the Cavalcantes had spent decades avoiding.
I suddenly understood why Raven looked at him like a loaded weapon.
Silas took a step toward me.
“My father left something behind.”
“What?”
“A ledger.”
Raven's face became expressionless.
“Where?”
Silas looked at him.
“That's not your question.”
Raven's jaw tightened.
“What do you want?”
Silas answered,
“Her.”
My pulse stopped.
He looked at me.
“Sarah was the reason I came here.”
Raven stared.
“For what?”
Silas smiled.
“Because your employee has the one thing everyone has been searching for.”
I shook my head.
“I don't have anything.”
Silas's eyes softened.
“You have no idea.”
Raven suddenly grabbed my wrist.
Not painfully.
Desperately.
“Sarah.”
I looked at him.
“Come with me.”
“Why?”
“Because you're in danger.”
“From him?”
He looked toward Silas.
“No.”
His voice dropped.
“From everyone.”
In Raven's private office, he locked the door.
I stood across from him.
“You're going to explain.”
He nodded.
“My father was murdered.”
“I know.”
“No.”
He slid the photograph across the desk.
“Look at the background.”
I did.
My stomach dropped.
The warehouse in the photograph was the same warehouse my father had worked at twenty years ago.
I stared.
“My father used to work there.”
Raven's eyes sharpened.
“What was his name?”
“James Ashford.”
Silence.
Raven sat down.
He suddenly looked exhausted.
“James Ashford wasn't a warehouse worker.”
“What?”
“He was an accountant.”
“My father?”
“He worked for my family.”
I shook my head.
“My father died when I was twelve.”
“Accident?”
“Yes.”
Raven looked at me.
“It wasn't an accident.”
That night, I learned that almost every tragedy in my life had been connected.
My father's death.
Raven's father's death.
The old shipping network.
The Bennett family.
And possibly my own existence inside Raven's company.
He admitted that when he first hired me, my name had appeared in an old file.
A file belonging to his father.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I didn't know what it meant.”
“You could have asked.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“Everyone in your family says that.”
He looked at me.
“Who?”
I thought about Victoria.
Then Silas.
Then the strange photograph.
I said nothing.
Raven's eyes softened.
“I should have told you.”
“Yes.”
“I was afraid you'd leave.”
That sentence shocked me more than anything else.
“You care if I leave?”
He looked away.
“Yes.”
My heartbeat changed.
Before I could answer, the office door exploded inward.
A bullet struck the wall beside me.
Raven shoved me to the floor.
He drew his gun.
Three shots.
Silence.
Security flooded the hallway.
Raven crouched beside me.
“Are you hurt?”
I shook my head.
“No.”
He touched my face.
His hand trembled.
“Good.”
I stared at him.
“You're shaking.”
He withdrew his hand.
“I thought you were dead.”
That was the moment I realized something terrifying.
May you like
Raven Cavalcante wasn't afraid of bullets.
He was afraid of losing me.
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