The penthouse felt cavernous after Jaxon left. Raven wandered aimlessly from the windows to the sofa, the silence pressing down like a weight. She tried reading, she tried pacing, she even tried sleeping, but nothing dulled the gnawing tension coiling in her chest.
Talia’s hollow-eyed face haunted her. Zane’s shadow lingered in every corner, and Jaxon’s vow, "then I put him in the ground," still rang in her ears like a funeral bell.
When her phone buzzed against the marble counter, the sharp vibration startled her so badly she nearly dropped the glass of water in her hand. She glanced down, expecting maybe a check-in from Talia or one of the club girls, but it wasn’t from any saved contact. It was from a blocked number.
Her stomach sank. With trembling fingers, she opened the message.
