Chapter 3 - The Lie Raven Had Believed for Twenty Years
Malcolm Voss did not look like a man caught inside a twenty-year-old secret.
He looked mildly disappointed.
At sixty-two, he possessed the polished confidence of someone who had spent decades entering rooms where everyone already knew his name. Silver hair. Perfect tuxedo. Calm blue eyes.
Raven moved instinctively between Malcolm and Sarah.
Sarah noticed.
Malcolm noticed too.
“How much did you read?” Malcolm asked.
Raven's voice was ice.
“Enough.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“You don't get to ask questions.”
Malcolm sighed.
“Antonio always said your temper would become your greatest weakness.”
“My father trusted you.”
“He did.”
“Did you frame my mother?”
Sarah watched Malcolm carefully.
No surprise.
No outrage.
No immediate denial.
That was answer enough.
Raven took one step forward.
Sarah caught his sleeve.
“Not here.”
His eyes flicked toward her hand.
The fury in them faded by one degree.
Malcolm smiled.
“Still managing him, Miss Ashford?”
Sarah released Raven.
“Someone has to.”
“You're very much Daniel's daughter.”
That hurt more than she expected.
“You knew my father.”
“Quite well.”
“Did you threaten him?”
Malcolm's smile vanished.
“I never threatened Daniel.”
“Then why was he afraid?”
“Because your father discovered things he didn't understand.”
Raven's voice hardened.
“He understood enough to expose you.”
“Did he?”
Malcolm glanced at the letter.
“You have one man's interpretation of events.”
“A dead man's,” Sarah said.
“Yes.”
The word landed strangely.
Raven noticed.
“What happened to Daniel?”
Sarah's head snapped toward him.
“My father died in a car accident.”
Malcolm looked at her.
“Exactly.”
The implication was unmistakable.
Sarah's stomach turned.
Raven stepped toward Malcolm.
This time Sarah didn't touch him.
But Malcolm raised both hands.
“Careful, Raven. You're hosting a charity gala with journalists downstairs.”
“What happened to Daniel Ashford?”
“I had nothing to do with his death.”
“Then why imply otherwise?”
“Because someone did.”
Silence.
Sarah felt cold.
“Who?”
Malcolm looked toward the ballroom.
“Ask Victoria.”
Then he walked away.
Raven started after him.
Sarah grabbed his wrist.
“Don't.”
“He knows something.”
“And he wants you angry.”
Raven looked down at her hand around his wrist.
She released him.
“Sorry.”
“Don't apologize.”
Something shifted between them.
Then Victoria appeared.
“You found Malcolm.”
Raven turned.
“You knew he would be here.”
“He's chairman of your company.”
“You could have warned me.”
“I've been trying to warn you for twenty years.”
Raven's face tightened.
Sarah stepped between the emotional currents.
“Did Malcolm have anything to do with my father's death?”
Victoria closed her eyes.
“I don't know.”
“That's not enough.”
“It is the truth.”
Sarah held up the letter.
“My father told you to leave because Raven was in danger.”
“Yes.”
“From Malcolm?”
“I believed so.”
Raven laughed bitterly.
“So you disappeared.”
“I was twenty-nine years old. Your father controlled everything—our money, our home, security, the people around us. Malcolm convinced Antonio I had stolen from him and planned to take you away.”
“You did take yourself away.”
“Because Malcolm told me if I stayed, the next accusation would involve you.”
Raven stared.
Victoria's composure finally cracked.
“I tried to take you with me.”
Raven went still.
“What?”
“Your father stopped me.”
“No.”
“He had security remove me from the house. For months I tried contacting you. Letters. Calls. People I trusted.”
“I never received anything.”
“I know.”
Raven looked away.
For the first time since Sarah had met him, Raven Cavalcante looked lost.
Not angry.
Not intimidating.
Lost.
Victoria approached.
“I eventually realized every message was intercepted. Then Daniel contacted me. He had records proving Malcolm manipulated the accounts.”
Sarah swallowed.
“What happened?”
“Daniel arranged to meet me.”
“When?”
Victoria looked at her.
“The night before his accident.”
Sarah couldn't speak.
“He never arrived.”
Sarah's father's death had always been described as simple bad luck.
Rain.
A dark highway.
A truck that crossed the center line.
She had been nineteen.
Her mother had already died years earlier.
That accident had left Sarah alone.
Now a twenty-year conspiracy was reaching into the worst night of her life.
Raven stepped beside her.
Close enough that their shoulders almost touched.
“Sarah.”
She hated how comforting her name sounded in his voice.
“I need air.”
She walked away.
Raven followed.
Outside the ballroom, Sarah reached an empty terrace.
Cold wind struck her face.
She gripped the stone railing.
“I shouldn't have brought you into this,” Raven said.
She laughed without humor.
“You didn't. Apparently my father did that decades ago.”
Raven stood beside her.
For a long moment, neither spoke.
Then Sarah said, “You believed she abandoned you.”
“Yes.”
“For twenty years?”
“Yes.”
“And now?”
“I don't know what to believe.”
Sarah looked at him.
“That might be the first time I've ever heard you say you don't know something.”
“I dislike the experience.”
“I can tell.”
He almost smiled.
Then his gaze lowered toward her.
“Why Silian?”
She blinked.
“What?”
“You're standing here discovering a possible conspiracy surrounding both our families, and that's still what you want to ask?”
“No.”
“But?”
“But I'm asking anyway.”
Sarah stared at him.
Something suddenly became clear.
“You were jealous.”
“No.”
“You absolutely were.”
“I don't get jealous.”
“Of course not. You probably delegate it.”
His mouth twitched.
Sarah laughed.
Actually laughed.
Raven watched her with an expression she couldn't read.
Then he said quietly, “I didn't like seeing his hand on you.”
Her laughter disappeared.
The terrace suddenly felt smaller.
“Raven.”
It was the first time she had used his first name directly.
He noticed.
“I've spent nearly two years knowing where you are every minute of every workday,” he said. “I know when you're tired because you tap your pen against your thumb. I know you skip lunch when you're worried. I know you call your elderly neighbor every Wednesday because she lives alone.”
Sarah stared at him.
“You notice all that?”
“I notice everything.”
Her heartbeat quickened.
“Then why have you never said anything?”
His answer was immediate.
“Because you're my employee.”
That was exactly the answer she should have wanted.
Instead, it disappointed her.
Raven continued.
“And because wanting something doesn't automatically give me the right to pursue it.”
Sarah's breath caught.
Before she could respond, Silian stepped onto the terrace.
He stopped.
“Oh.”
Sarah stepped away from Raven.
Silian looked between them.
“I can come back.”
“No,” Sarah said too quickly.
Raven's expression closed.
Silian approached.
“Grandma wants to leave. I wanted to see whether you needed a ride.”
“I'll take her home,” Raven said.
Sarah turned.
“You don't decide that.”
“You're carrying evidence connected to Malcolm.”
“A twenty-year-old letter.”
“And Malcolm knows you have it.”
Silian frowned.
“What exactly did I miss?”
“Everything,” Sarah said.
Raven looked at him.
“She stays with me tonight.”
Sarah nearly laughed.
“Excuse me?”
“For security.”
“I have an apartment.”
“Which Malcolm can locate.”
“You don't know that he's dangerous.”
“No. And until I do, I'm not gambling with you.”
Silian looked amused despite himself.
“Sarah, I think your boss is attempting to kidnap your schedule.”
“Silian.”
Raven ignored him.
“My driver will take you.”
Sarah crossed her arms.
“No.”
Raven leaned slightly closer.
“Please.”
That stopped her.
Raven Cavalcante did not say please.
She studied him.
He wasn't commanding her.
He was afraid.
Not for himself.
For her.
“Fine,” she said.
Silian hugged her goodbye.
Raven watched.
Of course he did.
“Fake boyfriend,” Silian whispered in her ear. “Very real jealousy.”
Sarah elbowed him.
Twenty minutes later, she sat beside Raven in the back of a black sedan.
Neither spoke.
At his penthouse, Raven gave her a guest suite larger than her apartment.
“You'll be safe here.”
“And you?”
“I have work.”
“At one in the morning?”
“I doubt I'll sleep.”
Sarah understood.
She touched his arm.
“Your mother might be telling the truth.”
“And if she is, I've hated her for twenty years because someone wanted me to.”
“You were fourteen.”
“That doesn't give her those years back.”
“No.”
His gaze met hers.
“Good night, Sarah.”
Not Miss Ashford.
Sarah.
“Good night, Raven.”
She entered the guest room.
An hour later, sleep remained impossible.
She opened her father's letter again.
This time she examined the envelope.
Something felt wrong.
Too thick.
Sarah ran her finger beneath the inner seam.
Paper shifted.
A hidden compartment.
Her pulse quickened.
She carefully tore it open.
A tiny brass key fell onto the bed.
Attached was a faded paper tag.
Three handwritten words appeared on it.
Grand Central. 314.
Sarah stared.
A locker.
She immediately went looking for Raven.
His study door was open.
But he wasn't alone.
Victoria stood inside.
And Sarah heard her say:
“If she finds what Daniel left in that locker, she'll learn the truth about why you hired her.”
Sarah stopped outside the door.
Raven answered quietly.
May you like
“She can never know.”
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